Shine Children Shine
HOW WE BEGAN - THE FOUNDER'S STORY (Part 1, Cambodia)
In August 2015, my son and I visited Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. We experienced a booming city of high-rises, luxury cars, and fancy restaurants. As we rode in tuk-tuks and taxis in the heavily trafficked streets, we often saw advertisements for newly opened businesses: fast food chains, convenience stores, cafes, and even international schools. All this was what we expected in a high-speed growing city. But during our short three-day trip, we saw much more.
In the middle of a well-to-do neighborhood, we walked into slum villages where migrant families live in tiny metal sheds; small children naked or in dirty rags wandering in the community. We visited a group of teenagers with HIV who lived together under the roof of a charitable organization; they had been orphans since birth. We drove past a garbage dump site where garbage collectors lived with their families and built homes from the trash mounts next to them. We drove around extensive blocks of a factory park where thousands of young migrants worked long hours with low wages and lived in small shabby rental units. Their unattended children were the targets of drug dealers and human traffickers who prowled around every corner to trap them.
Such were the other realities of Phnom Penh. At the end of the trip, my son thought he would never return, but he did, after two years, and taught English to the children from the slum villages. I went back many times since our first trip. In 2016, I started working with a local NGO, Peace Family Development Organization (PFDO), in Kampong Cham
and funded a few projects for a local secondary school. With support from a few other friends, together we also supported a Catholic Missionary, Daughters of Charity of St.Vincent de Paul, who ministered to migrant families in the slum villages and the factory zones in Phnom Penh.
In October 2017, I set up a non-profit organisation, Charity Cambodia Limited, and worked with PFDO and the Daughters of Charity missionary sisters to support underprivileged children in Cambodia. Since 2017, we have funded a yearly Tutorial Scholarship Program for twenty G11 and G12 students from a local high school in Kampong Cham, sponsored teenagers and young adults to teach English programmes to local students, initiated a "swimathon fundraising project" to build an extended primary school building, and helped fund a new activity centre for the missionary sisters in Phnom Penh.
In the summer of 2022, when Cambodia opened up its country to welcome visitors back after the Covid-19 pandemic, I met with the Tutorial Scholarship students who had been disrupted from their studies during the pandemic. In a
local primary school in Kampong Cham, I also taught a foundation English program for G4 students and facilitated English workshops for a group of underprivileged teenagers. In Phnom Penh, we have supported Daughters of
Charity in the construction of a new learning centre in the same factory neighborhood, which will be completed in the summer of 2023.
HOW WE BEGAN - THE FOUNDER'S STORY (Part 2, Hong Kong)
I became aware of the various struggles of deprived families in Hong Kong when I participated in a charitable project organised by the Caritas Family Integrated Service Centre in Tsuen Wan in 20XX. Since then, I learned more about the social and emotional issues these families were struggling with and tried to support them in little ways.
When the fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2021 and schools started to close, I felt a calling to volunteer my resources and skills. I started teaching fun English classes
At the Shaukiwan Caritas Family Integrated Service Centres, I had the opportunity to create a summer program for special needs children and led six groups aged 5-8. From September to December 2021, I
conducted an English Improvement Program for a small group of P3-6 students and organised a Christmas fun fair for over 120 children and their parents. After schools reopened in May, I taught another English
program for a group of P1 special needs students at Tsuen Wan Catholic Primary School for ten weeks.
Such experiences with schools and social workers have paved the way for a meaningful project that supported six Catholic Secondary Schools in the Northwestern District of the New Territories, one of the poverty-stricken zones in Hong Kong with numerous migrant families from China.
At the Shaukiwan Caritas Family Integrated Service Centres, I had the opportunity to create a summer program for special needs children and led six groups aged 5-8. From September to December 2021, I
conducted an English Improvement Program for a small group of P3-6 students and organised a Christmas fun fair for over 120 children and their parents. After schools reopened in May, I taught another English
program for a group of P1 special needs students at Tsuen Wan Catholic Primary School for ten weeks.
SHINE CHILDREN SHINE LIMITED
In XXX 2023, we became an officially approved NGO eligible to issue tax exemption receipts for donations over HK$100. We changed our name from “Charity Cambodia Limited” to “Shine Children Shine Limited” (明亮同心 chinese name) to include charitable projects for the poor and marginalised families in
Hong Kong, with a focus on supporting the holistic development of
secondary school students.
Today, We have four official board members and a small committee of voluntary advisors for project development and fundraising.