COMMUNity Stories June 2020 | Youth Hong Kong
Putting Neighbourhood First P
oon Kit-shan, who signed up for the Federation’s Neighbourhood First programme in 2018, says he used to do poorly at school and remembers the day a school social worker told him about volunteering with HKFYG. and Characdice is about various roles in life. The purpose is to help the players think independently.”
“My mother has always said, ‘If you can help other people, choose the ones who wait.’ Ever since then, the value I have seen in serving others has been in finding those who make no demands, understanding their predicament and realizing how much better off we are.”
I can do something to help the last, the lost, the least. He never looked back. “One day after a rainstorm, we went to Ta Kwu Ling village in the New Territories. The home of an elderly lady was flooded. It was terrible. All her furniture was damaged. We had brought some chairs high enough for that lady to be able to sit down with her feet out of the water. That memory will always remind me that there are people in Hong Kong who are dreadfully disadvantaged and that I can do something to help them.” Later, Kit-shan joined a volunteer teaching team at HKFYG Cheung Wa Youth SPOT. “The children all came from disadvantaged North District families. We helped them with homework and taught them board games. The main purpose was to show them how to cope with the challenges of life.” The experience inspired Kit-shan to invent two special games. “They are called 4-seeable ( 慳 大咗 ) and Characdice ( 角 骰 ). The theme of 4-seeable is financial management
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Delighted when some of his former students become volunteers themselves, Kit-shan thinks that “Volunteering helped me realize that the neediest in our society are young people who feel confused about their lives and their direction. Life planning and volunteering can help to empower them.” Now, after the long period of school suspensions during the pandemic, Kit-shan wants to tell others how meaningful volunteering with HKFYG has been. “It has been an important chapter of my life and has told me I have the power to serve society.” Now a member of the HKFYG Youth Service Advisory Committee he says, “Maybe we will face big challenge but I believe a good future is possible if we do the right thing for our society and contribute positively.” Although most Hong Kong students do volunteer work, most are scared to try something new, says Kit-shan. “They fear failure, so, whenever I can, I try to share with them a story of one of my own failures. That encourages them to create their own games. When they see how happy others are to play them, they gain the confidence to keep going.”
More details Neighbourhood First neighbourhoodfirst.hkfyg.org.hk
