Bright Angel Fund is changing the lives of the blind in China

In Beijing this past May I met some visually impaired, wonderful musicians. They are beneficiaries of the Bright Angel Fund program. Through my company’s consulting work for high net worth individuals, multinational corporations and family foundations, I have directed funds to BAF’s free job training project for the blind last year.

One of the highlights of having my own philanthropy advisory is building relationships with heroes who are making a difference in the lives of the poor and vulnerable. Mary Chiang is the founder and director of BAF and she never fails to inspire me with her colossal vision for the blind in China. She is using her vast influence to effect social change – what a role model! I will be writing more about her and her important work in the months to come (in other writing projects).

For me, philanthropy is a way of life, a passionate pursuit of changing lives & community.

With blind musicians and performers in Beijing. I’m in black (leftside) and Mary Chiang is at the far right

These young people are all so sweet and sensitive. They can “feel” the aura of a person and know immediately what the person is like. Their loss of sight has heightened their other senses especially intuition. Hey, I think they should be part of every company’s hiring process to measure a potential employee’s character! (this could be explored further – will raise it with Mary).

A few of these blind young people performed at the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics in 2008.

Mary Chiang continues to open doors for these performers and wants to see them perform in other countries.

On another note, Mary is a highly influential woman who brokered the first Chinese presidential visit to the US – for president Jiang Zemin. To illustrate how connected she is, there is a glossy large-ish magazine that targets elites in China that had Premier Wen on one side and she graced the other side (this mag had 2 covers). In many media interviews, she has boldly spoken of how her faith motivates her to defend the blind who are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, slavery and abuse. Mary is revolutionizing the world of the blind in China. Amazing, extraordinary woman.

In the photo below, they performed some songs for me. I recorded it and will see how I can upload it.