For eight long years, Sophia Nyangoma has carried the weight of raising her daughter alone while searching for the man she once called her husband, Chinese engineer Dan Zhaolong. Zhaolong had pledged to provide KSh 386,000 annually for his daughter Lee Su Jin’s child support. Zhaolong, from Zhijiang City, Hubei Province, vanished in 2018, leaving behind a KSh 2.75 million debt in unpaid childcare support. How much was Zhaolong’s child’s support? Under a 2016 memorandum of understanding signed with Nyangoma and his then employer, China New Era Group Corporation, he had pledged to provide KSh 386,000 annually for his daughter Lee Su Jin’s education, housing, and medical care.
. Speaking to New Vision, the distressed mother disclosed that her lover used to provide the money every year, but when he disappeared to China in 2018, everything stopped. The agreement, prepared by NIM Advocates and Solicitors, was meant to secure the future of their daughter, but that has fallen through. Nyangoma recalled a hopeful past living with Zhaolong, who worked as an engineer during the construction of Kiruddu and Kawempe National Referral Hospitals. “I loved my husband very much because he was renting a house for us. He promised to take me to China and build me a house there,” she said. Is Zhaolong dead or alive? But the dream collapsed when Zhaolong abruptly cut contact. Calls to his number were eventually answered by a stranger who claimed he had died after leaving the country. “There was no death certificate, no explanation. I could not confirm anything,” Nyangoma said, her suspicion deepening as she clung to fading hope.
Despite their covenant not to involve Zhaolong’s employer in personal affairs, Nyangoma has been left with no support. Relief came recently with the launch of the Eric-W@ng Foundation, an NGO committed to reconnecting children with absent Chinese fathers. “When I heard they launched a humanitarian drive to identify these children, God answered my prayers,” Nyangoma said. Sophia poses with her mixed-race daughter, Lee Su Jin. Hope for Sophia Nyangoma Foundation director Eric W@ng expressed regret that children who look Chinese are being laughed at in society for lacking what to eat. He pledged to help link abandoned children to their fathers abroad. Nyangoma’s story is not isolated, as many mixed-heritage children are left grappling with cultural identity struggles, social stigma, and a lack of resources.
The estranged mother maintains that Zhaolong was a good man, but without the promised child support, she cannot give their daughter what he promised. For now, the search continues, with questions on whether the missing baby daddy will reappear and honour his obligations. Struggles by African kids sired by Chinese men Women who have children with Chinese construction workers have perennially complained about the struggles they have raising them. They noted that children born out of such situations struggle to fit in with their peers because they look conspicuously different. Efforts by the women to seek justice and make the men contribute towards raising the children they sired are often futile, as authorities do little to help.
By Hillary Lisimba
