Francis Kwesi Hagan, Shenzhen's first foreign volunteer station chief, died October 1 at 51 after 17 years of service. He led the Bao'an International Youth Volunteer Service Station.
Tags:Source: OT-Team(G), 南方都市报, 深圳大件事, 深圳特区报
“You Raise Me Up, so I can stand on mountains.” The moving lyrics filled a room at Shenzhen Daily’s English-language newsroom in Futian, Shenzhen, on the afternoon of October 18.
Inside, volunteers from Shenzhen and international friends had gathered to remember Francis Kwesi Hagan, a Ghanaian who devoted 17 years to volunteer service in Shenzhen and became the city’s first foreign national to lead a volunteer service station. Hagan died in his home country on October 1 at the age of 51.
Old videos played on a large screen, showing Hagan, a sturdy man with a warm, ever-present smile, working at volunteer service stations and bending down on the street to help people who had fallen. As friends recalled their memories of him, some struggled to hold back their tears.
A certificate naming him one of Shenzhen’s “Most Beautiful Foreign Volunteers” stood out on the screen. “In Shenzhen, you can become a beautiful heart,” he once wrote on his social media account, alongside a photo of the certificate.
Becoming a beautiful heart was perhaps the best description of Hagan’s life.
100,000 Likes for a Beautiful Heart
Many people first learned about Hagan’s volunteer work through a short video that went viral online.
On June 18, 2023, after heavy rain, the road outside Bao’an Stadium Station was covered in water. A food delivery rider fell heavily to the ground along with his electric scooter. Hagan rushed over to help him up. A passerby captured the scene on a phone and posted it on social media.
In the video, Hagan wore a red volunteer vest over a light blue shirt. He firmly helped the rider to his feet before lifting the fallen scooter. “I’ll help you,” he said, repeatedly asking in Mandarin whether the rider wanted some water and whether he had secured his phone. After helping him straighten out the scooter, Hagan steadied the vehicle and handed the rider his helmet, saying, “Put this helmet on.”
Zhou Xiaolin, a fellow volunteer, witnessed the incident firsthand.
“We were inside the Bao’an Stadium Urban Volunteer Service Station, known as the Bao’an Stadium U-Station, when we heard a loud crash outside. Francis reacted incredibly quickly. He pulled me along, and we rushed out,” Zhou recalled.
People at the scene gave the foreign volunteer thumbs-up in appreciation.
The red volunteer vest, Hagan’s solid build and good-natured appearance, his act of helping the rider, and his engaging exchanges in Mandarin made the moment particularly memorable. The heartwarming video quickly spread online, attracting more than 100,000 likes and nearly 2,000 comments.
“This simple act of helping someone really warmed my heart,” one commenter wrote. Another said, “There’s a light in this foreign volunteer’s eyes.”
Many viewers wondered who Hagan was, what had brought him to Shenzhen, and how he had become a volunteer in the city’s signature red vest.
Hagan had not originally planned to stay in Shenzhen.
In 2004, at the age of 29, he stopped in Shenzhen for sightseeing during a visit to Hong Kong. He was so taken with the city that he decided to stay.
“My brother told me Shenzhen was beautiful, and that he could feel kindness everywhere,” recalled his sister, Dorcas Nkrumah.
Hagan grew up in a family of 10 in Ghana, where he was taught from an early age that sharing and giving to others were essential to finding value in life. Optimism, kindness and compassion became defining traits.
The year Hagan settled in Shenzhen, the Shenzhen Volunteer Federation formally registered as the first regional office of Global Youth Service Day in the Chinese mainland. In April that year, 58,000 registered volunteers in Shenzhen took part in activities alongside young volunteers around the world for the first time.
A Beautiful Heart Meets the Red of Volunteerism
From the moment Hagan decided to stay, Shenzhen gained another beautiful heart.
He found a job as an English teacher at Shenzhen Chinese-English School in Bao’an District. His colleague, Peng Huichan, remembered him as someone who was kind and approachable, with an infectious sense of positivity.
It was this natural kindness that led him to Shenzhen’s volunteer community and its distinctive red vest.
In 2008, Hagan learned by chance about a volunteer fundraising event for children with autism. Finding the cause meaningful, he signed up and became one of Shenzhen’s earliest foreign volunteers.
He later expressed pride in this milestone on social media: “I was one of the first foreigners to wear the red vest.”
“Wherever he went, he spread goodness,” said Wang Xueyong, executive principal of Shenzhen Chinese-English School. His kindness, Wang explained, was not something he deliberately displayed but something that came naturally to him.
Records in Shenzhen’s volunteer service system show that Hagan participated in volunteer activities for 17 consecutive years.
On the streets, he helped a couple who used wheelchairs, carried heavy luggage for pregnant women and called taxis for them. In government service halls, he patiently answered questions and explained administrative procedures to newly arrived foreign nationals, helping them settle into life in the city. During the 2011 Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, he moved through crowds providing assistance to visitors.
On December 5, 2019, International Volunteer Day, Bao’an District awarded Hagan the Rose Medal for Volunteer Service, its highest honor in the district’s volunteer service sector.
“He showed through his actions that ‘I am a foreigner, but I am not an outsider,’” said Jiang Jiaxian, chairman of the Shenzhen Volunteer Service Foundation.
In 2022, Hagan was named one of Shenzhen’s “Most Beautiful Foreign Volunteers.”
“This honor belongs to someone who considers Shenzhen his hometown,” said Liu Linbo, a relevant official with the Communist Youth League Shenzhen Municipal Committee. “Through his kindness, he brought people of different nationalities together and showed us that the idea of ‘Anyone who comes to Shenzhen becomes a Shenzhener, and anyone who comes can become a volunteer’ can truly warm people’s hearts.”
