Friends From Working With A Charity In China

By Kay Zhang
It is said that it's difficult to make friends at work, however I have to say that my work enriches my network a lot and quite a few of these people became true friends.

Ying works in a magazine reporting highlife in Beijing. Following a charity auction event, at which Care for Children was a beneficiary, we got to know each other over drinks. Maybe because we were both newly returned overseas students; or maybe because we work in similar areas in PR and Marketing; after a few minutes, we were chatting like old friends. Ying is quite keen on the third sector business and NGO development in China. After a month, she arranged an interview for our organization and published it in their magazine. After one year, she went to Germany with her husband. Now she is a happy mother with a baby girl. We can keep in touch through MSN.

In 2008, Care for Children had its bi-yearly conference. Jin was invited as she works for a major national newspaper. She is in charge of the 'society' section. Due to the tight schedule we did not have a proper conversation, but agreed to meet after the peak time of the conference. About 10 days later, we met in a Starbucks near Da Wang Lu and this enabled us to form a deep understanding of each other's work. To be frank, I did not expect any reports in the press, instead I saw that we could be friends because of our personality. After two days, Jin gave me a call; she asked for some photos and told me she was going to write a feature report about us. She became a newly-wed bride two weeks ago and still enjoys her busy and happy life.

In 2007, we developed a relationship with a professional website on babies and early education. The cooperation was started by the website COO and our chief executive in Beijing. After a week Xue came to visit our office for detailed discussions. As we worked from page to page for the weblinks, Xue was touched and attracted by our work. On my side, her professionalism and effectiveness impressed me a lot. We then ran two events together. Little by little, we developed this friendship. She is fond of delicious food, so sometimes when I go to the downtown, we eat together and chat about our personal life.

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