At Sultan Mosque, the docent gave us an enthusiastic and informative introduction to Islam and Muslims. In the following Q&A session we learnt even more about the topic and cleared up some misunderstandings. The people there were so nice that they even posted our photo on Facebook!

Zhang Xin (back row, sixth from left)
Bachelor of Social Sciences (Honours) in Global and Environmental Studies

Service Exposure for Global Awareness (SEGA) Programme 2014/15: Hong Kong and Singapore

At the YWCA we packed food and other everyday necessities for elderly people, which we then delivered to their homes. Our team quickly decided on a division of labour and worked efficiently! We also flattened the empty boxes and tidied the room before starting to deliver the packages. I am so proud of our team!

On the second day of our trip, we visited the YWCA to learn more about services for elderly people and accompanied elderly beneficiaries to Gardens by the Bay. We undertook voluntary service collaborating with regular volunteers from Dell. I was amazed by the sense of social responsibility displayed by the company and its staff.

We got to know about the social problems addressed and the support provided by the Association of Muslim Professionals. As a result of the discussion I felt that “Muslim” and “Malay” are only demographic designations rather than names for especially vulnerable groups, because the social problems they face are not caused by their race or religion. Looking at things in Hong Kong, there is still much to do to for ethnic minorities.

These are my minority students from Thailand and Cambodia. I taught them Chinese so they could catch up to the level among mainstream students. Their level of Chinese greatly affected their learning and performance in other subjects.

Horace Man Ho-yiu  

Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Liberal Studies Education

Service Exposure for Global Awareness (SEGA) Programme 2014/15: Hong Kong and Japan

Although only leaves and colour pens were provided to these ethnic minority children to complete their pictures, each piece they created was meaningful.

Disabled people could visit the beach in specially designed wheel chairs and pick up shells with us. I was really impressed by the Japanese attitude because they thought carefully about every detail. I hope that Hong Kong can provide more quality services to the needy by adopting the attitude that Japanese have towards service users.

I felt I was one of their family members – even the person in charge of the organisation wore the same T-shirt as us. We had joyful moments, sharing our happiness and laughter on the beach.

The organisation was similar to a social enterprise in Hong Kong. Most of the people working there were handicapped. The boss (front row, first left) hoped that they could live independently and increase the things they were capable of doing. She provided lunch and travel annually for them, and patiently taught them their daily work procedures. The creation of feeling of a “home” gave us a memorable impression and allowed me to reflect on the rationale for setting up a social enterprise.