The Sixth Must-do at HKU?

Transcription

1 The Sixth Must-do at HKU? Most of the HKU students know the Five must dos at HKU, which are study, dating, living in hall, parttime and sheung jong. However, isn t the sense of community service an important aspect of university education too? O-Project Programme, a unique orientation event of Social Service Group, HKUSU, promotes the concept of university students organizing social service to help the needy in society. This Programme was held successfully during 27 th September to 31 st December last year. Unlike ordinary orientation activities, it aims to (i) provide a platform for freshmen to experience the values of organizing social services; (ii) increase the awareness and consciousness of participants on issues regarding needy people in the local community; and (iii) motivate participants to actively participate in social service. This year, a total of 50 HKU freshmen divided into six groups completed this programme, and we are happy to announce that 150 local needy were served by all the six service projects organized by the participants. From deciding on the service target, service format, writing proposals to contacting centres, each group had the hands-on experience of organizing an event to serve the local needy. Through designing a suitable activity for targets, students have to do research and reflections on the issues related to the targets in society. This process provides a deeper understanding to underprivileged people in society. Besides participating in ordinary voluntary services, being an organizer is also a meaningful thing that university students could use their passion, ability and knowledge to help the needy in society. In the 3/4- year university life, other than gaining from the resources provided by university, HKU students also have the social responsibility to take care of society. In the past, we encourage university students to join volunteer program organized by social organizations, but indeed university student could do more. They could organize social service by themselves. We hope this culture could pass back to other HKU students so as to raise their awareness of thinking how much they could do for the society. Below are some of the reflections and service stories of the six groups of participants: Group One I am glad to be one of the organizers of this service. I have never been in charge of a function before so it was a big challenge to me and it was a chance for me to have a close contact with the elderly who live the nursing home. During the preparation, we had meeting at midnight through video conferencing and at 9 am because of our bias schedule. We met many obstacles but we finally overcame them. It was an unforgettable experience to me. - Chan Po Mei

2 Volunteering as participants in community services is easy, but organizing one from scratch is never that simple. I am grateful for O-Project to have provided me a platform to design service with a group of people who have the same passion and love for the community as me. Being able to turn paper plans into reality was just amazing and had proved that team preparations are needed for success. The series of challenges encountered were removed once the happy faces were seen from the elderly we served. All I can say is that this project had created another wonderful memory for me. - Fan Yuen Yan As I am a BSW student, I discover that there are great difference between theories and reality. Things will never happen in the way you imagine. I believe that this is also the goal of this project, to cooperate and find the way out. I strongly recommend this program to other students as it benefits me a lot. - Lin Wai Hin Group Two On the first day, we were responsible for a group of 8 children. We played a lot of games such as My Bonnie, Lingbolinggawa and Pictionary. All the games were designed to teach children English. At the end of the activity, we asked them again the vocabularies we taught and they were able to answer correctly. Sometimes being part of somebody's good day or just receiving a smile can be a very satisfying simple pleasure in life. Words cannot fully express how contented I felt after the service. It is the success of our planning, the friendship formed through collaboration, teamwork, and the bright smiles on the little children's faces that has made o-project something so special and a memorable On the second day, we made cookie with a group of 12 children. At the same time, we taught them the ingredient and revised the vocabularies on the first day. Also we provided some toy coins for the children to practice on how to buy the ingredient using English. Cody, Liang Kam Kwan Group Three

3 moment in my first semester of university. The intangible rewards from voluntary work never fail to give people the greatest joy in life. Joanna, Lau Pui Yung I looked after a girl who was relatively quiet and introverted and I thought she is like me. She didn' t do the tasks that we have prepared. I think I was not good at doing the part of the engagement. However, she obediently followed us instead of running around. I think she is a good girl. Fortunately, the process was quite smooth. Many participants were active and involved in the tasks. Their smiles and passions inspire me. It is a memorable experience. Nick, Chan Lik The Orientation Project organized by the Social Service Group is a valuable experience in my first year of university life. There is no greater joy than planning a meaningful service from scratch and watching it grow into fruition. Through this project, I not only became friends with those of caring hearts, but also matured from an inexperienced newbie, learning to prepare for every eventuality and plan everything in detail. It touched me deeply when I saw how we brought happiness and fulfillment to our target children, and how we left a positive and lasting impression to them. I certainly have not, and will not, regret ever joining this orientation project! Chester, Leung Yik Kan Group Four O-project is one of the important experience in my first year. The reason why I joined is simply to learn how to organize a charity function in a meaningful way. Yet turned out, what I gained are far more than that. Firstly, I have a better understanding about organizing function. Thanks for the booklet, I had a clearer concept of deciding event. For example, it taught me the different steps, the format of proposal and report. Secondly, I met a group of partners that share the same values with me. I am glad to know all of my groupmates, we all have the similar thoughts towards the O-project. We wanted to hold a event for elderly, as we believe they might be the most needed group. Though we might have conflict, we could deal with it together at the end. During the process, we faced plenty difficulties. The most common one is to ask everyone to join a meeting. Each of us have different things to do, so sometime it is not east to have all of us to be in one meeting. Another issue is to consider what

4 should be included in the function. Under the limitation of the budget, we could not do something with high cost. What we had to do, was trying to minimize the cost. The third one is to allocate duties. It is hard to distribute jobs because each of us might not have enough time to handle the duties. - Firen, Leung King Shing I really enjoy my time with my teammates during the 3- month planning. They are all very responsible and we shared the same goal, which is to show our love and care to more people. Meetings of ours were no longer boring. Their jokes and laughter just made my day. It is hoped that my teammates and I can join other service projects together in the future. Cindy, Kwan Sin Yee The most memorable and rewarding moment in this event was when an uncle thanked us for our effort at the end of event with a song of friendship. If there is another chance, I will not hesitate to join this programme again and may the spirit of Champ Champ Champ Champ [name of group four] be with us always. Lemon, Leung Hin Lun Group Five hoped to talk with the elderly and listen to their challenges faced. And we also provided homecare services, such as cleaning their home and knowledge about hygiene. In the afternoon, around 2 to 5 o'clock, we organized a little carnival providing a wide variety of activities for the elderly in At the start of the project, we set several objectives: 1) let the elderly feel warm, 2) increase their understandings on their own community, 3) homecare and 4) self-care knowledge. Based on the objectives, we had two activities in the whole day. In the morning, around 10 to 1 o'clock, we visited elderly homes in group of 2 to 3 volunteers. We

5 the community center, for instance, magic and talent shows, games and homecare knowledge competition. During the conservation with elders, we found a great satisfaction when we saw their smiles. We listened to their daily lives, family members and etc. We felt we were so blessed to share their happiness. Ranging from the preparation to the practice of our project, we know that this project is a start to notice things we can do. There is still a long way to have another step forward to care more about the elderly in our family and even in our society from our heart and in daily life. Furthermore, we understand physical support, like providing materials is good for their daily lives. More importantly, mental support, such as being with them to show our understandings of their situations and love and care is more important than everything. Rosemary, Koo Shuk Kwan Group Six Our service aimed at providing care for the elderly so that they wouldn't feel being forgotten by the society. Twenty volunteers including our group members participated on the day of service and around thirty elders joined the service. We played some mini games and we all had a great time! We also prepared snacks, drinks and pill cases for the elders. The elders were easy to get along with and more active than what we expected. We enjoyed the service and hoped to participate in other volunteer works in the future. - Kwan Miu Chi