「喺 Love 21呢度,我哋好希望透過運動同埋有營養嘅飲食去提升唐氏綜合症以及自閉症患者嘅身心健康。喺未做呢份工之前,我未試過同有唐氏綜合症或者自閉症嘅人接觸。我仲記得喺度教踢波嘅第一堂,同學嘅天份同埋活力完全打動咗我。做耐咗之後,我學識教班嘅時候點樣溝通,我會講嘢放慢啲,俾多啲自信,用好多手勢同埋身體語言去表達自己。同理心,對於我嚟講,係要用一種共同嘅語言去將唔同嘅人帶埋一齊,而對我嚟講,嗰種共同語言就係運動。睇住我哋班呢班會員點樣互相溝通真係好有意思。自閉症嘅會員一開頭可能會比較拘謹,但係當佢哋習慣到身邊嘅人同埋環境之後,佢哋會慢慢放鬆啲。相反呢,好多唐氏綜合症嘅會員都係特別熱情同埋鍾意同人接觸,大家可以互相平衡同埋支持大家,呢個作用係好奇妙㗎!
“I did a bit of everything when I first joined; I organised programmes, planned activities, managed the operations, did the books and wrote funding proposals...I never thought I would work in the non-profit sector growing up. My first job was at a restaurant kitchen, where I helped to prepare and cook food. Then I moved on to do accounting, which I found quite monotonous. I stumbled upon an opportunity online for Love 21, where all my seemingly incongruous skills seemed to have been put together in this one job description. With my accounting skills, passion for sports and love for cooking - it seemed to fit like a glove! I remember feeling so eager to get started and to help implement the vision. I was constantly learning new things back then and I’m still constantly learning now. It was so exciting at the time to see everything grow from scratch. That’s the part of the job that I enjoy the most - it’s a constant challenge but also so meaningful, which is what keeps me going. When people think of NGO workers, they might picture someone fundraising on the streets, but in reality the work that we do is so diverse and a lot more hands on. Many of my peers from school have chosen more traditional careers in IT, finance or consulting but I just love the breadth and dynamism of working in the non-profit sector and haven’t looked back since.”

「我係一個運動迷,乒乓波、排球、 桌球、 游水、田徑…… 樣樣都啱 !我好鍾意同 我 哋 既會員 分享我對運動嘅熱情,等佢哋有機會試新嘢同埋成長。社會上對於有特殊需要嘅人士有好多偏見,所以好多議題都唔會點討論。我覺得 所有人 都應該被尊重同關懷 ,同埋得到機會尋找同發掘自我 。再講吖,其實我哋比想像中更加相似 ,尤其係做緊運動嗰陣時! 接觸過特殊需要小朋友嘅家長之後,我發現佢哋好多時掛住照顧小朋友,忽略咗自己嘅需要。所以我哋都會提供家長輔導服務。要真正支援到一個人,確保佢身邊嘅人有支援都好重要!」
Want to know more about LOVE 21 ?
Check out our field trip report and learn more about the organisation and how you can help