Observed over cups of coffee, Bill Condon seems like any other well-dressed, medium height, stoutly built Caucasian man. With his glasses and soft tufts of white hair, he has the air of the sort of kindly gentleman with whom you might play a game of chess on some rainy evening, instead of a man who, as Chairman of Fund Raising for MedArt, is changing the lives of many.

But spend ten minutes talking to him, and you’ll find suggestions of iron determination behind that easy smile, compassion in his genial voice, and eternal optimism within those light brown eyes. Condon hails from Dublin, Ireland, and first travelled to Beijing in 1999 to set up a company called MBC with two others, and to apply for a licence to have Chinese students study overseas. At the time, many students were being misinformed, and Condon was determined to offer them access to the information they need about studying abroad.

Always an adventurous spirit, when MBC relocated its operations to Hong Kong in 2001, he also ventured into the restaurant business and opened Chedi Infusion in Soho. Then one day, serendipity stepped in.

Condon, recalling when his son underwent minor surgery at the Matilda International Hospital, says, “I heard a baby screaming in obvious distress in the room next door. I put my head around and there was no one there besides this little Chinese boy crying, so I went over and started making silly faces to comfort him.” Condon leans forward in his seat, his coffee long forgotten. “Meeting that child was a life-changing moment for me.”

Condon learned that there were two other children there who were part of the China Orphan Outreach programme, which aims to help Mainland Chinese orphans in need of serious medical attention. What struck him was that there were nannies flown in from overseas to take care of them on a voluntary basis. “What made a bigger impact on me, was that the surgeons in the private sector were doing these procedures for free,” he says.

As fate would have it, the surgeon to operate on Condon’s son was Dr John Ngan, one of the founders of MedArt, an organisation founded by doctors and musicians to bring music to those in permanent confinement, and the trunk from which the China Orphan Outreach programme branched.

Condon is also Communication Director for the Irish Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, is planning to help expand the art scene in Mainland China, and has started to delve into gemstones. These, along with his work with MedArt, keep Condon a very busy man indeed, especially when the fundraising cause is in full swing. This fortnight is one of those times, as MedArt hosts a fundraising concert. Just like Condon in that hospital years ago, it may well be a life-changing moment for you.

Heidi Yeung

The MedArt China Orphan Outreach Fundraising Concert is on July 11 at the Cultural Centre, see our Feature. Tickets: www.medart.org.hk; 3549 6930.