Roz Builds Hope

Philanthropist Roz Koo moved from Shanghai to Oakland, California in 1947, where she started out at Mills College. When her parents called her to join them in Taiwan, she decided she'd rather stay in California, would rather go to U.C. Berkeley, and would even like to choose her own husband. She worked in several secretarial jobs until she found her niche in an architectural firm. In 1977 she returned to China for the first time in thirty years, and was so distraught by what she saw that she vowed never to return again. However, two years later when leader Deng Xiao Ping came into office with a mission to connect to the west, Roz raised her hand. Her goal was to restore her old school to its former school. (see posts one, two, three).  

Back in San Francisco, Roz became involved in lots of projects.
1) She built low-income senior housing for the elderly.  She thought it would be easy—she had all the architects and engineers at her disposal. It was a nightmare, which had lowlights that included a lady on Russian Hill saying, “Why don’t you go back to Chinatown?”

“If people say that to you, you feel so angry you don’t want to do anything. But that’s the reverse of what you should do. Always keep your humor.” 

Roz persisted through 11 public hearings, two court appearances, nine project extensions and a re-build when the extensions went past four years. In the end they had 70 low-cost units which attracted 4,000 applicants. 

2) She then went on to found an activity center for a thousand seniors. 

3) Meanwhile, in 1989, the Tiananmen Square Massacre happened. Roz joined forces with three other people to found the 1990 Institute to help lift up the Chinese people, as well as build a broader understanding between China and America.  

 In 1992 at a reunion of McTyeire in Shanghai, Principal Zheng approached Roz about joining another project. The All China Women’s Federation had started something called The Hope Project to keep students in school. Students were dropping out because of lack of funds. Her principal suggested sending money to someone in the central government. Roz was not convinced of the efficiency of doing that. So, she decided to help in her own way and launched a pilot project with 86 girls from Jiangxi province. “These are the drop-outs after junior high school. They had no money. I wanted to educate the women. I think you have to have college. If you educate a woman you educate a whole generation.” 

Roz added that people with a college education in China have the bonus of geographical freedom--while everyone else is bound to stay in the village they were born in. 

I asked how she managed to get any funding. These days all people hear about is how wealthy and strong China is. How did she gain a sympathetic ear, much less helpful donors? 

“I show them the truly impoverished areas,” she said. “They go with me. The donors see for themselves.”

After the success of the Hope program, Roz decided to try to help even more girls. In 2000, in conjunction with the All-China Women’s Federation and 1990 Institute, Roz launched the Spring Bud Program, identifying 1000 at-risk girls from 44 villages in Shaanxi province. She raised money to pay for their tuition, board, clothing, and school supplies. She promised all these girls that she would ensure they all graduated from elementary school.

I asked where she got her sense of caring--for the elderly, the impoverished, the children.

“I always had a sense of justice. When I was a kid, I told my mom, “I’m going into the countryside to help the poor.” My mother could hardly keep a straight face. She said, “Who asked you? What can you do? You don’t even pick up things.”  I said, “That’s not important. When the time comes, I’ll know.”

(...to be continued. Next: What Goes Around Comes Around.)