Hong Kong has one of the fastest-ageing populations in the world. Since the beginning of this year, a volunteer team of staff and students from Lingnan University has been involved in community care “Embracing Ageing: The Project on Community Support for Seniors”, to show their concern for the elderly in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long. The project includes four visits to over a hundred senior citizens who live alone, workshops on using smartphones, presentations by cybersecurity experts to explain the latest anti-fraud measures, and guidance on home safety precautions. Everyone came to the project’s closing ceremony on the Lingnan campus today, 15 May, and enjoyed traditional Naamyam and Cantonese opera and activities for all ages, which encourage physical and mental well-being as well as communication and unity.
Ms Irene Ng, Director of Student Affairs, said “Lingnan University has always upheld the spirit of community care, advocated intergenerational harmony, and encouraged students and volunteers to make a habit of caring for the elderly and to value intergenerational inclusion. We believe that this initiative helps seniors in the Tuen Mun and Yuen Long districts to integrate, and leads gradually to mutual trust and support networks so older people have more ways to seek assistance when facing problems, and that it contributes directly to community cohesion.”
The University volunteer team consists of 55 undergraduates and postgraduates recruited by the Office of Student Affairs and ten staff volunteers assembled by the Human Resources Office. After training workshops and learning the best ways to visit the elderly, they went to see 80 old people living alone in the Ching Tin, Wo Tin, and Hin Fat Estates between January and April this year. Volunteers talked to them and brought gifts, showed them home safety precautions, and demonstrated stretching exercises that will help them stay in their homes and take care of themselves.
The team expanded the project with a series of community activities for elderly residents of the United Count Transitional Housing Project in Yuen Long in March, whom they taught to use smartphones in a workshop titled “Using Smartphones in Daily Life” to improve their digital skill and everyday needs. Lingnan also organised a “Cybersecurity Awareness Day” with cybersecurity booth games, and invited experts from the Tuen Mun District Police and leading cybersecurity firms to speak on Internet safety. As part of the April Lingnan University Wellness Campaign, the elderly were asked to the “Wellness Flow in Senses” programme, and all these activities helped them in emotion regulation and concentration on their everyday physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
One of the volunteer members, William Yip, a Year 4 student of LEO Dr David P. Chan Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Data Science programme, said that the interdisciplinary knowledge he gained from participating in the activities has helped him understand how to use new technological approaches to solve problems, adding “Through this project, the volunteers can show warmth and joy to every older person in our community. The experience showed me the power of connecting with people. I also learned to make good use of technology to meet the needs of the elderly, an important step beyond the classroom.”
“Embracing Ageing: The Project on Community Support for Seniors” has received generous support from the Providence Foundation Limited. It was organised by Lingnan together with the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council, and provides companionship and support for lonely and vulnerable elderly people in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long, as well as combining community resources, promoting intergenerational cooperation, and building a close-knit community.
