Linked with
HLTH 1010 Community or Voluntary Work (Max. 3 sessions, 4 hours per session)
Background
This project of Voluntary Heritage Service in Yimtintsai Village, Saikung, to be conducted in Fall 2016, is the fourth phase of the project launched in Fall Semester of 2015.
Yimtintsai (鹽田仔) Village is on a small island located in Saikung, New Territories, about half-an-hour drive by ferry from Saikung Town. It is a village of Hakka people, comprising about 36 households when it was deserted by the villagers at the end of the 1990s. It was one of the earliest sites of Catholic missionary enterprise in Hong Kong in the 1860s, and the whole village was converted to the Catholicism in 1866. The St. Joseph’s Chapel on the Island was listed as a second-grade heritage building by Hong Kong government. In mid-2006, the Chapel was renovated and the project won the UNESCO 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 the summer of 2015, the Heritage Exhibition Center’s remolding project and the project of rebuilding the salt pans will conclude. It is expected that 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, will increase tremendously in the coming autumn from the beginning of September through the end of December, which is also the high season of heritage visits there. 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 Chapel, the Heritage Exhibition Center, and the Salt Pans, to facilitate visitors’ activities, including explaining the background of heritage projects, the regulation of heritage protection, and maintaining the smooth flow of visitors.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
- Develop interpersonal communication skills when talking to visitors about the regulations of the heritage facilities.
- Develop management skills when facilitating visitors’ activities at the heritage sites of the village.
- Develop team works skills when working in collaboration with other heritage site facilitators.
Rundown
Two student volunteers will be arranged to serve on the morning shift (9:00am-1:00pm) and/or the afternoon shift (1:00pm – 5:00pm) on every Saturday, Sunday and public holiday from 10th September, 2016 to 22nd January, 2017. 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 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: 7 September, 2016 (WED)
Time: 17:00-18:00
Venue: Rm 2304 (Lift 17-18), Academic Building
Presentation
Application & Roster registration
Make a deposit of HK$100 at South China Research Center (Rm 3402, Lift 17-18, Academic Building) and mark your date/time slot(s) for service (each slot accommodate two applicants, first come first served).