Awarded for charity work - Mark Obama Ndesandjo

Mark Obama Ndesandjo

Mark Obama Ndesandjo, was awarded for ten years of work as a volunteer in a Shenzhen orphanage, as one of two foreigners among 21 people, reports the Shenzhen Daily. 

The Shenzhen Daily:

 MARK OKOTH OBAMA NDESANDJO, half-brother of U.S. President Barack Obama, was recognized at the 20th anniversary of the Shenzhen Social Welfare Center on Friday, for teaching orphans at the center to play the piano over the past 10 years. 

Ndesandjo is among 21 individuals who were recognized at the anniversary for helping orphans at the center. American K. Tamra was the only other expatriate to receive the recognition. 

Ndesandjo has made his name in China with extensive charity work across the country. Ndesandjo donated many musical instruments to the local orphanage and has given piano lessons to orphans nearly every Wednesday for the past 10 years, said Tang Rongsheng, director of the Shenzhen Social Welfare Center. 

Ndesandjo came to Shenzhen 10 years ago and married a woman from Henan Province in 2008. One of Ndesandjo’s students is Bao Luhua, who suffers from a cleft palate and impaired hearing. Ndesandjo taught Bao for seven years, until the now-21-year-old man started a career in a private company, Tang said. 

Ndesandjo avoided media Friday and was reluctant to talk about himself, only saying that he hoped more volunteers would come and help orphans. Ndesandjo is now running a Shenzhen-based consulting firm that helps American companies invest in China and Chinese companies invest in the United States and Kenya.

More in the Shenzhen Daily.

Mark Obama Ndesandjo is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

On Thursday November 8 the China Weekly Hangout (10pm Beijing Time, 3pm CET, 10am EST) will focus on the future of nuclear power in China, what are the risks after Fukushima, and might a successful NIMBY protest be possible? Here you can register at our events page. Or see the announcement here.

Related articles

• Ten years of unprecedented growth in China tourism - Roy Graff (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Will China become a consumer paradise? - Paul French (chinaspeakersbureau.info)
• Has nuclear power a chance? - China Weekly Hangout (chinaherald.net)