British honour recognises work of couple who’ve helped thousands of Chinese orphans
Robin Hill received an MBE this week at Buckingham Palace, 17 years after he and wife Joyce’s visit to a Chinese orphanage led them to found the New Hope Foundation to help orphaned babies with medical issues. A volunteer Hong Kong surgeon hails their role as middlemen getting help from people like him
Robin Hill visited Buckingham Palace this week to receive an MBE for community service – not in Britain, but halfway around the world in China.
Hill, 67, and his wife Joyce, 66, the founders of New Hope Foundation, have worked tirelessly since 1999 to help orphaned Chinese babies with medical issues so they have a better chance of being adopted. Some are given hospice care.
Speaking from Beijing before the investiture, Hill was excited about visiting the palace, although he had been looking forward to doing some sailing during his three-week holiday in Britain.
Hill was working for Swedish engineering company Sandvik in 1998, the year he turned 50, and was restless. “I asked God if there was more to life than selling tungsten carbide and balance sheets,” he says. “We were living an expat life in China and were about to leave, but our plans were sort of hijacked by God,” he adds with a laugh.
Who’s China’s most generous billionaire? Well, it’s not who you might think ...
It was a trip with other expatriates to an orphanage that changed the course of their lives. “When we walked into the room we could see there were two to three babies in a bed; it was a filthy, dirty, horrible environment. It just broke our hearts,” Hill recalls.