Aspiring interior designer who used her talents to help rural Chinese village nominated for Spirit of Hong Kong Award
- Chan Tsz-kiu, 20, trained to overcome the challenges presented by her heart condition so she could volunteer in northwestern China’s Macha Village
- That journey was part of a lifetime of overcoming personal challenges and giving back to her community
For Chan Tsz-kiu, 20, a newly built public housing block in Hong Kong and a run-down rural village in northwestern China have more in common than others might realise.
Both can be made more liveable through people-friendly design, according to the young Hongkonger, who lives in a public rental flat in Sha Tin.
The parallel became clear after she joined a volunteer project to help design and build facilities in a remote village in Gansu province in August 2018.
Chan spent two weeks in Macha Village with eight schoolmates and a teacher, all from Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College.
Under the guidance of staff from the Wu Zhi Qiao (Bridge to China) Charitable Foundation, the Hong Kong volunteers helped make the hamlet, whose residents were mostly elderly people and young children, a better place to live.