Teacher hailed for helping jobless succeed
Part-time teacher Benny Chen Po-wah has won great admiration for his tireless work helping the jobless.
Five years ago, Christian Action approached him to run a programme for the unemployed on estate management and security and since then he and his many trainees have not looked back.
'I had to teach every night after work, but it was never a burden to me. I was delighted seeing the progress they made and how they got jobs,' said Mr Chen, 50, who has been in the estate management business for 17 years.
The programme has been extended to include two full-time and six part-time instructors so Mr Chen now only needs to teach once a week.
But his work is so valued by Susan Shu Siu-yin, who is in charge of Christian Action's employee retraining centre in Kowloon Bay, that she called the Act of Kindness hotline to nominate him for special praise.
'I must thank him for his contributions to the programme. He started the programme five years ago on his own and since then he teaches and arranges job interviews for the graduates,' she said.
Mr Chen is unable to remember how many graduates of the programme he has managed to help, but said 'as long as they can find a job, I am satisfied'. The Act of Kindness campaign is being run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and supported by the South China Morning Post.
