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E-mail China.org.cn, November 3, 2012
"I never thought I could keep doing this for so long," said Zhao Guangjun, a happy chubby young man who is affectionately referred to as "Fatty" by everyone living in the Jiangnan Zhong Street of Haizhu District of Guangzhou City, where he works as a social worker.
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| Zhao Guangjun answers a phone call outside the volunteer office. [Xinhua] |
Once a troubled teenager himself, Zhao Guangjun tends to pay special attention to those kids who remind him of himself at that age. Zhao talks with these delinquent youngsters, using his own experience as an example to connect to, and correct, them. With his help, many kids have successfully managed to change their lives, and some of them have even followed in his footsteps and went on to become volunteers themselves in order to help others.
During his work as a volunteer, Zhao finds that many people are capable of committing suicide when they have no way to relieve the pressure during difficult times. Therefore, in 2004, Zhao -- in a very bold move- printed his mobile phone number in the media and established the Life Hotline to provide psychological counseling services to those in need.
"Suicides are usually provoked by a fleeting idea. All these people need at that very moment is a helping hand," Zhao said. That is why he shows great patience when answering every call for help and never gives up persuading the would-be suicides to abandon their desperate plans.
During the hotline's early years, Zhao Guangjun only slept 3 to 4 hours a day. Sometimes he wasn't able to sleep at all due to taking all those long midnight phone calls. As a result of long-term fatigue and loss of sleep , Zhao suffered from high blood pressure, myocarditis and serious lumbar muscle strain.
In 2007, the Guangzhou Young Volunteers Association established a team of volunteers as well as a hotline studio, both named after Zhao Guangjun, to help him with his work. So far, the studio's staff has grown from a mere 30 members in the early days to the current number of 150, consisting of students, doctors, lawyers, laid-off workers and civil servants.
For Zhao Guangjun, true happiness is doing the best to help those in need. Now, as one of the delegates selected to attend the CPC's 18th National Congress, he finds himself having even less time than before. "I am just an ordinary person, doing ordinary things. What sets me apart is the great responsibility this task places on my shoulders," Zhao said.
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