Chapter 15 Appointed as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador

Before becoming a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, or to be more precise, before visiting several war-torn countries in Africa, the mother had been haunted by the grief of losing her father at a young age and her third pregnancy failure. She once told us how, as a child, she always felt an empty grief seeing other people cuddled up in her father's arms, and how she wished his father would be there so she could enjoy it as much as any other child The warmth of a father's love.At that time, she always hoped that her father was still alive, somewhere in the world, and would suddenly appear in front of her one day.As a child, her desire came from instinct, and the mother really couldn't get rid of this kind of trouble.This is why after she divorced my father and Luca's father, she kept in touch with them, because she wanted to try her best to let Luca and I grow up in a family relationship as complete as possible.

From the time she was a little girl, she was very fond of children.My mother once said: "I grew up loving little kids and being close to them, maybe it was just in me. I used to embarrass my mother trying to get someone else's baby out of the pram at the farmers market. One of my dreams in life is to have children of my own, and I am blessed with two wonderful sons. People have a need not only to be loved, but also to love, and that is a need." In a mother's world, giving birth to a new life can bring her great joy, and it is also a good medicine for her childhood trauma.It also makes her happy to help other children when she is physically unable to bear new life.For a while, "donor fatigue" became the mantra of many humanitarians. They often just handed over some money and were unwilling to think more about those orphans. My mother has repeatedly spoken out at UN meetings for this. "Donor fatigue is really compassion fatigue, and it doesn't help those suffering in the developing world today. There's nothing more tragic than a mother watching her child die and not being able to do anything about it." In those days Mother Li’s heart is always those children who are suffering. Every time we meet, she pays attention to us only for the first few seconds, and then the topic shifts to how to help those children.

As far as I know, it was Robert Walders who introduced the purpose and work of UNICEF to my mother and who remained with her for the last 12 years of her life. In October 1987, at the invitation of her cousin, former Dutch ambassador to Portugal Van Uveld, her mother went to Macau with Walders to participate in a concert to raise funds for UNICEF.The mother gave a speech at the ceremony before the concert. Her heartfelt love for the children deeply moved James Grant, the then senior president of UNICEF. Mr. Grant immediately extended an invitation to his mother, hoping that she could serve as the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.The mother accepted the invitation and received a nominal salary of one dollar from Mr. Grant. In April 1988, my mother started her first visit as a goodwill ambassador, and the first stop was Ethiopia in Africa.