Leisure Walk at Mai Po Wetland Park

I joined the Walk for Nature with two friends organized by the World Wildlife Fund on a Sunday morning, and had chance to visit Mai Po Wetland Park. The day was sunny and beautiful. This area is famous for wetland and the varieties of birds and plants.

Mai Po is reagrded as wetland under the Convention of Ramsan. To be recognized as wetland, there must be more than 20,000 birds in the area. Wetland is differnt from ocean and land, water is shallow here and suitable for various kinds of animals, birds and plants to stay. Many birds from different part of the world migrate to Mai Po at certain season and then fly to other places. However, due to weather change, temperature becomes higher and higher, thus less birds fly to Mai Pao and stay here for a period of time.

Apart from raising fund for WWF, the walkathon also aimed at raising awareness on the enviromental issues and promoting a sustainable lifestyle. Therefore, there were games and exhibition on certain spots, so as to share information on global warming, saving energy, water-saving, legal lumbering, healthy food and so on.

One interesting game is to calcuate the "Carbon footprint." We can help saving energy and protecting enviroment in our daily lives. For example:

Clothes

- send unwanted clothes to charity groups and buy less unnecessary things

- use less plastic bags and bring your own recycle bag

Eat

- eat less meat and more vegetables

- avoid buying food transparted from afar

Home

- turn off unused appliances

- set the temperature of the air-conditioner 1 degree celsius higher, you can reduce 200kg of carbon dioxide in a month, or just turn off the air-conditioner

Travel

- take public transport

- walk more whenever possible

- take train for travelling instead of by air

I think I am quite enviromental friendly and always remind myself of leading a sustainable lifestyle. But I need to promote this awarness to more people. Otherwise, the earth is till suffering from sickness.

After a few hours walk, I found the place so relaxing and beautiful. If we want to keep the nature like this, we must be proactive to share the message of enviromental protection to other people. We must start doing from ourselves.

Eid Party

I attended an Eid Party today being organized by the Catholic Labor Centre and its ethnic minorty women's group. After fasting for a month, the Pakistani women organized this party to celebrate the end of this religious event and also share their culture with the volunteers of the project who are mainly local Chinese. They prepared delicious Pakistan food for the participants.

When I arrived the Centre, I saw many Pakistani women with their children had already filled the whole room. They were chatting with each other in Urdu, the Pakistan language. I found a seat who was next to a South Asian. He introduced himself as James who was teaching at the Social Work Department of HKU. I asked him whether he was a volunteer too. He said two of his students were interns of the Centre during summer. He told me how he knew this Pakistan project in a rally and was interested in the work they did. That's why he tried to arrange students to do internship in the Labour Centre. As we chat, I found that we met each other long time ago, when I worked in Justice and Peace Commission and attended a meeting on Asian Human Rights Charter. What a coincident that we met again! I also talked with the two social work students and was interested in the workshops they organized for the Pakistani women, helping them to raise their self-awareness, self-esteem and health knowledge. Besides, I also gave pictures which was taken when I visited homes of Pakistani women and conducted interviews with them. They were excited and look happy when they saw the photos.

The most impressive moment was the time when members of the women group shared their feelings and their changes after joining the group. Many of them said that they discovered their value and talents after joining the group and started doing embroidery work.

“Before I joined the group I often thought that I didn’t have value, but after joining this group I know that I can share my talents with others.”

“Before I just stayed at home, but now I join this group and can earn money through my work. I am very happy now and realise my value and talents.”

“I can widen my scope, know more about the society and Chinese by joining this group. I know some friends here and can make something for Chinese people in Hong Kong.”

“Though we have different cultures, Chinese and Pakistani can live in harmony without discrimination.”

We can see many of them undergo changes and gain more self-confidence and self-esteem through the women’s group.

I am very happy that I have chance to join this party, meeting the Pakistani women and their children again, hearing sharing from their hearts, getting to know some volunteers , the social work students and their teacher James, enjoying their delicious food, and so on.

I think it is a valuable time to learn more about their culture and build relationships through this social gathering. For me, it is a moment full of gratitude in which God allows me to appreciate more culture of another country and religion.