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SCMP Reporter

'How much does it cost?' the student asked, pointing to a teddy bear.

'It's only $20,' said one of the mini-bazaar helpers.

'Too expensive,' the student said. 'How about $15?'

'Ok,' the helper said. 'Thank you for your support.'

Student 'customers' at the STFA Lee Shau Kee mini-bazaar sounded just like shoppers at any Hong Kong street market, except they were bargaining in English.

This year's fund-raising mini- bazaar was organised by the college's English Society, which aimed to raise money for Orbis - an organisation dedicated to saving sight wordwide - and to increase student interest in English.

We selected Orbis as our target charity because it is a not- for-profit humanitarian organisation dedicated to fighting avoidable blindness, and to promoting peaceful co-operation among nations. The name Orbis was chosen because its Greek  root means 'of the eye', and from Latin it means 'around the world'. At the beginning, we believed we wouldn't have a lot to do to organise such an activity would be an easy task. We thought we could simply sell things and collect the money.

We were wrong. Actually, we had to do a lot of preparation.  We had to go to different trading companies and outlets to see if there was anything we could purchase 'wholesale' to be offered at the bazaar. Moreover, we had to pack up the things for sale, decide the prices for goods and recruit more than 30 helpers from different forms to sell goods at different counters.

We were kept very busy for two weeks before the sale, which we held over two days in the school hall during recess and lunch time.

There were many counters selling different things, including flowers, stationery and toys.

Helpers used different methods to persuade students to buy  things. Some called at the tops of their voices to draw attention.

We had help from the English teachers as well as the Teacher- Parent Association. Some parents set up a snack bar to sell items such as bean curd custard, mango pudding, soya milk, fried rice and sushi.

In fact, the snack bar proved to be one of the most popular stalls, offering tasty dishes at bargain prices.

The bazaar also included games stalls designed by our teaching assistants. Students paid a few dollars to play, and sweets and toys were awarded to the winners.

Hundreds of students came to the bazaar, as well as many of the teachers and the principal, Tsang Yat-ming. Mr Tsang donated $888 for a floral arrangement.

After the bazaar ended we felt very exhausted, but also very happy. We raised money for Orbis, and learned a lot of things, such as how to organise an activity.

We learned that division of labour is of vital importance to an activity's success. What's more, we learned how to co-operate with one another - a skill you can't get from a textbook.

WONG Ka-yan is a sixth form student at STFA Lee Shau Kee College in Kwai Chung



Bazaar raises funds for eye charity