A Beautiful Heart Shares Stories of Goodness
Hagan once said that becoming a beautiful heart meant spreading goodness through action.
In the classroom, he often shared his volunteer experiences with students, encouraging them to step outside school and help others. In his neighborhood, he was a familiar and much-loved foreign resident. Lin Xiaofeng, who lived near the Bao’an Stadium U-Station, remembered the Ghanaian for his fluent Chinese and cheerful personality.
“Often, you would hear his laughter before he even arrived,” Lin said.
Hagan frequently told his family in Ghana, “Anyone who comes to Shenzhen becomes a Shenzhener. Shenzhen is my second home.”
By putting down roots in the city, teaching, helping others and volunteering, he became a living example of Shenzhen’s story and an enthusiastic ambassador for it.
In 2023, drawing on his years of volunteer work and experience in people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries, Hagan was appointed as an ambassador under the Shenzhen Global Communication Ambassador Program.
In November that year, he took the stage at the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit to share his story and his connection with Shenzhen.
Taking a commemorative medal recognizing him as one of Shenzhen’s “Most Beautiful Foreign Volunteers” from his pocket, Hagan told the audience: “In 2004, I first set foot in Shenzhen with just one suitcase and my experience teaching English. Over the years, I have taught students across the Greater Bay Area and helped countless people. Yet what this city has given me far exceeds what I could ever give in return.”
His voice was steady and sincere.
“Today, on behalf of Shenzhen and all the ‘new Shenzhener’ who have found a sense of belonging in this city, I invite everyone here to come to Shenzhen and experience a city filled with warmth.”
At that moment, his beautiful heart shone especially brightly.
A Beautiful Heart Builds a Bridge
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and African countries, as people-to-people exchanges between the two sides continue to grow.
Having spent many years building his life in Shenzhen, Hagan also served as an important link between China and Ghana. According to his sister, Dorcas Nkrumah, one of his greatest wishes was to build a bridge between the people of Africa and China.
In 2024, Hagan returned to Ghana as a Shenzhen global communication ambassador and visited the Shenzhen Energy Anoson Power Plant in Tema.
The plant was China's first power generation project invested in and operated by a Chinese company in Africa. It can supply approximately 20% of Ghana's electricity needs. Through an apprenticeship-based training system, the project has also helped develop more than 400 local power industry technicians.
Seeing the project firsthand left a deep impression on Hagan. While many international exchanges amounted to brief encounters, he saw cooperation here taking root and producing lasting results.
He believed China-Africa cooperation was about more than exchanging resources. It also meant building mutual understanding and sharing technology and future opportunities. Friendship spanning continents, he said, was helping bring light to homes across Africa.
Hagan later became an important liaison for the Ghanaian Embassy in China, taking on increasingly demanding official responsibilities. Concerned that frequent schedule changes would disrupt his students' classes, he left his teaching position at Shenzhen Chinese-English School in 2025, after more than two decades in education, to devote himself full-time to China-Africa exchanges and cooperation.
Leaving the classroom did not mean leaving his work behind. Together with partners he had met through volunteering, he started a business with the aim of bringing high-quality clean energy products from Shenzhen to Ghana.
Zhao Hejun, a fellow volunteer, described Hagan as outgoing, warm-hearted and generous in sharing stories about Ghana. He also introduced Shenzhen and China's volunteer culture to audiences overseas, making him a true ambassador for people-to-people ties between China and Africa.
His beautiful heart had become a bridge connecting people and countries.
A Beautiful Heart Lives On
Many people attended Hagan's memorial on October 18, including volunteers he had mentored. Through his example, he had inspired others to develop beautiful hearts of their own.
Chen Qun was one of them. During the 2011 Shenzhen Universiade, Hagan's enthusiasm encouraged many teachers and students at Chen's school to take part in volunteer activities. Inspired by him, Chen continued volunteering at community service stations for years afterward.
Li Fengmei, a school doctor, also joined volunteer activities organized by the Bao’an District Education Bureau alongside Hagan and continued volunteering thereafter.
“He told me that volunteer activities were wonderful and that taking part benefited both the mind and body,” she recalled.
In 2019, the Bao’an International Youth Volunteer Service Station underwent a major upgrade. In May 2020, Hagan was elected its director, becoming the first foreign national to lead a volunteer service station in Shenzhen.
On the station's opening day, he invited many international friends and helped establish the Bao’an District International Youth Volunteer Service Team. He brought together 50 young foreign volunteers from more than 10 countries and regions, including Russia, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom, to put on their red vests.
“Volunteering knows no nationality, and helping others needs no special reason,” said Wang Bing, deputy director of the Bao’an Stadium U-Station. Wang recalled that Hagan often used these simple but powerful words to encourage international residents to join volunteer activities.
In June 2026, Wang had a video call with Hagan.
On the other side of the screen, Hagan laughed heartily and asked about new volunteers at the station and volunteer recruitment for the Bao’an Marathon. He promised to return to Shenzhen for a visit before long.
By then, he was already experiencing health problems, yet he continued to show others his cheerful and caring side.
On October 1, Hagan passed away after an illness.
He never married. “My brother was alone, and he devoted his entire life to serving others,” his sister, Dorcas Nkrumah, said.
Today, the Bao’an Stadium U-Station remains a place of warmth and kindness. Volunteers in red vests continue to greet people with smiles. Delivery riders stop briefly as they pass through, while foreign visitors pause to ask questions and exchange greetings. These ordinary moments continue to reflect the city's generosity and humanity.
Hagan is gone, but his beautiful heart remains in Shenzhen, inspiring more people to follow his example.
Today, Shenzhen has more than 4.2 million registered volunteers, including 27,000 registered foreign volunteers.
In this city, beautiful hearts continue to flourish.