Richard Cheng interviewed by A+ Magazine for his involvement in charities

Richard Cheng, Assistant Manager at Mazars' Corporate Recovery and Forensic Department, was interviewed by Jemelyn Yadao for her article on CPAs making a difference by doing charity work.

Extract of the article

[...]

Green man

When Richard Cheng ventured to Inner Mongoliaon a tree-planting mission, he didn’t expect the circumstances there to be so bleak. “I saw that the ground was covered in sand and the people there were living under those conditions. It was then I thought we should do more to help the environment,” says Cheng, an Institute member and assistant manager of the forensics department at Mazars. Cheng was a member of a Mazars team that travelled to the area to help with reforestation to shelter farmland from sandstorms. They were there as part of his firm’s commitment to The Million Tree Project, which aims to reforest Inner Mongolia while raising global awareness on the damage climate change can wreak. Cheng, who helped plant trees, says that although the effort is not enough to solve the issue entirely, every little helps and raising awareness is vital. “I would show my friends my pictures in Inner Mongolia and let them know how serious the environmental problems are there.”

Inspired by the trip, Cheng went on to plant more trees, this time in Hong Kong. “There are some graves in the mountain areas where people tend to burn paper every time they visit them. They burn trees as well. We needed to replace all the trees,” Cheng explains.

He joined a tree-planting team, organized by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, and spent a whole day digging, planting and watering in Tuen Mun.

Like Lau, Cheng is also a Leo Club member. In February, he and his fellow members travelled to Qingyuan in Guangdong province to visit a local school. As an avid traveller, Cheng suggested educating the children there about other countries and cultures around the world.

“I think the students in Qingyuan may not have many opportunities to travel abroad, so I did some research, prepared a presentation,  shared some of my own travel photos and we played some games... and at the end of the lesson we taught them to sing "It’s a Small World After All,” recalls Cheng, who also visited the villages in the area.In fact, the people there, particularly the children, are the reason why Cheng plans to revisit China next year. “These kids had so many certificates and awards on the walls of their home. They are very smart,” says Cheng. “But, they might not have the chance to study abroad or even study in university. I think we can do more to help them.”

[...]

To read the full article, please click here.

***********************************

Credits:

• Article published in A Plus Magazine, December 2012 issue
• Article prepared and written by Jemelyn Yadao and Alisha Haridasani
• Photo by Samantha Sin