May Chen

53 years ago my parents left China as refugees and became immigrants to this country. As educators, they had great aspirations to contribute to their motherland. But wars and political turmoil dampened their dreams. I always hoped that I could realize the work my parents wanted to do for the young people of China and to live a meaningful and purposeful life.

I founded Asian Services In Action more than 20 years ago that now serves 10,000 Asian-Americans. The organization has won national recognition from Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids for its best practices campaign against tobacco use among Asian-American youth.

I have visited China bi-annually for the past ten years, including after I retired from Asian Services in Action. For the majority of Chinese, life is difficult and challenging. Their goal is survival amidst years of isolation, persecution, famine and wars. They did not value their life, much less their health. It was profoundly sad to witness young migrant workers who toil in service industries where their customers, co-workers and themselves are hardcore tobacco users. They left home for a better life. The small gains they make financially will eventually take a devastating physical toll.

In 2012, China had the highest number of smokers in the world – 281 million. If nothing is done, there will be massive human, economic, environmental and family costs. I felt compelled to help as a lifetime advocate against tobacco use in Asian-American communities.

I believed I could use the training manual from the Asian-American Youth Against Tobacco campaign to serve as a jumpstart for China’€™s youth to address this health problem. With the help of retired volunteer translators, we translated the training manual to disseminate it to health organizations, universities and secondary schools. Meetings are scheduled to meet with local health departments, the World Health Organization, university students and professors and community leaders. The Shanghai Youth Health Center is collaborating to produce a media presentation on tobacco use prevention for school age youth required to visit the center.

For many years, I was privileged to have served the Asian-American community in the United States. I would have never dreamed that I have the opportunity to return to China one day to serve and improve the quality of life in the land of my ancestors. A door for my encore work has been opened and the encore story continues now with advocacy, capacity-building and implementation.

(May Chen was honored as an Encore.org Purpose Prize Fellow in 2008.)