Kindness is not always rewarded, as proven by Chinese officials who are punishing a 65-year-old woman for taking in abandoned children with physical and mental disabilities.

Kong Zhenian, from the rural village of Jiu Jiu in northern China’s Shanxi Province, has been caring for physically and mentally-challenged children for the past 40 years. “I found the first one on the side of the road,” she said. “She had just been left there and I felt so sorry for her I just had to do something.” So she took the child into her care and hasn’t stopped helping children since then.

“I have now raised 39 children,” she added. “All of them are regarded as having problems, either physically or mentally. But in fact, many of them were simply suffering from neglect. It costs a lot of money to care for them but we have managed.”

With Kong’s care and attention, several children went on to study at university and found good jobs.  “The oldest is now 27 and living independently,” she said. “The youngest is just one month old. Six of them have gone to university and another two were accepted into professional technical school.”

Kong’s work is so commendable that you’d expect local authorities to present her with some kind of award. Instead, they’ve said that she has broken the country’s strict adoption laws, which allow a maximum of only three adoptions per family. So they punished her by confiscating the 8,000 square-meter land that she and her husband owned and cutting all financial aid.

Inspite of the major setback, Kong is not disheartened. “Despite the hardships, I carry on,” she said. “I take on odd jobs and when people found out about what I do they have also helped. Lots of warm hearted people donate money, clothes and food. And my older children also help out with donations. There is still kindness in the world but I worry what will happen to the children when I am gone.” Hopefully, there will be someone to fill her shoes in the future. The world definitely needs more people like Kong!

via Austrian Times