From 22 to 24 January 2016, the Victor and William Fung Foundation sponsored 25 Fung Scholars to join the Make a Difference (MaD) Forum 2016. Comprising art, theatre, architecture, design, media and multifaceted programmes, the MaD Forum is a holistic creative experience for 1,300 participants from over 100 Asian cities. The theme this year was “Village Reinvented”. Participants assumed the role of villagers and took part in a series of events. The activities fall under three broad categories: Grounded Practice, Broader Contexts and Co-created Programmes. The closing session”Insight, China Central TV” by FAN Ming, Chief Editor, was sponsored by the Foundation. The participants found the forum inspiring and thought-provoking.

Reflections of the participants

 

Brian CHU (FS2014-15, The University of Hong Kong)

At the chatroom with Ms Li Ying Ping, CEO of Lovely Taiwan Foundation, her sharing has brought me a new perspective on how social changes are effected. I have had been part of NGOs and used to believe that a lack of supportive policy from the government is the ultimate reason for every difficulty faced by NGOs. However, Ms Li, who has worked in both the government sector and civic sector, showed us a different perspective.

Using some of her successful projects in Southern Taiwan (of “Lovely Taiwan”), she highlights that either the civic sector or the government sector could be the weakest link. She is not dismissing that favourable government policy is one key driver for social innovation. She is suggesting that if NGOs can carefully consider and coordinate resources, these projects can be more resilient and bring more solid impacts to society. She raised the example of collecting unused production materials from factories in Taiwan and converting them into the materials for civic education that teaches kids on how to reduce, reuse and recycle (the 3R principle).

 

Billy CHAN (FS2015-16, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

I appreciate that many young people actually have done some projects to implement their idea. I have met a young Indonesian. He said that corruption in Indonesia was very common, so he and his friends started a project to promote anti-corruption. Their target is children and educates children about anti-corruption through storybooks and other games. I was inspired by his story a lot as he is a young but he can do a lot of things. So can I?

I really like MaD, and I hope I can join next year. To conclude, I will say I have learned don’t ask too much “why?”, but asking “why not!”

 

Ernest KWAN (FS2014-15, The University of Hong Kong)

Reflecting what I have learnt in these three days of MaD, while everyone is so motivated to be a changemaker in our village, the most important question to ask is what are the things that our society is lacking. To answer this question, it requires a lot of dedication and observation. The second thing is to utilize the power of powerless. Sometimes being powerless is not a bad thing, what we need is perseverance that keeps us doing what we believe is the right thing to do.

 

Dorothy MAK (FS2007-08, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)

I experienced how Kam Tin Glocal Cultural Hub is implementing their ‘imagination plan’ in a local community and creating an inclusive sharing platform that bridging youngsters from diverse backgrounds through excursion. Building a village for locals is difficult, but possible. With the power of ‘imagination’ and ‘execution’, we can invent!

‘The future of a village is the sum of its people and their heart.’ Maybe we can start the first step by talking to our neighbors and sharing our common concerns for ACTION!

 

Mandy TANG (FS2014-15, The Hong Kong Baptist University)

This forum inevitably reminded me of the experience in being a Project Manager of Enactus Hong Kong Baptist University (Enactus is a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to enable human progress. Enactus students apply business concepts to develop community outreach projects, transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world.). At that time, we really had lots of ideas in changing the world. But as been said by FAN Ming, at the closing speech that we, as the explorer of the world would have much passion in changing the world yet neglected the real needs of others, while especially the leader, would often face much pressure, uncertainty and doubt in the middle of the project, that made the difference whether or not we would success. This brought me into deep reflection and regret. And as the ripple forum told me that “No matter how many failures you encounter, if you persevere, you would eventually succeed.“ I hope this wake up call wasn’t too late, and I hope I could find that passion to strive for again. It was the most impressive sharing I have ever had and I was blessed to be there.

 

Linfan ZHANG (FS2015-16, Zhejiang University)

I watched a documentary, “Water is Life”, which depicts the connection between water and people in Taiwan. I saw how water integrates with their traditional culture and how much people are grateful for the water which they’re blessed to have. In modern society, everyone is stretching out their mind to exploit nature to make money out of it. But these people are doing the reverse thing. So, this dilemma push me to think that maybe we should try to reach balance between environment and economy. I think that’s the most important thing MaD taught me, don’t just think about how to make my own life better, but always prepared to give a hand to others, to our earth.