March 2017 - Hope of the City Newsletter
Annie's Story
Annie is a young single parent with 2 daughters. After arriving from the mainland nine years ago, she went through an abusive marriage and distressing divorce that left her depressed and feeling hopeless. What’s more, while living in a family shelter her older daughter began acting out, creating even more tension. Thankfully, Annie found much-needed support at J-Life, one of Hope of the City’s partner organisations in Sham Shui Po. There, she received counselling to help her rebuild a sense of self-worth, and her younger daughter Kiki finally got a long-awaited psychological assessment: she was diagnosed with ADHD and now receives after-school tutoring. Today, the family’s life is much improved. They’ve moved into public housing, go to church and Annie is an active volunteer at J Life, helping others as she herself was helped when she needed it most.
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Fun and Games for CNY
A fun time was had by all at the St. Barnabas Chinese New Year Poon Choi Festival on Feb 4. Ninety elderly people from Island West joined the festivities, with 14 Hope of the City volunteers from Island ECC leading them in worship singing and games. Some lively rounds of charades brought much fun and laughter. The group then listened intently to a short health talk and learned how to perform a range of body-benefitting stretches from one of our skilful volunteers. Many thanks to the Heartbeat and Bilingual care groups for bringing love and joy to these elderly.
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Volunteer Training Update
We’re always in need of more volunteers to join our elderly home visits programmes in Shek Kip Mei and Ngau Tau Kok, and our family home visits in Sham Shui Po. What? You say you don’t have any experience with home visits? Don’t worry, that’s why we regularly hold training sessions for new volunteers, like the one we had on Feb 19 at Island ECC. Our 18 new volunteers learned what to expect during home visits and how to build caring relationships with those in need. There’s always plenty of time to ask questions too. Contact us to learn more. |
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Let the Home Visits Begin!
Mar 25 saw the kick-off of a new round of elderly home visits in Ngau Tau Kok. A Habitat for Humanity representative was on hand to share how they can assist needy seniors with free home repairs, and our volunteers were invited to keep an eye out for any elderly who might need this service. During the visits, our volunteers identified four potential households, and we look forward to seeing how their living environments can be improved. We now have 43 volunteers visiting and building relationships with 72 elderly people each month in NTK, in partnership with St. James Settlement.
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An IDEAL Birthday Party
It’s always a joy to participate in an IDEAL Birthday Party, and our Mar 11 event was no different. This time, eight Hope of the City volunteers joined 42 young adults from the Intellectually Disabled Education and Advocacy League (IDEAL) for an afternoon of noisy fun in Sham Shui Po. Although a few of the new games were quite complicated, learning them together only added to the merriment, and it was great to see the parents encouraging their kids to try their best. It was also very nice to see some new faces at the party!
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