In organizing the Good Reads for Good Deeds charity campaign, Juven had the honor of sitting down with different individuals involved with NGOs and charities. We want to feature their stories here. Juven hopes that through this campaign, we can build a new model of engagement between charities, organizations and the public.
Translated from Chinese — Original below
Kim hosts an exercise activity for the elderly
Relational Architecture with Kim
Saying “Hello” when you see someone, and “Good bye” when they leave is just politeness between people. And while manners helps everyday interactions, it can hardly be said to build relationships. You could be neighbors for years and never interact apart from a polite greeting. The situation is “so close, yet so far”. The challenges of building communication and relationships between generations, between the young and old, is even greater.
Kim is the relationship “architect” of Tuen Mun area. He acts as a bridge between the young and old to help residents recover a sense of their shared social identity. With the support of the Tuen Mun District Council and Home Affairs Department, Yan Oi Tong established a “Youth Space” in the area. As the director of this project, Kim hopes to see the youth in the Tuen Mun community join this experimental platform to build up relationships between themselves and the community, and put their brains together to effect social changes.
In working on this project, leading a team to join the “Youth Dream Workshop — Creative Social Start-Up Project” left the deepest impression for Kim. To get the elderly residents of Tai Hing Estate in Tuen Mun to exercise more, this group of youth went door to door. They spoke with residents and encouraged them to spend a day in the week doing some kind of exercise. This care became a heart-warming memory for the youth and elderly alike. During the exercise sessions, the health and physical conditions of the elderly participants were always on the minds of the youth, proving that age is not an unbreakable barrier for forming meaningful relationships, and that all it takes is effort.
“Actually, relationships can be built as long as the right channels for communications exist between people. So I help the build a bridge between the youth and the community,” said Kim. He recalled when a retired carpenter became very lonely after leaving his job. “His skills were immensely valuable, so we asked him to come teach woodworking techniques, so that, though he is retired, he could still contribute socially,” Kim explained. As a gesture of gratitude the carpenter even hand-made a mail box for the center. Though the two parties had several decades of difference in life experience, they were drawn closer because of mutual care.
Kim then talked about the creation of the “Fu Tei Field Team” — a secondary school group aimed at training its members to think and act well. The founder of the group, a university student from Lingnan University, had felt intense helplessness about the situation in Hong. It was so bad that he wanted to leave Hong Kong and emigrate elsewhere. But founding the group had changed his mind, because he could see that each little thing that he did for the group added to the process of his own growth. Now he feels that he wants to stay to help change Hong Kong society for the better.
The best way to understand society is through reading. Kim loves to read the books of Wuxia author Jin Yong, because they contain themes of finding your moral compass. He loves “The Little Prince” because it taught him the importance of keeping the inner child alive. Though he has read it many times, he can still find deeper meaning with each reading.
“Waiting for light in the darkness” may well be an epigram for his work. This line of lyric from the song “There is a Kind of Certainty in Life” (生命有一種絕對)by local band Mayday(五月天) has become a personal motto for Kim. ““Keep your eyes on the stars, and keep your feet on the ground,” is what my secondary school principal used to say to me,” Kim said. So he keeps himself firmly grounded, taking each day one step at a time, while seeking for his own starlight.
Kim thinks that Good Reads for Good Deeds is a new way to do charity work, which allows the public to encounter charities while reading, “Donating and Reading are both activities that provide a win-win situation, just like what I talk about when building relationship,” he exclaimed. Pick up a book and learn more about the world. Empower Yan Oi Tong through a donation via Juven today https://juven.co/yot/donate
Hong Kong Yan Oi Tong
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【「關係」建築師： 仁愛堂的阿Kim 】
見人說你好，走時說再見，這只是人與人之間的禮貌相待，而非關係建立。即使與鄰居天天相見，也可能未曾打過交道，人與人之間的關係「這麼近，那麼遠」。更別說跨越一個世代的長者和青年，要他們建立關係更是難上加難。
Kim卻是屯門的「關係」建築師，成為長者和青年的橋樑，讓迷失的街坊尋找自己在社區的身份認同。仁愛堂於去年在屯門區議會及屯門民政事務處的支持下， 成立「青年夢工場」，身為項目主管的Kim，讓青年以屯門為社區參與的實驗平台，建立自身和社區的關係，用腦力和行動力改變社會。
他最記得有一隊參與「青年夢工匠 — 社會創新啟動計劃」的團隊 — 屯結空間。為了讓屯門大興邨的長者多做運動，一班年輕人逐家逐戶訪談，鼓勵邨內長者每週抽一天一起做運動，成為青年與長者間最窩心的關懷和回憶。運動班中老友記的身體狀況，都讓這班青年人時刻掛在心上，證明年齡根本不成為關係中的隔膜，反而在於有否用心去建立。
「其實人與人之間只要有合適的渠道，便能建立關係，所以我們幫社區和青年之間築橋」，Kim憶述有位木工師傅退休後感到落寞，「他的技術就是最大的價值，於是我們請他前來教導年輕人木工技術，退而不休令他找到在社會上的存在價值」，木工師傅後來還幫中心的門口手製了一個郵箱，相隔數十年的兩代人，就是因一對手一份愛便拉近關係。
Kim又說起創立「虎地外勤組」－以訓練中學生培養思辦能力為目標的青年團隊，他們的創辦人，一位嶺大學生，言談中對香港現況有強烈無力感，但在開展計劃後由想離開這個地方，變成想留在這裡繼續改變社會的小伙子，感到自己的一小步亦可成就每一件小事，在過程中無形推動自己成長。
閱讀是認識社會的最大途徑，Kim最愛的是金庸小說，當中的道理令他明辨是非，《小王子》亦令他學懂保持童心的重要性。即使同一本書，每次重看都對他有不同的意義，領悟出不同的深層意思。
「黑暗中期待光線」 或許正是他工作上的寫照，Kim說五月天〈生命有一種絕對〉的歌詞正是他的人生座右銘；中學校長留在他腦海中的一句「眼望星星，腳踏草根」，亦令他在前行路上腳踏實地，一步步去追尋自己的星光。
Kim認為「樂善好書」 是一項新穎的慈善活動，讓大眾從閱讀中認識機構的工作，「捐款與閱讀並行，是一個雙贏活動，這就類似我之前說為各方建立橋樑的方法」。從今日起，找一本書讓你認識世界，透過 Juven捐款予仁愛堂！
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#樂善好書
