Getting to Know Our Community by Looking Beyond Our Horizons
Yip Chun-sze
M.Div. Student
Group 5 (Shek Kip Mei)
On the Spiritual Formation Day, our group visited places like Tai Hang Sai Estate, Sham Shui Po Community Association, and Saint Francis of Assisi’s Catholic Church in Shek Kip Mei to learn more about the community.
The head office of my church is located in Pak Tin, and the home church of it is in Tai Hang Tung. Our first stop that day was Tai Hang Sai Estate, which I have walked through for years as it is along the road linking the head office of my church and the home church. I am familiar with the estate. In camps held by the church we often set up one of the orienteering checkpoints in Tai Hang Sai Estate. It is an ideal location for party games as there is a lot of space with just a few residents, who are mainly elderly, and there are no security guards to trouble us. We did not know much about the neighborhood nor did we try to find out more. The only thing we knew was that there is an urban renewal plan for the area, so the church has been looking forward to serving the residents there after the reconstruction of Tai Hang Sai Estate. However, I completely changed the way I look at the whole matter after our tour guide told us the story behind the upcoming urban development.
The guide pointed out that the reconstruction of Tai Hang Sai Estate would mean moving a lot of residents into new buildings. Among them are a number of hidden elderly or elderly with limited mobility whose needs are buried under the discussion about reconstruction. The fact that our church wants to serve future residents after the reconstruction while neglecting people who have been living there all along reminds me that when we think we care about the community, we could be overlooking the needy in front of us.
In this neighborhood audit, I learn that if we are to serve the community, we ought to suspend what we think we know, looking beyond our horizons to listen to the stories and the needs of the community again. If we confine ourselves to our horizons, we may be missing the point of serving the community.