Faith for Changing the World

In a world driven by profit and gain, someone has to choose a different path.

“In the era of tons of information online, it has always been difficult for media workers to stand out among different kinds of ideas. Faith pushed me towards this.”

Here, I met Yui, a media worker for a non-profit organization, Roots and Shoots.

At the start of Yui’s career, she worked as an HR in the gaming industry. A random volunteering experience in Yunnan triggered her motivation and questioning towards the meaning of her life. At that time, she encountered kids who lived in extreme conditions; their bright eyes, innocence, and purity reminded her that “life should never be restricted or dictated by the statistics and salary.” Despite skepticism from friends, she believed that collective action would eventually make a change. Joining the non-profit organization is her choice, an action that will fuel others: “Every individual adds another spark to the fire."

What drew her to choose Roots and Shoots among thousands of charitable organizations was the intention of choosing a job with “absolute justice”. Protection of the environment and conservation of resources become a source of healing. Through the process, she somehow finds the meaning of life. Every single tree they have planted, every animal they have saved, by saving our planet, we have gained more in return. For her, Roots and Shoot is not only a platform for raising environmental awareness, but it has also brought her moments of genuine connection between people along this journey, which stitches up and fulfills her heart.

As a part of the media department, it is inevitable for her to talk to people in different sectors of Roots and Shoots. None of the work exists without hurdles. The biggest challenge for her is “asking colleagues for scripts of articles.” She giggled, “Just kidding! How to make people pause and care? Or capture the interest and attention?” When people mainly focus on the reels on TikTok, how can our articles grab others’ attention and stand out in the era of an explosive amount of information?  We want that information to last in the audience’s minds, even if there is only one word. 

Yui in Inner Mongolia

Throughout her career, something that impacts her more is the people there. Earlier this April, they traveled to Inner Mongolia for a tree-planting initiative. In the first draft of her report, she skipped over many of the statistics, focusing instead on the emotional impact—the vast, open plains, the shared laughter, the sweat under the sun. "I was a little moved by my own words," my colleague admitted with a wry smile. "But charity work isn’t about crafting beautiful prose—it’s about action." The truth is, numbers don’t lie. There’s a humility in letting the facts speak. We’re not here to spin grand narratives; we’re here to do the work, plainly and persistently. 

Yui’s journey is like that of many in this field. However, the strong belief, "Every individual adds another spark to the fire," Yui said. And perhaps that’s the most radical act of all—to keep lighting sparks, one after another, trusting that together, they’ll blaze brighter than any could predict.