Passionate in what you’re doing

“Jill provides me with insights into areas that I am not that familiar with, such as animal welfare, which I have found it very eye-opening and impactful.

She introduced me to the Animals Asia, which she founded, and showed me its operation to help save moon bears and dogs from cruelty. Jill is very passionate and determined in the pursuit of ending animal cruelty. This has been deeply moving and inspiring, and encourages me to discover meaningful missions in my life and to pursue them consistently no matter how tough the road is, for the sake of what you really care about. She also guides me to figure out what my goals in life are.

One of the highlights of our mentoring interactions was visiting to the moon bear sanctuary in Chengdu, China. She led the three of us (two British volunteers, Ben and Rosina, and me) to observe the regular routine of caring for the moon bears, and we also visited dogs that had been rescued. We went to the clinic to observe how a body check of a moon bear is done and also prepared food, which we scattered around the sanctuary for the moon bears to freely enjoy.

Jill’s journey to rescue moon bears started when she visited a bear farm in China. She happened upon a filthy room, which was not supposed to be seen by the tourists. Feeling something touching her shoulder, Jill turned and saw a bear’s paw sticking out of a small cage. She held the paw without second thought and they locked into each other’s gaze. The bear was so gentle towards Jill, and it was at that moment she decided to start on a journey to end the cruelty. I remember Jill said: “We receive many messages that we can choose to listen to, or ignore, and which shape the course of our lives”. Jill’s story inspired me a lot.

Mentor: Dr Jill Robinson
Mentee (2017-18): Helen Wu, BDS Year 2