Love @ Po Leung Kuk

Sharing Love

The Walking Miracle

Watching such a lively little girl Olava keeps running and jumping at the field, it is hard to believe she is diagnosed with rare disease which leads to developmental delay and affected her mobility few years ago. Olava was referred to Po Leung Kuk Yuen Long Early Learning Centre in 2014. By the age of 3, Olava was still unable to stand and walk, she could neither smile due to oral-motor disorders. With the help of the caring and patient Centre staff, Olava received various trainings. The Centre’s physiotherapist targeted to strengthen her gross motor skills for the first year such as arranging balance practice on a wooden bench for her. After long-term effort, Olava made a progress from easily fall to successfully taking her first step after six months of schooling. Olava’s mother was amazed at the moment. Her worry about Olava would need to use wheelchair for the rest of her life was vanished at once from now on. Eventually, Olava could even dance on the stage, and was selected to deliver the speech on behalf of the graduates. The growth of Olava brought lots of mixed feelings to her mother. She sent the Centre staff a customized album to express her gratitude for the encouragement and support they encountered over past 4 years, and show her appreciation to the staff by turning Olava into an adorable girl with a happy and fulfilling childhood.

Mobile Toy Library

Toys play an important role in child’s growth. With a deluge of toys pile up at home, it is not surprising that kids tend to be attracted to novelty. Therefore, Po Leung Kuk sets up the “Mobile Toy Library”, which visits the public housing estates in Hong Kong and provides free toys and books lending service to children. The service prolongs the life span of toys, and let children learn to cherish. The Mobile Toy Library offers over a hundred of toys, including educational games such as chess or solitaire, fitness toys like strider bikes or scooters, Barbie dolls, LEGO, 3D English books, audio books and English picture books. Children aged 13 or below can register as members and borrow any toys or books for two weeks each time by using their membership cards, they can also enjoy the lending service again after returning the borrowed items on their next visit. Ms Dorothy Wong, responsible person of the project and Centre in Charge of Po Leung Kuk Cheung Hong Youth Development Centre, stated that the Mobile Toy Library aims to support children from low-income families, as the family economic constraints limit children of disadvantaged groups to obtain the appropriate toys for their growth and development. Through spreading the joy of sharing toys among different districts, Po Leung Kuk also hopes that the service would let children learn to treasure what they possess and arouse their environmental awareness. The Mobile Toy Library welcomes parents and children to donate excess toys, excluding any plush dolls, broken or damaged items. Collected toys after screening and disinfection will be donated or borrowed to members in need. Enquiries & Donation: 9174 2277

First school track cycling team in Hong Kong

The road to pursuing dreams is paved with perseverance and unremitting efforts. 3 years ago, 3 cycling enthusiasts from Po Leung Kuk Ho Yuk Ching College, joined the “Light Up Your Dream” project of the school. They spent 3 months to submit the proposal about setting up the track cycling team in school. Unfortunately, the result is unsuccessful due to the manpower and financial constraints of the school. Instead of giving up, the students almost spent all of their pocket money in promotional video shooting and the purchase of equipment. Mr. Sow Chai Leung, Student Development Officer, was moved by the passion of the students. He proactively searched for different resources and finally obtained enough funding from Po Leung Kuk and School Fund for the establishment of the first school track cycling team in Hong Kong. At the beginning, the racing result of the team was unsatisfactory. They even encountered vitriolic criticism from the audience when they were one lap behind their rivals. In response to the criticism, the cycling team keeps training even harder. Accident inevitably happened on one of the team player, Koo Pak-Hin, during a training. He sustained abrasion over half of his body and suffered from short-term memory loss, while his clothes were torn and the helmet was cracked. He was sent to hospital and took a month for recovery. The injuries and family opposition after the accident did not hinder his aspiration in track cycling. His perseverance finally paid off when he obtained the relevant qualifications. At present, Pak-Hin has been selected into the “Future Star” Programme under the Hong Kong Sports Institute and strives to enter into the Hong Kong Team. Up till now, the cycling team has more than 20 members. The team has gone to a short promotional film shooting about cycling safety earlier with Ms. Lee Wai-Sze Sarah, dubbed “Cycling Queen of Ngau Tau Kok” and Track Cycling Olympics Bronze Medalist. It brings great encouragement to the members for cycling along with their idol. They hope that they can team up with her side by side on the world stage one day.

Story of Sing

“Can’t you control your kid?” Stampy Wan is a child with ADHD. It always made his mother feel embarrassing whenever Stampy Wan was accused of behavioral problems in public. His status also upset the principal and teachers at school. But instead of treating Stampy Wan as ‘difficult student’, they tailor-made a practical counselling programme for him with love and care. Ms. Wong, teacher of PLK Women’s Welfare Club Western District Fung Lee Pui Yiu Primary School, has met with Stampy Wan since he was primary 3. Flashing back to the beginning, Stampy Wan did not even want to greet her, but Ms. Wong softened him up by her smile every day. Ms. Wong also fostered communication with Stampy Wan’s mother and gave her advice, such as guiding her to nurture Stampy Wan the sense of responsibility by assigning different tasks to the child. Moreover, the school offered various opportunities to empower Stampy Wan to be his best, for instance, unlocked Stampy Wan’s artistic talents through learning 3D printing. Stampy Wan’s performance improved gradually under the help of the principal, teachers and school social workers. He was more adapting to the primary school life in higher grades, became socialized with other classmates, and achieved outstanding academic results. Stampy Wan’s mother believed that the key for such an achievement is “love”. Principal Chung Mei-Chun agreed that their tactic is to encourage rather than discourage. Teachers also felt contented and inspiring to the growth of Sing. Their love, care and respect to the child let him feel being valued and understood, and became a respectful and considerate child in return. The behavioral problems in lower grades finally disappeared, and he also learnt the way to cope with others. Sing is now graduated from the primary school. His mother is greatly thankful to the efforts of every single staff. “Maybe it’s not a big deal for the teachers, but what they do has actually changed a person’s life. To be exact, it affects two persons. If not getting support from the school, both Sing and I will definitely go crazy.” The essence of education is all about empowering children to navigate their own way. It is truly reflected on the teaching of PLK Women’s Welfare Club Western District Fung Lee Pui Yiu Primary School. Wish all angels in the world can also find the way to their dreams.

Nostalgia tuck shop

Nostalgia tuck shop is set up for the aged rehabilitation service users. Elderly generally starts ageing at the age of 60. However, the decrement of seniors with intellectual disabilities even goes beyond normal. They may experience the deterioration of cognitive ability, memory and hearing function early since 40-50 years old. In view of the service need of these ageing service users, the nostalgia tuck shop is decorated like the old tuck shop in 1960-70s, featuring with the collective memories of their good old days, such as junk box; vintage capsule vending machine; rotary dial phone; retro snacks and candies like White Rabbit creamy candies, haw flakes or Cola gummies. Some of the collectibles are gathered from the vintage stores or donated by the parents, while part of them are second-hand items from the Kuk’s recycling unit. Our occupational therapists will treat the nostalgia tuck shop as treatment room. By stimulating the use of long-term memories through listening to old songs, playing vintage games and sharing the childhood stories, the special features attempt to enhance users’ ability to expressing oneself, improve their emotions, and train their fine motor skills, so as to reduce their sufferings from cognitive decline.