Our Volunteers 我哋嘅義工: Cathy

Hey, I’m Cathy I’m 17, turning 18 this upcoming Jan.

I’m currently studying in Alexandra College, in 6th year, preparing for the Leaving Cert. I take a total of 8 subjects including subjects like French, politics and computer science, just to name a few. I was born in Hong Kong, where I spent most of my childhood there. I moved to Taiwan in 2021, then after a year my family decided to immigrate to Ireland. So technically I have been living here for over 2 years now.

The story is my dad knew a person who was involved in Cantonese in Ireland and he recommended that I contact CII for possible work experiences for Transition Year. It was late September when I first joined. I remember vividly that Peg, the chairperson, has assigned me assignments to complete for my “work experience”, and I worked on tasks such as promotion on social media, facilitating tours. The Dublin Culture Night was in fact during my week of work experience with CII, therefore i was involved in a lot of those cultural walks around town.

After I finished my TY, I continued volunteering with CII. Why? Well first off, I do think the work that we do in CII is really meaningful. I'm not going to go into a generic rant on the significance of Cantonese promotion, instead, I am going to talk about why I actually enjoy being a volunteer in this organization. The truth is, I find a lot of opportunities for me to learn as a volunteer in CII. I had the chance to sit in with the board members to discuss funding and liaisons. Rarely a teenager like me could be involved in such things, therefore, I grasped onto these opportunities and broadened my horizons through participating in all sorts of projects or events.

I have participated in events such as the Dragon Boat Festival, where I was one of the competitors. Though the results weren't perfect, it was thoroughly enjoyable to represent the “Cheung Bo Jai” team in the race. In addition to that, I have hosted three Saturday morning Cantonese storytelling sessions so far. In those sessions, we teach children the characters of traditional Han characters, as we engage in Cantonese conversations. I’d say it is the most rewarding thing I've done as a volunteer, since I was able to encourage young kids to connect with this language.

In the near future, I wish to participate in more public events similar to the tours on Dublin Cultural Night. It is often those times when I realize the uniqueness of our culture, and that we have an obligation to share our stories to the public, to contribute to the diversity in Ireland.

大家好，我係Cathy，今年17歲，下年一月就18歲生日。我宜家喺Alexandra College讀6th Year，準備緊嚟緊嘅Leaving Cert。我總共讀緊8科，包括法文，政治同埋電腦科。我喺香港出世，而我細個大多數都喺香港生活。我喺2021年搬咗去台灣，跟住一年之後，我屋企人決定移民嚟愛爾蘭。直至到宜家，我已經喺愛爾蘭住咗2年幾啦。

因為我爸爸識得喺Cantonese in Ireland做嘅人，佢建議我聯絡CII詢問有關TY work experiences嘅事宜。我加入嘅時候係九月底。我仲記得主席Peg俾工作我去完成我嘅work experience，跟住我做過關於社交平台嘅宣傳，協助喺都柏林進行嘅遊覽。其實都柏林文化夜係喺我做work experience嘅嗰個禮拜發生，我去咗好多市中心嘅cultural walks。

咁而家回答點解我選擇繼續留喺CII度做義工嘅問題啦。

第一我覺得喺CII嘅工作係十分有意義。我唔講關於宣傳廣東話嘅重要性呢啲我哋聽慣聽熟嘅點喇，而係講點解我真係鍾意喺呢個機構度幫手。其實我發現喺CII有好多機會俾我學習。我有機會同其他幹事成員一齊討論資金嘅運用同埋同其他團膿合作或者聯絡，對於一個青少年嚟講，呢個係一個好難得嘅機會，所以我就好好把握每個機會，透過參加唔同嘅項目同活動嚟擴闊自己嘅眼界。

我參加過好幾個活動，例如扒龍舟，我就係其中一位隊員。雖然比賽成績唔完美，但可以代表「張保仔」隊出賽真係好開心。除此之外，我仲主持過三次星期六早上嘅粵語講故事。喺嗰啲活動入面，我哋教小朋友認識繁體字，並透過粵語對話加深佢哋對語言嘅連結。呢啲義工經歷對我嚟講係好有意義嘅，因為我可以鼓勵年幼嘅小朋友去接觸我同埋佢哋嘅母語。

未來我希望可以參加更多類似「都柏林文化之夜」嘅公眾活動。好多時，喺呢啲活動，我更能體會到我自己文化嘅獨特性，亦更覺得有責任將我哋嘅故事跟大眾分享，為愛爾蘭嘅多元文化出一分力。