Summary of Summer Study Tour in Hong Kong

By: CTAHR ASAO

Four CTAHR students, Tyler Daguay (PEPS), Miho Fujii (FSHN), Felicia Geronimo (TPSS), and Kelli Zakimi (FSHN), and Sylvia Trinh of ASAO embarked on a ten-day international adventure from July 20-30, 2014 to learn about agriculture and food issues in Hong Kong.

They first arrived at the Wing Lung Ecological Farm located on the outskirts of Hong Kong in the town of Sai Kung, where they met with four fellow Hong Kong campers who would join them for the workcamp experience. Students helped to weed, till, repair various facilities, uproot trees, and aided in pest control management during their stay here.

After a few days at Wing Lung, they journeyed to other farms that stretched across the region. Their first stop was a small Buddhist organic farm experimenting with different crops to see which ones fared well in Hong Kong weather. They then traveled to a rural community in Ping Che with locals on a mission to revive culture and the arts of the region. During their overnight stay here, the CTAHR group had the chance to share about Hawaiian culture with the villagers and other international workcampers staying at that site. Their last tour was to the rice fields in Long Valley, where the group had an opportunity to harvest, mill, sift, and bag rice in during their visit. They then traveled back to Wing Lung farm for their last days in Hong Kong.

Culture was also very much a part of this experience as was learning about food, agriculture and the environment in Hong Kong. The group immersed in local lifestyle, from learning useful Cantonese phrases, to trying authentic eateries, to bargaining for food ingredients at the outdoor markets and learning to prepare traditional Hong Kong foods at their camp site, to riding on buses and trains and interacting with the local people. All in all, although there was much culture shock to overcome on this trip, the students enjoyed their experience in Hong Kong and met great people whom they have developed tight bonds during their short time there.

Thank you to Volunteers for Peace for helping us to coordinate this event as well as Voltra in Hong Kong for organizing this educational and informative agricultural study tour. Mahalo to Bird Tang, Anson, Chun-On Lai, and Stephanie Chan for hosting our CTAHR group for the full time, going out of your way to make our experience in Hong Kong as enjoyable as it could be and providing many unforgettable memories. We also want to extend our gratitude to everyone we met on this adventure, including KK and the friendly Ping Che residents, all the farmers we visited, and the previous volunteers who celebrated our arrival and departure. In addition, mahalo to ASAO for supporting our students to go to Hong Kong. Lastly, thank you to the students who participated and made this experience meaningful for everyone we encountered in Hong Kong.

To read more detailed accounts of each day in the eyes of the students, check out the rest of the posts! You can also catch photos of the summer excursion at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ctahr/sets/.