Following a family heritage of serving the underprivileged and needy, a friend of The Expat Group, Dr. Peggy Wong, sat down recently with Editor Chad Merchant to share her story and explain how she learned that life’s greatest success is found in the simple joy of giving.
If it’s possible for philanthropy and humanitarian action to be coded in a person’s DNA, Malaysian-born Dr Peggy Wong might just be living proof. After years of big business and entrepreneurial endeavours, Peggy found that though she could handle mergers and acquisitions with aplomb, her real calling was in giving back, a legacy handed down from her father and her grandfather before him, a Chinese physician who emigrated to Malaysia and settled in Perak. These were men who got involved in their communities, giving free medical treatment to the needy, building schools, and caring for the less-fortunate. Today, that family tradition is carried on by Peggy and her NGO, Living Hope, dedicated to helping children in Malaysia and beyond.
Having worked in an orphanage for several years, Peggy found that she could be a part of an effort to provide food and shelter, but that was where it often ended. “The children needed the emotional support of family,” she shared with me, “and I couldn’t give that to them in the way they needed. Nobody can.” In July 2007, she started Living Hope and worked with the network of volunteers she had found from her previous efforts to locate children in need. She explained, “In the orphanage, the kids are there. But so many are overlooked. They aren’t orphans, but they’re still very much in need. They’re hungry, they’re marginalised, and they are the poorest of the poor. Those are the ones we seek out.”
For example, Peggy will reach out to heads of schools in impoverished rural areas in an effort to find the children in greatest need. And from there, Living Hope springs into action. Through the “One Egg, One Child” programme, 20 of the poorest children in a school will be fed for the full 200 days of the school year. Peggy works with the school’s canteen operators to ensure that the RM400 donated will feed a child for an entire school year.
Through the “Educate a Child” programme, school uniforms and school supplies are purchased and provided to needy children. Peggy believes that education is the only way to break free of the cycle of poverty. In line with this belief, she explained that the bulk of her efforts are directed towards the rural communities in Malaysia. “Well, in a large city like KL, of course, there are more resources. Many more people to draw from, so the children there have a better opportunity to be provided for and to be educated. In the small towns far from cities, though, there isn’t a support system in place, and resources are scarce. That’s where we feel we can do the most good.” She mentioned that in some places, children may only attend school 20 days a year – only when the family can afford the bus fare or, in some very underdeveloped outlying areas, when the child can get a ride on a boat.
Living Hope also works in distribution of food and supplies through a “Channel of Hope” programme, and in perhaps one of Peggy’s favourite programmes, “Festivities on Wheels,” goes into poor rural communities once a year with goodie bags and treats to celebrate various holidays. Seeing the pure joy and wonder on the faces of the children is immensely rewarding and satisfying to Peggy and her team at Living Hope.
“We’ve touched the lives of some 30,000 children now,” Peggy said. “We give love and hope to these poor, needy, and marginalised children.” Peggy’s giving heart has not gone unrecognised, either. In 2002, the University of Honolulu conferred an honorary Ph.D. of Social Sciences for her years of humanitarian work and some 10 years later, her home state of Perak gave her their “Woman of Vision” philanthropy award.
After many years of corporate highflying, Peggy feels that the work she does now carries far more meaning and finds herself grateful to have been given the opportunity and means to help and serve others. “From these poorest of the poor, I have learnt humility and gratitude. I understand the meaning and importance of life’s simple pleasures. I believe that God has blessed me in order that I might be a blessing to others.”
The appreciation of finding success by a different measure than that of the world also led Peggy to author a book chronicling her personal formula for contentment and meaning in life. Titled Living a Balanced Life, Peggy outlines what she calls “the seven Fs” that are so important to balance and true success: faith, family, finance, fitness, friends, fun, and fruits. The last one, she told me, concerns a person’s legacy; what they leave behind. “Do you leave a legacy of good fruits or bitter fruits?” she asked. “I believe that by living a life of balance and purpose, a person will bear good fruits.”
It’s a life lesson that can be taken to heart. Finding balance, giving back, doing good… for Dr Peggy Wong, it’s a legacy inherited, but it’s also a promise fulfilled.
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To learn more about Living Hope, or if you’d like to get involved and help make a real difference in the lives of these underprivileged children, please visit www.livinghopeglobal.org.
Source: The Expat October 2013
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