Docent Training and Heritage Services Summer Program in Yimtintsai Village, Saikung (8th Round)

Background

This project of Voluntary Heritage Service in Yimtintsai Village, Saikung, to be conducted in Summer 2018, is the 8th round of the project launched in Fall Semester of 2015.

Yimtintsai (鹽田梓) Village is located on a small island in Saikung, New Territories, about half-an-hour ride on ferry from Saikung Town. It is a village of Hakka people with a settlement history of about 300 years, comprising about 40 households when it was deserted by the villagers at the end of the 1990s. It was one of the earliest sites of the Catholic missionary enterprise in Hong Kong back in the 1860s, and the whole village was converted to Catholicism in 1866. St. Joseph's Chapel on the Island was listed as a second-grade heritage building by the Hong Kong government. The Chapel was renovated in 2003 and the project won the UNESCO 2005 Award of Merit for the Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation.

At the end of 2007, the South China Research Center of HKUST recruited about 50 students to undertake a heritage salvation projects in three days in collaboration with the Village Committee, recovering more than 1,000 pieces of heritage artefacts from dilapidated village houses and cataloguing them for the purpose of storage in the village. In 2011, the non-profit Salt and Light Preservation Center was established to launch several heritage conservation projects, including remolding the Heritage Exhibition Center and rebuilding the salt pans based on the village's history of salt industry.

In 2011, the non-profit Salt and Light Preservation Center was established under the aegis of the Hong Kong Catholic Diocese to launch several heritage conservation projects, including remodeling the old village school house into the Heritage Exhibition Center and revitalizing the saltpans based on the village's history of salt industry. In the summer of 2015, the Heritage Exhibition Center's remodeling project and the project of revitalizing the saltpans concluded. The saltpan revitalization project won the UNESCO 2015 Awards of Distinction for the Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation. Since then, visitors to the village's heritage facilities, including the St. Joseph's Chapel, the Path of the Missionary History, the Heritage Exhibition Center, and salt production in the salt pans, have increased tremendously. Volunteers are needed to help running the heritage visiting programs by the Salt and Light Preservation Center.

Program Volunteers Recruitment

We plan to recruit student volunteers to facilitate the heritage visiting programs in the village. They will be stationed in the heritage sites such as the Heritage Exhibition Center, and the Salt Pans, to facilitate visitors' activities, including explaining the background of heritage projects, the display items, the regulation of heritage protection, and maintaining the smooth flow of visitors.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

1. Develop interpersonal communication skills when talking to visitors about the regulations of the heritage facilities.
2. Develop management skills when guiding visitors' at the heritage facilities of the village.
3. Develop problem solving and team work skills when working in collaboration with other heritage facilities facilitators.

Service as Heritage Docents (文物導賞員)

Requirement:

• Attending two training sessions
  1. On-site training on Yimtintsai Island

     June 2 (Saturday)
     09:00-12:30

  2. Drilling session on HKUST campus

     June 6 (Wednesday)
     14:00-17:00
     Rm 3401 (Lift 17-18), Academic Building

• Serving at least 3 days on Yimtintsai Island

Rewards:

• Certificate of Docent Training
• Certificate of Appreciation

Rundown

Student volunteers will be arranged to serve on the morning shift (09:00-12:30) and the afternoon shift (13:30 – 17:00) on every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday from 9th June, 2018 to 26th August, 2018. The schedule is as follows

Attendance Taking Arrangement

The village staff in the General Office of the Village Committee on the island will be responsible for taking attendance of the enrolled student volunteers according to the roster.

Safety Precautions

There will be a first-aid box available in the General Office of the Village Committee on the island. Student volunteers will be instructed how to get access to it.

Ways to Ensure Active Participation

Two workshops will be organized for registered student volunteers to learn about the background of their service, their roles in the heritage program, and some basic techniques for their service.

A certificate of appreciation and a certificate of Docent Training will be issued by the Salt and Light Preservation Centre to students after they provide satisfactory service in the village.

Ways to assess ILOs

The student volunteer will be required to write a brief self-reflection on the three ILOs after providing their service.

Information Session

Date: 30 May 2018 (Wed)
Time: 11:00-12:00
Venue: Rm 3301 (Lift 17-18), Academic Building

Application & Roster registration

Make a deposit of HK$100 at South China Research Center (Rm 3402, Lift 17-18, Academic Building) and mark your dates for service (each slot accommodate two applicants, first come first served).

Those who want to participate in the project need to come to the South China Research Center (Rm 3402, Lift 17-18) to make refundable deposit of HK$100- and mark the 3 dates of service. You can also do that in the field training session on June 2 before departure for Yimtintsai Village. The two training sessions (field training on Yimtintsai Island 9:00am—1:00pm, June 2 Saturday; and classroom drilling Rm 3401, 2:00pm—5:00pm, June 6 Wednesday) are mandatory. If they want to know more about the program before making the decision, they are welcome to attend the information session on May 30 (Wed).