The Review 2008

The Review 2008 Eight Weeks in Albania When Chu Hoi-Yee, a second-year Ar ts student, was offered the chance to go to Albania, a tiny European country that rarely makes the news in Hong Kong, she was intrigued. “Nobody talks about Albania or the Balkans, so I thought why not go where I have never been or thought of going and see what happens? I went with a fresh mind,” she said. Over eight weeks she worked with a local non- government organisation, proofreading the many English- language repor ts they had to produce for their backers – this was the main way she could help because she doesn’t speak Albanian. In the process, she learned about the country’s difficult history, its isolation, its problems with corruption and its people. “Albanians have a reputation in the world’s media of being dangerous, but they are the most hospitable people I’ve ever met,” Hoi-yee said. “It’s a poor country, but people work really hard.” She also learned about herself. “When you go abroad people ask you a lot about who you are, what your political stance is and so on. I learned so much more about what I am capable of, what my limits are and what I need to learn.You’re constantly looking at yourself and if you want to improve you have to assess yourself and be self-critical. But it’s a lot of fun,” she said. 13 Intense Learning Outside the Classroom The Centre of Development and Resources for Students encourages students to advocate for improvements to the human condition through progr ammes related to communi ty wor k, career education and leadership development. One of the most popular is the Intensified Learning Oppor tunity Programme (ILOP), which offers students the chance to explore the world and their place in it. About 30 students are accepted to ILOP each year. They are expected to initiate a local project, such as helping asylum-seekers or campaigning to save an historic landmark, before going abroad over the summer to help out in a social service organisation and enhance their global citizenship. A sample of student experiences is described below. Questions and Curry in Bangladesh Wor king with asylum- seekers in Hong Kong and with microfinance bank Grameen in Bangladesh has undoubtedly widened second-year BBA Law student, Judy Lau’s, horizons. But the most impor tant thing she has learned through her ILOP experience is how to ask questions. “ILOP trains you to know more about the world and social issues, but it is also good at teaching you to ask useful questions and always take the initiative to ask,” she said. “When you learn how to ask questions, you learn how to deal with being overseas. People are waiting for you to ask. I made a lot of friends from other countries and I learned from them. If you ask them questions they are very willing to tell you how they got where they are now.” Judy’s ILOP commitment began with an introduc- tion to asylum-seeker s in Hong Kong in ear ly 2008. She was par tnered with the non-government organisa- tion Christian Action and helped to edit a video that will be used to raise awareness about the worries and difficulties faced by asylum-seekers. She then spent two months with Grameen in Bangladesh over the summer learning about microfinance. She visited borrowers and saw first-hand how the loans improved villages and businesses. She also analysed and wrote repor ts about Grameen’s projects in such places as Costa Rica and Sichuan, and was encouraged to suggest improvements. Her studies helped here: she drew on the analytical skills she had learned in her HKU courses and her experiences in business school competitions, where she had honed her presentation skills. The going was not always easy, though. Judy suffered from flu soon after she arrived in Bangladesh and had difficulty adjusting to a diet dominated by spicy curry. “At the beginning it was tough to get used to it,” she said. “When you are too sick or too tired, you have to find a way to make yourself comfor table. I told myself it will get better, you will get used to it. It was more of a challenge than something tough or harsh. I now miss the place very much.” Following Through on Fair Trade When the subject of fair trade was raised during Car ter Chim’s introduction to ILOP, he had his doubts. Fair trade? Isn’t free trade best? After all, look at Hong Kong’s success. “After ILOP I recognised that the current practice is only disguised free trade. Many constraints and practices mean it’s not genuine free trade, for example the domestic subsidies in developed countries that make it hard for developing countries to compete. I think that in such a context fair trade can be a remedy to solve this unfairness problem,” he said. Car ter, a four th-year Social Sciences student doing a double major in government and laws, spent the summer of 2007 working with fair trade organisations in Belgium. Upon his return he connected with three other students to form Fair Trade Voice, a HKU student advocacy group. During the past academic year, they ran a FairTrade Week at the University where they sold $30,000 in fair trade products, organised a trip to Thailand to see how fair trade had improved standards for farmers, helped to found the Fair Trade Hong Kong Coalition with other like-minded groups, and set up a booth during Global CitizenshipWeek to raise students’ awareness. Their next goal is to go to secondary schools to raise awareness there and expand their campaign to other universities in Hong Kong. They also hope to see HKU become one of the few fair trade universities in Asia. Judy Lau The Review 2008 • Teaching 12 Chu Hoi-Yee (left) shares her memories of Albania with a fellow student.