About Sylvia

~ Dreaming of an end to human trafficking, dreaming of a better world for the marginalised & poor ~

Horseback riding is one of my favourite hobbies. This photo was taken in Yunnan province, China

Sylvia Yu’s Bio: Author, journalist, TV host & producer, humanitarian, advisor to philanthropists who want to invest in social change in China, the Middle East and the world.  

My company Asia Global Resources provides consulting services in:

Media – books (biographies), documentaries and films

Communications – public relations, marketing, conferences and supporting start-up businesses & NGOs

Philanthropy advisory services – for high net worth individuals, corporations, charitable foundations. I have advised several Fortune 100 companies and some of the most successful people in the US and Asia.

For more information, please send me a message at ChinaAsiaNetwork@gmail.com or twitter: light1candle

Besides writing and producing media to raise awareness, one of my passions is to bring through my consulting work various stakeholders together – such as NGOs, government, academics, volunteers, business and philanthropists - to work towards a strategic plan or social change level goals for transformation of a region or country. I’ve fallen madly in love with southwest China which borders Myanmar.

Some of my previous consulting projects that impact SW China and other parts of the country include:

*health and care project for elderly sex slave survivors (known as ‘comfort women’) in China

*freeing sex slaves (trafficked women, prostitutes) – jewelry making business is expanding to other regions

*helping drug addicts with HIV – hope to see one great model in Kunming replicated in other parts of the country

*empowering orphans and blind people so they can live with hope and dignity (I’ve helped direct funds to these projects)

Some of my earthly heroes and role models: Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Heidi Baker and my parents, especially my beautiful mother who models godly love and authentic faith every day (she’s not a pew warmer like so many in North American churches today. She has for more than 30 years given food and love to the sick, the poor and the hurting. My mom and dad have helped many low income people in their community). I also have many mentors and I’m grateful for their support and love.

{I am limiting info on my private life in this blog}

Hanging out in a village in Myanmar.

You see things and ask “Why?” But I dream things that never were, and I say, “Why not?”
-George Bernard Shaw

 

This blog is about the heroes I’ve met along the journey through work at my consulting company Asia Global Resources.

Some of my company’s goals are to:

Care for orphans, children-at-risk and widows and spur people to do the same: passionate compassion in the same spirit as William Wilberforce;

Do what we can to help bring an end to global sex trafficking and human slavery in our lifetime;

Eradicate global poverty by channeling millions of dollars to effective NGOs and grassroots unsung heroes in developing countries. We implement rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the use of these funds;

Empower social enterprises in China, Africa and the Middle East to bring transformation and HOPE to these places.

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In my spare time, I help mobilise young people from the West to impact humanitarian work in China. In 2012, this mobilisation will begin to expand to  North Korea,  Israel, Egypt and other nations in the developing world.

I support Daybreak Asia (www.daybreakasia.org) and ISEC, and feel privileged to be a part of supporting young people to expand their horizons and to make an impact in China. For more than 10 years, ISEC has been mobilising young adults from the Ivy Leagues and Oxbridge (Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton etc) to China to make a difference among children and the poor.

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Site Visit Story (my trip on behalf of a philanthropist): 

In Myanmar by the China border: Interviewing 19-year-old “Ma” (center) who is HIV positive and sleeps on a tattered mattress in the forest every night. Bangyuan (left) works for an NGO that helps Ma and provides social services for hundreds of drug addicts, commercial sex workers and other high risk groups in the “Golden Triangle” region. Ma left a lasting impression on me and I think of him often and wonder how he is doing. About a year ago, Bangyuan told me that Ma had died in the sugarcane fields. I was shocked. I checked again with the NGO staff and they clarified that another young man had died, and not Ma. I was very relieved.

(I learned later that Ma had passed away)