During Mid-Autumn Festival, our EOSAs had a great fun with some ethnic-minority children by making the lanterns together to celebrate the festival after tutoring them to do the homework.
In this event, EOSAs did not only share the joy in the community, but also had a chance to talk to the centre’s staff and understood more on the education problem that the ethnic-minority children are facing in Hong Kong.
“When we talk about equal opportunity, we put the ethnic-minority children into the mainstream schools. But is that appropriate, if they cannot understand what the teachers teach in Cantonese? So, what is equal opportunity to them?” asked by the centre’s staff to our EOSAs.
Feedback From EOSAs
Cheng Yu Sang Vincent (Year 1)
Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine
During the 3-hour visit, I have met some cute children and taught them some homework. It gave me sense of satisfaction. After that, we made lanterns and shared the traditional Chinese festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, with the children. In this programme, I also knew more about the food that is eaten at Mid-Autumn festival, like water chestnuts. It broadened my horizons too. In conclusion, I am glad that I have joined this service.
Choong Kar Man Elaine (PhD Year 1)
Faculty of Dentistry
I'm grateful for this opportunity to celebrate the mid-autumn festival with many children. The sharing session by the centre management staff introduced a whole new perspective to the discussion regarding equal opportunity for EM children which I have never thought about prior to this programme!
Lam Ka Yuen Jason (Year 3)
Faculty of Social Sciences
It was an amazing day for me, because helping ethnic minority to integrate in Hong Kong socially and culturally is my pleasure and it’s what I wanna do more in the future. Regardless of what their race is, actually we are all the same. More importantly, I really learnt more from them and this activity, equipping me with more experience about it. So I hope I can join more activities about it and try to hold the events for facilitating their social-cultural integration. 😆😆
Lin Wai Ho Houston (Year 2)
Faculty of Social Sciences
Making lanterns with ethnic minority children is a memorable experience in my life. This workshop is an invaluable opportunity for cultural exchange between me and ethnic minorities. In the future, I hope I can help in promoting cultural diversity and social Integration by connecting more local students with ethnic minorities.
Mok Wing In Rainie (Year 4)
Faculty of Arts
It is such a rewarding time celebrating the Mid-Autumn festival with ethnic minorities (EM) children. I am so happy to see them having so much fun making lanterns and knowing more about Chinese culture, not to mention seeing that there are organisations that have been trying their best to help the EM fit in the society.
Although EM might not have a deep understanding of our culture, their Cantonese is actually much better than we expected, their keenness on learning Chinese culture is more than we thought. Knowing that they have been trying to hard to fit in the community, we, as locals and students with so many resources, should take the initiative to break that fragile wall between different races in society, to make Hong Kong a more inclusive city.
Yuen Ho Tsing Alicia (Year 3)
Faculty of Arts
It was delightful to see how EM children and their parents enjoyed their time learning about Chinese culture and mid autumn festival through games. Despite the cultural difference and language barriers, they still enjoyed the event. Apart from the fun, the service also left me with a thought-provoking message. The center's volunteer who led the event shared about her experience teaching EM children, which raised my awareness towards the dilemma of EM children education in hk and prompted me to rethink how to make opportunities truly "equal".
