I used to have the impression that most people with mental disabilities are introverted, but after joining this programme, I found that they could be just as optimistic and outgoing,' says Lee Ka-wai, a student in Applied Social Studies participating in the HKMU Best Buddies Programme — Arts with Intellectual Disability Scheme.
The programme is a collaboration between the University's Student Affairs Office and Fu Hong Society as part of a global movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual disabilities. Since February, the 'Best Buddies' have together created a giant handprint painting, drawn portraits of each other and visited Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden.
'My buddy was really energetic when we visited Kadoorie Farm. She kept asking me to take photos with her, even just in front of some ordinary-looking trees. Happiness is really so simple,' reflects Ka-wai.
Kainat Farooq, studying Global Business and Marketing, was impressed by her buddies' enthusiasm for the arts. 'It was amazing to see how much joy and happiness our interactions brought the participants, and how much they appreciated our support and encouragement. Everyone deserves the opportunity to express themselves and be creative, regardless of their abilities or disabilities,' she says.
The programme's finale was the HKMU Best Buddies Ceremony and Carnival in May, at which HKMU student volunteers set up game booths for people with intellectual disabilities from residential care homes of Fu Hong Society. But it was not so much an end as a beginning — the ceremony marked the establishment of the HKMU Best Buddies Chapter. The friendships will go on.
The School of Nursing and Health Studies launched the Home Health Watch Health Volunteer Training Programme back in 2014 to train com-munity health volunteers for organisations in support of the elderly, the chronically ill, people recovering from mental illnesses and people with disabilities. As it enters into its tenth anniversary, the programme adopts the theme of 'Final Wishes' this year, encouraging more people to step up as hospice volunteers.
The team especially designed a set of self-directed learning material as a systematic guide to communication and caring skills for hospice volun-teers. In addition, a range of activities including talks, workshops and visits are being arranged to enhance participants' knowledge and understanding in critical topics such as palliative care, dying in place and green burial, helping them walk with patients in their final days with a positive attitude and appropriate skills.
The programme was kicked off on 25 February in a ceremony featuring an opening address by Dr Donald Li Kwok-tung, Chairman of the Elderly Com-mission, a keynote speech by Dr Edward Leung Man-fuk, President of the Hong Kong Association of Gerontology, and a public forum.
