Off to Vietnam on Charity Quest,
South China Morning Post-Youth Post
25 May 1995

A group of Shatin College students are off to Vietnam to help street children-and in doing so hope to discover what it is that drives people to work for good causes without expecting financial rewards.

The 12 students, aged between 16 and 18, will be going on a two-week Economics and Business studies field trip. They will work in an orphanage in Ho Chih Minh City, set up under the Christina Noble Foundation, which looks after street children.

Mrs. Liz Thomas, trip organiser and head of the school's Business Education course, explained how the students came up with the idea. "One of the units in our course is called 'Why People Work', and we have to look at numerous organisations that are profit-making. It then occurred to us that it might be enlightening to focus on work that's not done for money."

Rather than look for reasons in theory, the group decided to discover why people work for charity by doing some charity work themselves. During their stay, the seven girls and five boys will help paint the walls of the orphanage, play with the children, look after them and teach them to read and draw.

"Some of the students will play music and perform for the children," Mrs. Thomas said. Looking after the orphans will be a unique experience, the students say. "These children have no parents. We may be there for only two weeks, but we hope our visit will be something happy and memorable for them," said Ena Liu, 18.

Classmate Jackie Wilks said: "The children there are desperate for love. We realise how lucky we are, and that we should reach out and help." Mark Lloyd, 16, said it would be the first time he was doing volunteer work. "I guess it's time to go and help others..."

Preparation work is intense, ranging from fund-raising to collecting material for the Vietnamese orphans. Shatin College students have donated 1,000 pens and pencils for the cause. Other items needed include clothes (second-hand or new), art materials (paints, pens, crayons, paper, etc.) and children's books.

Mrs. Thomas said money donations were much needed for the trip and also for the purchase of medical equipment.

Those who wish to make donations should call the Economics Department of Shatin College on 2699-1811, ext. 20 (or fax 2696-3505), and ask for Liz Thomas or Jason de Sousa.