TFish NGO Spotlight Interview: Xing Xing Yu

The following is an interview, conducted by the TFish staff, of the Xing Xing Yu organization in China, an NGO that serves children with autism. To view the original interview in Chinese, please click here.
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T-Fish: Hello everyone, this is the Transparent Fish broadcasting office. Welcome to our 2nd interview in the NGO spotlight series. The Transparent Fish Fund is committed to providing free technology, marketing, and management consulting services to help NGOs raise funds and support for their projects. Today, it is our honor to have the executive officer of Xing Xing Yu, Mr. Sun Zhong Kai, here with us.

T-Fish: What is autism? What is the current situation of autism among children in China?

Mr. Sun: The problem with autistic people is that they do not know how to interact with other people. The three main symptoms include affected language, behavior, and a narrow range of interests. The reason for this problem is not well-known, and internationally the statistics show that 6 out of 1000 people have this problem, a relatively large group of people. We now have over 3000 families receiving training and consultations at Xing Xing Yu.

T-Fish: I know that Xing Xing Yu has encountered a fair share of difficulties. Could you explain what the biggest challenge has been?

Mr. Sun: I joined Xing Xing Yu in 2002. I have studied society services, so I understand which services and social securities should be provided in order to achieve a well-developed society. I think the biggest challenge has been  the lack of professional resources. We began our training simply using a pamphlet from Taiwan until we received help from foreign experts who were volunteers. It is difficult to find professional support here in China, but now we have started to provide training services for other organizations. There are other challenges as well - for example, trying to get more support from the community and needing to find a stable office.

Nonetheless, society is slowly but consistently improving, and we are getting more and more help from the government. We also want to advocate for the transparency concept of Transparent Fish - that is, organizations that set out to help people must also be willing to disclose their financial information. If organizations come to us with that commitment, we will provide our services to them for free.

T-Fish: Thank you for the information that you have just shared with us. It is wonderful to learn more about your organization.
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Transcribed and translated by Shishi Ma, edited by U.S. Intern Kaitlyn Cheung.