Courtesy of Tsung Tsin College
and Tuen Mun Hospital joined forces to create the Emotion Quotient Student Ambassador Project, helping primary school children cope with the death of a parent.
Launched in 1998, the project initially linked 120 ambassadors — secondary students from Tsung Tsin College — with 60 bereaved children in Tuen Mun.
Since then the project has grown, uniting older students with younger students to help heal the pain of losing a loved one.
Miss Fong Yee Ki is the co-ordinator of the project in Tsung Tsin College.
Miss Fong said that the palliative care unit at Tuen Mun Hospital gathers bereaved children, while the school recruits student trainees.
Most student ambassadors are Form 2 through Form 4 students. Social workers and clinical psychologists are also employed to run the project.
Social worker Shirley Wong is the managing director of the project.
Said she: “The project aims at helping the children face the death of their parents.”
She said that the negative emotions associated with losing a parent have the potential to affect a child’s mental development, and many parents do not know how to handle the child’s grieving.
“The project provides opportunities for the children to express their feelings,” Miss Wong said.
According to Miss Fong of Tsung Tsin College, student ambassadors are given 10 training sessions on “emotion quotient”, the ability to monitor their emo tions and those of another.
After ambassadors finish their training, they are ready to run services for bereaved children, including small peer group counselling sessions.
Ambassadors are divided into groups for the service sessions, held every Saturday afternoon in the school.
The ambassadors organize group activities like games and drawing for the children.
Said Miss Fong: “The students design the activities and games themselves. The teachers, social workers and psychologists act as facilitators to assist them.
“We hope that through these activities, we can convey a message to the children that even though they have lost their loved ones, there are still many people who are concerned about them,” she said.
Miss Fong said that by organizing these activities, the ambassadors can develop leadership skills and build a sense of responsibility.
Chan Man Lok is a former student ambassador from Tsung Tsin College. He said that he learned a lot from the project.
Man Lok was a group leader for the program. He was also elected as the Best EQ Student Ambassador.
“I learned how to lead and assign tasks to the group members,” said Man Lok.
“I also recognized that communication and co-operation are of paramount importance.”
He also said that he can control his temper better now.
Miss Fong said that both the confidence levels and communication skills of the student ambassadors have increased. They also became more compassionate and began to understand that life should not be taken for granted.
The project has received accolades from its participants, and it expanded last year.
Said Miss Fong: “Our principal thought that the project was very meaningful and benefited both bereaved children and students. He would like other schools to experience the same.”
The principal of Tsung Tsin College has invited four other Christian secondary schools in Tuen Mun to join the project, including Carmel Bunnan Tong Memorial Secondary School, C.C.C. Hoh Fuk Tong College, Christian Alliance S.C. Chan Memorial College and Stewards M.K.M.C.F. Ma Ko Pan Memorial College.
Each school runs the training and services individually although there are some joint school functions like mass games, summer camps and workshops.
Said Miss Fong: “We organized a summer camp in Wu Kai Sha last year. More than 200 bereaved children joined it.”
There will also be a joint school graduation ceremony for the project in 2002.
“The expansion of the project aims at helping more and more bereaved children,” Miss Fong said.
“We expect to train 1,000 students and help 300 bereaved children in two years’ time,” said Miss Wong, the managing director of the project.
“It is hoped that the service area can be expanded to cover all bereaved children in Hong Kong one day,” said Miss Fong.
Kong Ka Yi, a 11-year-old Primary 6 pupil, is one of the bereaved children who joined the project. Her mother said that Ka Yi has changed a lot since her father’s death.
“She became afraid of darkness and attached closely to me,” said Mrs. Kong.
She said that Ka Yi often yelled and did not want to close the door when bathing in the washroom.
But Ka Yi said that she is not frightened now.
“The ambassadors are very friendly and we shared a lot during the gatherings,” she said. “I’m much happier now and don’t stick to mum.”
Mrs. Kong said that she was pleased to see progress in Ka Yi’s emotional stability after taking part in the project.
She also said that the project enabled her to share experiences with bereaved parents about raising their children.
Although the project benefits many students and bereaved children, it may stop when the funding period ends in 2002, according to Miss Fong.
The schools and the palliative care unit at Tuen Mun Hospital have received $5.25 million in funding from the Quality Education Fund to run the project from 2000 to 2002.
“The project needs resources to continue and it involves a lot of professionals,” said Miss Fong.
“But it’s very unlikely to get support from the Quality Education Fund again if we submit an application for the same project for a third time.”
According to the fund’s assessment criteria, applications for the same kind of activities by the same organization will only be considered once.
Said Miss Wong: “We appreciate that the Quality Education Fund has recognized our mission and broken the rules to support us twice. Instead of applying for the funds, we are now trying every means to find new funding for the project.
“But gaining private or public donations is not easy in times of economic turmoil,” she said.
Although the future of the project is not bright, the project has not given up looking for new resources.
Miss Fong said, “Our principal has promoted the project in a publication called Christian Times. It is hoped that Christian organizations will recognize the needs of bereaved children and help in continuing the project.”
