No matter where you live, how young you are (I’m 14 years old), and what language you speak (or don’t speak), there is always something we kids can do to help in our communities. During the winter holidays, I was lucky enough to participate in two activities that allowed me to learn more about and give back to my community in Hong Kong.
It was a bright, chilly morning when my friend A and I stepped off the minibus in Sai Kung to participate in a beach clean-up hosted by Green Hour HK, a volunteer-run organisation started in 2018 to raise awareness of the importance of environmental protection. We joined a small group of about twenty people and, armed with garbage bags, gloves, tongs and high spirits, headed out to the nearby Sha Ha beach. At first glance, it looked very clean but as we split into smaller groups and started looking among the rocks, we uncovered lots of trash: plastic bottles, Styrofoam bits, food wrappers, flip flops, fishing ropes, pieces of netting, and even a plastic toy musket, which is a kind of pistol that pirates used to use. I felt disappointed that there was so much litter even though there are so many places to properly dispose of waste in Hong Kong. I felt sad, realising how much of our trash ends up on beaches and in natural habitats.
As we were using the picker-upper tongs to grab the garbage, a passerby saw us and asked our group leader what we were doing. After finding out, he kindly offered our entire team some money to have lunch later on, which was really nice of him. I was glad that our efforts were noticed and appreciated! We continued working for another few hours, and at the end of the cleanup, we discovered that we had accumulated more than 100 kgs of waste, not including some large, rusted metal poles and a massive foam cushion (likely the seat from a luxury yacht), which we could not weigh. A and I felt really accomplished and happy that we were able to make a small difference in cleaning up our environment.
The other opportunity was with a club that I’m part of at school, the Alpha Leo Club, which is a community service club that runs lots of different service events over the course of the school year. The event I participated in was organized by the Alpha Leo Club, in conjunction with SoCo (Society for Community Organization), a non-governmental and human rights advocacy group that was formed in 1971 to protect and advocate for the underprivileged, poor and marginalised communities in Hong Kong. I arrived at SoCo’s offices in Sham Shui Po on a Saturday morning, joining about fifteen students from my school to distribute food and electric multi-purpose warmers to the elderly folks living in sub-divided flats in the Sham Shui Po area. We split up into small groups of two to three students and headed off on foot.
Ben Parsons is on the left with his schoolmates and Mr K in the centre.
The first person my group visited was Mr K, a security guard who worked from 7 pm until 7 am every day. He told us he was 75 years old, but he was in good health and good spirits. We didn’t get to go inside his house as it was too small for all of us to fit inside it, so we stood outside in the hallway and passed him the donations. He was so grateful and shared his love for singing by performing a Chinese opera song for us (he did warn us that his singing wasn’t as good as before as he had dentures, which he popped out for us to see). We clapped after he finished singing and headed to the next home of Mr and Mrs W, an elderly couple living in a very cramped, windowless, sub-divided flat. I was shocked to see how small it was: about four feet across and 12 feet deep. There was only enough space for a single bed with storage shelves going up along the walls. Mr and Mrs W, who used to be janitors until they retired, were nice and invited us into their apartment, and they were really pleased to receive the items we gave to them. Even though I don’t speak Cantonese fluently, I was still able to participate in the conversations and help demonstrate using the electric warmer because we had a translator from SoCo. The elderly folks we visited were also friendly and very open to conversation. After we finished the visits, I felt that I had learned a lot and was grateful for what I had after seeing the conditions that Mr K and Mr and Mrs W lived in and the challenges of their everyday lives.
Even if you’re a kid and you don’t speak the local language at all, you can always make a positive impact in your community by looking for volunteering opportunities at school or with local organizations. Making an impact as a teenager is so important because it is our future, WE are the future, and change starts with us. So, what are you waiting for?
Written by:
Benjamin Alexander Tai Parsons
Ben Parsons is a 14-year-old, grade 9 student at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong and a member of the Kitchee Football Club U16 team.
It was very inspiring to read your article. A gentle reminder to all of us that we all can make this world a better place in so many ways. Thankyou