“Do You Know My Dad?” African Children Left Behind by Chinese Dads Face Poverty & Bullying

I just came across this rather heartbreaking story and thought it was worth sharing.

It tells the stories of African children whose Chinese fathers reportedly returned home after overseas work assignments, leaving behind children who are now growing up with unanswered questions, financial hardship and, in some cases, social stigma.

It's a side of China's growing presence in Africa that we don't often hear about.

Source: 十点人物志 
Read the original Chinese article here

"Do You Know MY Dad?"

In 2023, a Chinese logistics manager named Lin Yu began helping children in East Africa search for their Chinese fathers.

One encounter in Uganda stayed with him.

At an old construction site, a young boy approached Lin, grabbed his trouser leg and handed him a worn-out safety helmet. Inside were three Chinese characters, apparently the only clue the boy had about his father.

Looking up at Lin, the boy asked in broken Chinese:

“Do you know my dad?”

According to Lin's account, the boy was severely malnourished and relied on food occasionally given to him by workers nearby. He would approach people with Asian features, hoping someone might recognise the name on his helmet.

Lin also encountered women who said Chinese men had promised to return after their overseas assignments, arrange paperwork and eventually bring them to China.

But when the projects ended, the men left. Phone numbers stopped working, and the promises went nowhere.

One woman, identified as Amina, reportedly discovered she was pregnant after the Chinese construction worker she had been seeing returned home. Struggling with poverty and social stigma, she eventually moved to a remote mining area to earn a meagre living.

Her shelter was reportedly built from discarded metal sheets, and she worried about what would happen to her son if she could no longer care for him.

In Angola, Lin met a boy named Carlos, who reportedly endured bullying because of his appearance and the absence of his Chinese father.

According to the report, Carlos eventually began associating with street gangs and was seriously injured in a machete attack in late 2025.

After regaining consciousness, he reportedly asked a question that cuts straight to the heart of the story:

“Will I still be able to work?”

For a child facing poverty and violence, even recovery can come with the fear of losing the ability to earn a living.

Finding the Father Isn't Always the Answer

Since 2023, Lin says he has helped trace missing fathers using old photographs, phone numbers, work identification cards and project records. A network of Chinese business owners, engineers and other community members has also provided food, medicine and educational support.

But finding a father doesn't guarantee a reunion.

In one case in Zambia, a man whose identity appeared to match the available information reportedly refused contact, saying he now had his own family and did not want the past to affect his present life.

Lin's group has increasingly focused on what the children need immediately: food, healthcare, education and a more stable future.

Because while the adults involved may consider an overseas relationship a chapter that has ended, the children are left living with its consequences.

And perhaps the most painful reminder is that these children are more than the circumstances of their birth. They each have a name, a life and a future of their own.

The boy in Uganda is still the image that stays with Lin: a child clutching an old helmet, approaching strangers with the same question.

"Do You Know MY Dad?"

For the man who left, it may be a distant memory.

For the child waiting for an answer, it may be a question that follows him for years.

I really hope that, despite the circumstances they were born into, these children will be treated with kindness, given a fair chance in life, and never made to feel that they are responsible for the choices of the adults whose choices shaped their lives.

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