Educational Forum Details

November 7, 2003 (Friday) was a big day for "Phoenix Clubhouse".   On that day, we hosted an Educational Forum at the Queen Mary Hospital. A group of us from the clubhouse attended, with Michelle as master of ceremony, Angic, Ching-sha, Jia-li the ushers, and I, one of the speakers. Many other members who were eager to learn about or advocate the "clubhouse model"  also came to cheer us on.

The forum was very well prepared.  Each guest received a corsage and a pamphlet on the upcoming "Asian Clubhouse Conference" at the entrance. We also promoted the book, "Journey to a new life", that was published in honour of the 5th anniversary of the clubhouse. More than 180 people filed into the venue in an orderly manner and all were very supportive and keen.

Dr. Michael Wong opened the forum with an introduction, followed by Eva, Amanda, Anita, Mary, representatives from Amity Centre, and Take Your Way. Then Kit-bing, Sandy, Daniel, Katherine, Sally and Rowena shared their testimonies. We were happy that Ralph, our friend from the U.S., came all the way to support the event with a few words of encouragement. During refreshment time, people mingled as they ate, so the atmosphere was very cordial indeed!

I felt I learnt an important lesson that day for never in my life had I spoken in front of such a large crowd of people before. I was nervous. However, when I was on stage, I was surprisingly calm and I performed quite well. This experience definitely boosted my self-confidence.

At the closing of the forum, several people from the audience raised difficult questions to which we gave satisfactory answers. We were not intimidated!

As representatives of the clubhouse, we all performed well in the forum. Ultimately though, the success of this event must be attributed to the combined effort of all the members and staff of the clubhouse.

Written by: Sugar Sugar

Translated by: Yakult