GBS Alumni Brush Color to our Community with their Hearts in Helping the Needy

 

Every painting is made up of a series of brush strokes, each adding colour and definition to a common canvas as slowly the total image appears. These individual strokes are similar to the dedication and commitment of young people, who with enthusiasm and passion, collectively brush colour to our community by their individual acts of service.

Global Business Studies (GBS) alumni Arnold Chan and Bonnie Chiu are among the young people who brush colour to our community by pouring their lives and hearts out for those in need every single day. They won the Hong Kong Youth Service Award (HKYSA) 2016 for their dedication and commitment in community and public service in the award presentation ceremony held on 8 November.

Graduated from CUHK Business School in 2010, Chan worked at Goldman Sachs’ asset management division. Having worked at the investment bank for three years, he quitted the high-paying job and founded a nonprofit organisation called “Teach4HK” in 2013. Teach4HK is a nonprofit organisation with a mission to enlist outstanding university students with diversified talents to serve in schools with underprivileged students through a one-year teaching fellowship programme.

“In our society, there are diverse opinions concerning education. What is most important to me is an equal learning opportunity for every child,” Arnold Chan, Founder and CEO of Teach4HK shared with the award organiser the reasons of establishing Teach4HK.

Arnold Chan (left) and Bonnie Chiu (right)

A GBS graduate in 2013, Chiu co-founded Lensational with her classmate Peggy Tse in March 2013 during their undergraduate studies at CUHK Business School. Lensational is a non-profit social enterprise, founded on the principle that giving camera and photography training empower underprivileged women, economically and emotionally. With great aspirations, they hope to use the power of photography to create a better world for women and girls.

“We collect old cameras and unleash the talents of underprivileged women and children through photography and ignite their passion in life,” Bonnie Chiu, CEO and Co-founder of Lensational said in the video featuring all the five HKYSA 2016 awardees.

The Hong Kong Youth Service Award, an initiative of The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (HKFYG), is established to honour, acclaim and encourage the most outstanding young people in Hong Kong every year who through their commitment, dedication and integrity, exemplify the true spirit of service to the community, brushing colour into Hong Kong’s future.

Each winner will receive a HK$20,000 cash prize, a trophy and a certificate. The service experience and commitment to Hong Kong of the five award winners was recorded and broadcast through different media. Chan and Chiu, along with other three award winners were also invited to share their experiences through video shorts and other broadcasts, so as to inspire others to serve Hong Kong.

More about the work of Chan and Chiu:

Arnold Chan

 

Arnold Chan cares about education, particularly for those who are underprivileged.

Understanding the importance of a high quality education, Chan gave up his paying job to found Teach4HK. Teach4HK recruits outstanding university graduates from diverse backgrounds and places them in schools, where they teach full time for a year. Though this experience, both the teacher and the students’ horizons are broadened.

Founded in 2013, Teach4HK started placing teachers two years later. It has now served more than 2,200 students, giving them the opportunity to a wider education.

By education, Chan brings together grassroots children and university graduates; inspiring each generation to give back to the community.

Bonnie Chiu

 

Bonnie Chiu, influenced by her family, is deeply concerned about the social well-being of ethnic minorities and women. Ensuring social harmony and gender equality are her passions.

On a trip to Turkey, Chiu was taken aback by the unusual interest local women showed in her taking pictures while travelling. That prompted her to create Lensational giving ordinary women the opportunity to express themselves through photography.

In Hong Kong, Lensational now includes more than 300 Filipinas, Indonesian and Pakistani women who use the camera to communicate their ideas. Lensational also offers free photography workshops and facilitates exhibitions.

There are now Lensational teams based in the UK, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, with volunteers representing 15 countries from around the world.

Through photography, Chiu uses pictures to advance and address women’s empowerment and racial harmony in Hong Kong, and beyond.

Photo: HKFYG