Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong

Environmental pollution is a problem which affects every one of the world’s 7.7 billion people. To make sure that the next generation has access to clean air and water, as well as a contaminant-free food supply, it is crucial that we develop eco-friendly lifestyle habits as soon as possible.

For years, Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong has been actively promoting a ‘No Plastic’ message. This year, we took our efforts to a new level by launching the ‘No Plastic Ocean’ campaign for primary school students, helping young children learn about the importance of reducing our use of plastic and protecting the world’s precious oceans.

Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong has always placed great value on environmental education. Our ‘No Plastic Bottles Day’ campaign has been running since 2012, raising public awareness about the seriousness of plastic pollution and working to reduce the use of disposable plastic bottles. In spite of our efforts, and the work of many other people and organisations, plastic pollution is getting worse – in fact, the World Economic Forum estimates that by 2050, there could be more plastic in the ocean than fish, by weight. Also this year, to motivate everyone to develop plastic-free lifestyle habits, we renamed the No Plastic Bottles Day campaign, calling it ‘No Plastic Hong Kong’ (NPHK) and extending the coverage from plastic bottles to other types of disposable plastic waste.

Excitingly, NPHK has been funded by the Environment and Conservation Fund to organise and run the two-year No Plastic Ocean campaign, which invites primary school students to take part in fun education activities like lectures, seashore cleaning outings and workshops.

The No Plastic Ocean kick-off ceremony was held on 2 November, with students and teachers from over 40 schools attending and promising to reduce their use of disposable plastic items. Professor Jonathan Wong Woon Chung, MH, JP, Chairman of the Strategy Working Group of the government’s Council for Sustainable Development; Dr Chan Kit Yan, Lecturer from the School of Biological Sciences and Programme Coordinator of the Master of Science in Environmental Management programme at HKU, were invited to preside over the ceremony and share their expertise with the crowd.

After the ceremony, more than 200 students and teachers from seven schools visited various beaches to conduct on-site investigations, collect plastic waste and then record and classify the collected waste into different categories.

Higher form students from Sau Mau Ping Catholic Primary School were led by Mr Ken Fu, Assistant Principal Programme Secretary of the Association, to clean the seashore at Sheung Sze Wan. Since this particular beach is not managed by Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the team encountered a substantial amount of garbage and refuse on the shoreline. Mr Fu remarked that, “as this was the first time that many of these students had cleaned a beach, they were excited about the experience and expected to collect a lot of plastic bottles.

But the reality was somewhat different. Mr Fu continued, “after an hour of hard work and categorising the waste into metal, plastic, paper and wood, the students were surprised to find that most of it was actually construction waste generated by construction work”. By the end of the activity, the students had carried a total of 64.2 kg of waste to an adjacent garbage station.

Ken recalled the feelings of the participating students, saying, “They found it hard to believe that such a beautiful beach could be covered by garbage. After cleaning the beach, they learned to think about the waste that they create and take responsibility for it. The teachers who took part also found a lot of meaning in the No Plastic Ocean exercise, as they saw how it allowed students to take direct, personal action to protect the environment.

Any Hong Kong primary school that is interested in joining the No Plastic Ocean campaign, or if you are personally interested in volunteering for NPHK, feel free to contact our Lam Tin Centre (tel: 2775 6033, ask for Mr Law) or click here to learn more about NPHK.

For years, we have been actively providing internships to local graduates, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities to allow them to gain work experience while setting their career goals. Recently, we received the Partner Employer Award 2019, an award organized by the Hong Kong General Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, in recognition of our effort in offering these internship opportunities to the youth of Hong Kong.

With many parents concerned about their children’s education, the Chinese YMCA College will host a High School Information Day on 7 December, to allow any prospective students and their parents to learn more about the campus through teacher-student interactions, lectures and exhibitions. The information day will allow all participants to fully understand the mission and benefits of the Chinese YMCA College.

Click here to learn more about the event and to register.

An Innovation Camp which co-ordinated by the World Alliance of YMCAs was held in Switzerland earlier. The event drew young people from the UK, Canada, Colombia and Mexico to join. We sent the former secretary of University YMCA (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), young members’ councillor, and two staff members to attend the event. Participants were arranged to join a series of activities including entrepreneurial workshops, street interviews, and entrepreneurial exchange activities. Meanwhile, Mr. Carlos Sanvee, Secretary-General, World Alliance of YMCAs, also attended the event to encourage participants to apply entrepreneurial thinking in social service to promote YMCA movement.

One of our Y-Care partners, Glorious Sun Group, has been working with us for some time to promote healthy family relationships through better communication. Recently, Glorious Sun sent a team of volunteers to accompany several families on a visit to the beautiful scenery of Mui Wo on Lantau Island. There, they did something quite rare: they all put their mobile phones away. Participants signed a letter of commitment before departure saying that they would not allow themselves to be distracted by any electronic devices. Everyone enjoyed the event and learned the importance of communicating with their families in a distraction-free environment.

The Walking Football Working Group was invited to visit Taipei, Taiwan for a five-day, four-night course. Our coaches, referees and staff members enjoyed the opportunity to exchange and share ideas and experiences with students and lecturers from the Faculty of Sports at different Universities in Taipei, Nantou and the Yokohama YMCA. In addition to important memories, all participants received an attendance certificate by the Director-General of the Taipei YMCA at the end of the course.