Zhang Yu led the children to harvest their own grown Chinese cabbage. Zhang Yu tutored students studying catering service. Zhang Yu and the children were packing and distributing vegetables. There are more than twenty sheep in the farm, and the girls here particularly like to feed them.
It's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.
A returned overseas student builds a farm to teach skills to intellectually disabled students.
At noon on October 31, at the Special Olympics Love Farm in Yangfang Town, Changping District, 10 intellectually disabled people were performing for students from an international school who came to visit.
The youngest performer was 17 years old, and the oldest was 30. A song "Grateful Heart" shocked the audience. A father educator said that although he had many successful students around the world, his son was intellectually disabled. He once thought of sending away his child and no longer interfering. When he saw his son singing on stage, he cried.
Gao Xiang, a 25-year-old actor, though intellectually disabled, could communicate simply with the reporter without much hindrance. He said: "Zhang Yu is a good person. It's good here, I don't miss home..."
Zhang Yu, 37 years old, from Beijing, went abroad for further study during his university years, and returned to China in 2002 to serve as the CEO of an American venture capital company. In the following nine years, he evolved from a peripheral participant in charity activities to an advocate, and eventually gave up his main job to establish a training base for intellectually disabled employment - the Special Olympics Love Farm.
There are 17 intellectually disabled people living in the farm. After graduating from a special school for the intellectually disabled, this place becomes their internship base before employment. They learn, live, and receive professional training from teachers here. At the same time, they earn living allowances through performances and daily labor.
Zhang Yu said that what prompted him to establish the farm was that in 2008, ten children graduated from a school for the intellectually disabled and found jobs simultaneously, but within less than a year, all ten were dismissed. One of the boys even self-harmed because of this. "I know him, I often saw him in school before, it made me very sad."
In 2010, Zhang Yu sold his car and ancestral home, investing all several million yuan into establishing the Love Farm. Citizens can pick fruits, grow vegetables, or stay overnight at the farm. The profits from the farm are used to give the children subsidies, rent performance venues, and maintain regular expenses. "Here, the children can be like college students in practice, earning income."
After one year of training, two children have completed their internships and are now employed. On Zhang Yu's recommendation, they work at an international hotel in Shunyi, cleaning employee dormitories.
Zhang Yu said that the farm is different from those welfare organizations that wait for help and money. This model of combining commercial services with charity is very common internationally. "To put it bluntly, it's about self-sustenance; the children rely on their own hands, being self-reliant, realizing their life value, and gaining social respect."
This edition was written by reporter Wen Jing, and photographed by reporter Fan Jiwen.
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