Profile | NGO head who got Richard Branson, Ban Ki-moon to live like refugees talks about his family’s charity and having an epiphany in Macedonia
- David Begbie is director of Hong Kong-based non-profit Crossroads Foundation, which matches donations with those in need and runs a student volunteer programme
- His charity’s ‘refugee simulation’, which started as an exercise for Hong Kong CEOs, ran at the World Economic Forum in Davos for over a decade
A long way from Oz: I was born in Sydney in 1975. My father was a partner in an accounting firm and my mother was in PR, and they had a very comfortable life. When I was three and my younger brother was one, we moved to the Philippines, where my parents were involved in helping people in need across Asia.
My family did extensive travel to the former Soviet bloc and I spent a lot of time as a little kid in Romania, Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia, attached to a medical team, so I saw a lot of people in need. My mother’s conviction was that no hands are too small to serve and, aged five, I remember helping put together packages that were sent to kids in the former Soviet bloc.
We came to Hong Kong in 1986 and lived in Silvermine Bay (on Lantau) because it was the cheapest rent we could find. My parents’ plan was to start a small business that would generate revenue to permit us to serve. It was a simple import-export business with a lot of the people we’d met in Eastern Europe. My brother and I went to HKIS (Hong Kong International School), which was very gracious in facilitating our education. Our meals were very simple; we had a lot of congee growing up.
Shifting gear: My parents’ business didn’t work out and, in 1992, we ended up as a family with about US$10. Although the business wasn’t flourishing, the objective of serving NGOs was and the board (of the business) suggested we look at a staffing model where people sponsor people to come and volunteer.
In 1995, my parents got a call asking for support after the flood in Liaoning province. The woman said it was the worst flood in 100 years and 2 million people had lost everything and urgently needed clothing. On a visit to my godmother, at the Adventist Hospital, my mother overheard two women in the bookstore. One woman said she had lots of things she wanted to give to poor people, but she didn’t know anyone who was poor. My mother said, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but we know 2 million people who are poor.”
