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Bosco |
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Rita |
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Martin |
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Sabrina |
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Every little step counts and each encounter matters.
Bosco Cheung
It is my third time to participate in HKUST Connect service learning trip. Each trip is not easy, or can call it “chur” because of various preparation beforehand and different sub-meetings as well as individual devotion. With tons of workload, a lot of friends asked me why I am still so keen on joining it. The answer is simple: I love it; I enjoy it and I learn from it! Participating once is by chance; Joining twice is by choice; Involving in the third one is by heart.
Time flies. It came to the end of my third, and my last, service learning trip in my university life.
Live in the moment
Living in the village is totally different from the life in Hong Kong. It was the first time for me to live in a village house. I have heard for so many time from my grandparents and parents about this kind of living and how happy the village life was. Watching some reality shows having experiences in villages, I have longed for getting a taste in this kind of living. Without stable internet access and computers, I can get away from smart phone, iPad and computer. During the first day in the village, I had to complete a business proposal. I sat outside the home by myself. Feeling the silence and peaceful sounds, I felt so relieved and thought of iPad should not appear here! At another night, I did not touch my iPad and it was totally another feeling.
Another impressive thing in the village was the environment and pace. The life pace in Hong Kong is too rush to enjoy every beauty in our life. We have missed a lot of precious things in life. However, in Nepal, I woke up without alarm every morning. Sometimes, it was so refreshed that I want to get up and meditate, to listen to my real heart. Or sometimes, I just walked around in the village to see what villagers are doing and enjoying the views there. Every morning, I woke up because of my hope and wish, but not because of mobile phone. I felt thankful that I can live in the moment and enjoy but not simply checking on my phone.
Self-Reflection
When I first arrived Kathmandu, I felt a different atmosphere to Hong Kong. People are less tense and they walk slowly. This feeling became much stronger when I arrived Lamjung. No matter who you are and whether they know you or not, villagers will say Namaste to you. This is totally different from Hong Kong. In the past, we know each other in the housing estate and we will play with other kids in the afternoon. Other parents will also help in taking care of other kids. However, and ironically, we do not even know the surname of the neighbor. Everybody will just close their door and live in their own environment. I saw there is social isolation. It is thoughtful to think why there is such a change in the society. One thing popping up to my mind is that there are lots of helicopter parents, who require their kids to learn multifarious musical instruments, foreign languages …etc. Kids do not even have time to get enough sleep, let alone having time on the playground with other kids in the estate. But, is it a good way for bringing up a child and live in such a stressful environment?
Comparing to other service learning trips, Nepal trip was relatively longer and having more time on reflection and debriefing. To be honest, I enjoyed all the debriefing time and reflection sessions. It was not easy for us in Hong Kong to have every single moment reflected or have time to reflect day by day. Having reflection, we can consolidate on what we have done, what we did good and how we can make it better if we have another chance to do it again. It is a golden way for us to know more about ourselves, learning as well as self enhancement. It is appreciable that there are assorted ways to reflect, for example, acting like a mirror and doing the same with your friend, talking a negative experience in the past and finding out the silver lining for this experience. One key take-away here is no matter how negative or bad the experience we have, there is always something positive. It greatly depends on our mindset. It is easier to say than do, “Think positively”. However, we commented and found out the positive aspects for others this time. By experiencing it is possible to spot out something from another perspective, it is good to try if I encounter something, which I originally perceive it in a negative direction.
Teamwork
In service learning trip, I think the teamwork is slightly different from the teamwork we mentioned in academic or working. Normally, in work or study, we just finish or do it right, having teamwork to complete a task. While in service learning trip, we all have a common goal and similar belief to contribute to the society. We create a cohesion in our team and strive for something we believe it is right. Or say we do the right thing instead of just doing it right. In normal class work, our teamwork is more like division of labor while here teamwork means support and cooperation to me. A lot of times we may feel exhausted in the construction work and farming but we can see each other working hard and supporting you. You will feel energized and you can do it. I can feel the synergies of teamwork.
Effective-teamwork-wise, one can do something but cannot do it efficiently. By contributing each of our own strengths, we can complement to each other and bring a larger impact to the society. Just like thinking of how to move the bricks, each of us contributed to the discussion and we came up with a solution which may be more effective than only one person. Human chain passing bricks also implies the same effect. So does moving stones. Having little stones in the first day, we have built a “wall” after 2 days. I have never imagined how it could be done but this is teamwork!
I do enjoy the teamwork during this Nepal service learning trip because the duration of this trip was relatively longer than previous trip. Team members can know each other better and get along well with each other for the rest of the trip. |
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