The Journey of Life

The gymnasium at the Junior Police Call Permanent Activity Centre and Integrated Youth Training Camp in Yuen Long was filled with the energy and excitement of nearly 150 children ages 8-13 as they buzzed about to different booths. They were gaining practical experience on some of life’s important choices related to education, work and managing their money.

When asked what his plans are for the future, one of the young boys enthusiastically responded, “I am going to be a lawyer!”

This clever event was the result of nearly a year’s planning in a joint effort between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and four Pok Oi Family Multiple Intelligence Centres from Tin Shui Wan.

President Albert Law, one of the principal event planners from the Church said, “We wanted to provide an opportunity for the children to see how their choices will affect their quality of life later when they have to make the real choices. We geared the event to their level of understanding to help them learn important lessons of life in a fun and engaging way.”

The event was structured as a micro-society—there were booths for schooling, different types of jobs, community service, and recreation, gifts, amusement and treats to eat. There were also workshops that correlated to some of the booths. The children were given a Journey of Life planning and tracking worksheet where they could accumulate stamps for the things they accomplished at the booths. If they chose to go to a school workshop, it boosted the number of stamps they received when they went to the work activities. Going to work and doing service for the community added stamps to their worksheet. If they spent their stamps on too much recreation, amusement and treats, their financial resources became depleted and their quality of life suffered.

The activity appeared to achieve its desired purpose. One of the children said, “I went to the learning workshop first to earn more stamps in a shorter period of time so I would have sufficient stamps to trade for the gifts I wanted.” In contrast, another child said, “I regret using up my stamps too early. I did not have enough stamps by the end of the game to trade for my favorite gift.”

The children also bonded with their mentors. One child said, “I love my life mentor and was grateful to have her give me guidance so that I could enjoy the game.” A second child said, “I got a contact number from my life mentor and hope our friendship can be forever.”

The children weren’t the only ones to learn from the event. In addition to 50 adult leaders, 110 youth from the Church ages 14-18 served as service volunteers to help set up and operate the booths, events, workshops and lunch. This activity was their service project as part of a four-day youth conference.

Francis Cheung who was celebrating his 19^th birthday as a first-year volunteer said, “This is more challenging than I thought it would be to keep things running smoothly for the whole day. I see ways I can work harder.”

The youth crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to Francis, during lunchtime, and he then set off even more determined to apply himself in the afternoon.

Thomas Tsang and Mandy Tang were two of the Pok Oi staff from the Tin Shui Wai Child and Family Center.

Mandy said, “This is a very good learning experience for the children to get to role play different kinds of careers. They were especially excited to put on police uniforms and serve patrol duty on the ground floor of the building.” 

Pok Oi and the Church felt their partnership has been very rewarding and see potential for other joint efforts in the future. If they can repeat the same level of success as they achieved with this event, children will be lining up to attend.