REDbird members and representative of the South Asian youth (second row, first from the right) in the community center in Kwai Chung District
As a person who is always curious about different cultures in the world, I signed up for the “Cross-cultural Community Tour” on November 8th. The tour took place in the Kwai Chung district, which is the home of a small South Asian community in Hong Kong.
Our journey started with the visit to a small house museum which showcased the cultures of South Asian ethnic groups, such that their traditional clothes, food and customs. Especially, our guides, who were two Hong Kong-born Pakistani girls, gave us a hand-on experiences on a traditional art form called “henna”. Using dying paste completely made from herbs, the two girls taught us to drawn on our hands complex yet beautiful patterns of leaves and flowers just by arranging basic shapes like rounds and curves together, layers by layers. This was the first time I knew about “henna” and I was totally impressed by its exquisiteness as well as its environmental friendliness.
After playing with “henna” in the museum, we hand lunch in a local South Asian restaurant. In the afternoon, we gathered at the local community where we met some teenagers from South Asian community. They were a little bit shy when introducing themselves. I was also quite nervous because I was afraid that I could say something offensive to their religion, which is Islam, as I recalled what I had watched and read about Muslim through mass media. However, when we and them talked with each other in smaller groups and started sharing about everyday habits, they both of us became more open. I realized that there were no differences between us: we had similar hobbies and shared similar concern about academics and future careers. Besides, the South Asian youths introduced cricket, their national sport, and then invited us to play a friendly game. While moving to the playfield, we approached a small group of Hong Kong Chinese teenagers. Surprisingly, these teenagers greeted our South Asian mates and talked to them for a while. If I just had heard the conversation without looking at the people inside it, I would have not imagined that that conversation had been between two completely different ethnics. After that, we arrived at the playfield. Although I practiced some basic movements in cricket with the guide of our South Asian buddies, I didn’t participate in the main game as I was raining and I didn’t want to get ill before my exam in the following week. However, I enjoyed watching other REDbird member enthusiastically playing the cricket game. It was clear that the cricket game brought us much more closer together.
The cross-cultural tour helped me understand more as well as have a more positive views about the South Asian people. I planned to revisit those lovely South Asian youths I met today in the future to play real cricket game with them. Besides, if they need help in their studies, I am willing to offer. In addition, through the trip, I also learnt the strength of language and ,especially, sports in connecting people from different backgrounds. The South Asian mates’ ability to speak Cantonese fluently motivated me to boost my Chinese skills in order to build more profound friendship with my local friends.