Lifestyles Ideas Management - Hainan Rag-and-Bone Man who adopted abandoned babies

A dirt poor Hainan rag and bone man who adopted 14 abandoned baby girls. Mr Yao is poor yet he gave of himself to bring up his adopted daughters. His tremendous generosity and humanity touched many people. Both in their 50s, the couple have over the last two decades looked after 14 babies who were dumped by their parents because they were female. The first baby they took in was shoved into Mrs Yao’s arm by a hospital worker, who gave the housewife 20 Yuan (about SGD 4.00) to “get rid” of the day old baby girl. Mrs Yao was on her way to the market. That girl is now 19. Her sisters are aged between two and 12. Three babies died of heart ailments before their first birthdays. Of the remaining 11, six are being cared for by the Yao’s friends or relatives.
The family scrapes by on 800 to 1,000 Yuan (SGD158 to SGD197) a month that Mr Yao earns from collecting and selling discarded items and taking on odd jobs.
To bring up their adopted girls, the Yao’s have borrowed over 20,000 Yuan from friends and survived on plain bun and noodles.

Mr Yao and his wife were featured in our local newspapers "The Straits Times" special report in July on Hainan’s gender imbalances. Donation poured in to help pay for the girl’s school fees and among other things. This fund will help to ease his burden.