[Sunwah GYLN HCMC] Social services projects from early – mid 2017

  • The visits to Dieu Giac Pagoda Orphanage Center (18 Jan and 5 Feb 2017)

The Sunwah GYLN Ho Chi Minh City Chapter paid two visits to the Dieu Giac Orphanage on the 18 January and the 5 February 2017. The Orphanage is the home for over 100 children ranging from preschool age to over 18. Through conversations with the nuns here, we understood more about the children’s lives and circumstances, as well as what they need both physically, mentally and emotionally.

In order to help these children to have a more cheerful Tet Holiday, on the 18 January 2017, our members of Sunwah GYLN HCMC Chapter had gathered and organized play groups for children and decorated the orphanage to welcome the Holiday. We also joined hands with the nuns of the orphanage to cook the traditional “chung” cake and delivered 240 gifts set (including clothes and sandals) for the children.

On 5 February 2017, we organized another visit to the Orphanage to deliver and present some bookshelves and books sponsored by Sunwah Foundation (about 100 books) to the children.

The nun at the Pagoda center asked us to convey her sincere thanks to Sunwah Foundation and GYLN for having organized meaningful activities and sponsored the children at the center. The visit and delivery of gifts (including sandals for the children to go to school, and pretty clothes) took place in a very cheerful, exciting and meaningful manner. During the visit, the GYLN members also showed their skillfulness at guiding the children to decorate their common living area and make their own handmade cards and calendars for Tet holidays together with the children.

12 GYLN members and more than 50 children at the Dieu Giac Orphanage had a lovely evening together. After the delivery of the gifts, we played games, decorated the kitchen with the kids and listened to their stories. Through these activities, GYLN members could understand more about these children’s daily life as well as their thoughts, their problems and saw how they support each other to create a “Home” with a lot of love and caring despite their own circumstances. Not only did these kids feel happy but also GYLN members learned so many things after the visit. We would like to do more things for these kids, as well as for other disadvantaged groups. Just seeing these children’s happy smiles truly warms our hearts for the rest of the day.

(2) The loving porridge (10 and 11 June 2017)

On 10 and 11 June 2017, Sunwah GYLN – HCMC Chapter members cooked and delivered free porridge to patients in Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital. We prepared ingredients and cooked porridge for 5 hours on 10 June. It was a bit difficult at the beginning, but within a short time, we made ourselves acquainted with the process.

We delivered the porridge to the Oncology Hospital in the morning of 11 June 2017. Although that time was still early, many people had already been there to receive us. Most of the patients are elderly who are suffering from serious health problems, living in difficult conditions and some are even unemployed.

“I have been here for 2 months to do medical treatment for the goiter. My children live far away from here, so I have to take care of myself. I don’t have much money. Thanks to you, today I don’t need to worry about my breakfast”, an elderly woman said.

Finally, we completed our plan to bring more than 500 packs of porridge to the patients within approximately 2 hours. We became more aware of the youth’s responsibility to society and committed ourselves to dedicate as much as possible to help people.

Anh Khoa (HCMC Chapter)

[Sunwah GYLN Canada] VR Exploring Event VRDEVEDU

Virtual Reality (VR) technology has been a hot topic being discussed a lot in these two years. As a GYLN member and having background in software technology, I brought up the idea of exposing this new technology to more young people and accelerating the social progress in terms of technology. After the discussion with the members of Canada chapter, they agreed that this would be an interesting idea, and so we started planning and proposed it to Ms. Betty Chan, and then she approved it.

First thing we needed to decide was the instructor. One of us knew an instructor, Mr. Andy Chen, who had been teaching people on building apps. We contacted him and he showed us how many VR apps he had made already. We were confident that he could be our instructor for this event, and he agreed to do this with us at a low cost after we explained to him it’s a non-profit free event for people. There should also be some teacher assistants (TAs) walking around and guiding the students step-by-step, while the instructor was teaching on the stage. Jesse, Jack, and I, who all studied computer, tried to build the demo app and became the TAs.

Besides learning to make the app, we also visited multiple locations for a suitable venue to teach and accommodate people with lots of chairs and tables for the computers. Eventually we chose SFU Harbour Center located in Downtown Vancouver because of its convenient location and available time. After we settled down the venue and date, and decided the name of the event – VRDEVEDU (VR Development Education), we started the promotion on Facebook, WeChat, and Eventbrite. We found out that Facebook was the best media to spread the news and present the details to the public. Our tickets were all sold out on Eventbrite within a few days. We should follow this promotion approach for future events too.

On the event date, there were about 60 people came. Most of them did not have experience in software development, and we the TAs were running around to guide them on every step.

Most of the participants had never tried any VR app before. We invited two companies who had been doing VR related businesses to come and demonstrate the advance usage.

This was our first event of Canada Chapter. We introduced to the participants about GYLN, and they were amazed that the event was organized by a group of young GYLN members. Some of them even helped out in this event and wanted to involve in planning future events with us together. We recruited some members through this, and they were already suggesting some meaningful ideas to do.

Kelvin Au (Canada Chapter)

[Sunwah GYLN Japan] Sharing about the trip in Kyushu, Japan

While people in many countries were busy with “trick-or-treat” during Halloween, four members from Japan (Tokyo) Chapter, Tomo, Taiki, Peace, and I, participated in the Kyushu International Gathering trip 2016. It was the very first gathering to be held in Japan, and we were excited to have all of the chapter members flying all the way from their countries to ours. Unfortunately, most of the members were not familiar with the region, so it would not be as successful as it was without Sunwah Foundation and the generous dedication of Kyushu chapter. In this regard, I would like to also thank Ms. Betty Chan, Executive Director of Sunwah Foundation, and all the staff of Sunwah Foundation for organizing such an event and especially Dr. Choi for always giving us enormous opportunities to go beyond our comfort zone. Here, I would like to tell you about the trip and what I learnt from the trip by comparing this conference with the previous one in Hanoi.

On Oct. 29th, most of the members arrived at the Fukuoka International Airport. On the first day of this gathering, members went to one of the famous shrines in the region, Dazaifu Tenmangu. Then, they went to a museum to see how Fukuoka prospered over the years. At night, they went to the city for a little sightseeing. Unfortunately, I was not able to join them for this eventful day, but when I got to the dorm very late at night I could see that members had already been getting so close to each other.

Oct. 30th was the day full of discussions on future leaders. In the beginning, five chapters gave presentations about what they have done in the past year. The scheduled speakers were three, but Angel from Macau Chapter and I felt the need to also explain what we had done, so just 9 hours before the presentation, we had decided to prepare ours as well. I guess you could imagine how much coffee we needed to drink in the next morning. The following morning session started with Ms Betty Chan’s introduction. As always her style is “short and sharp”, it did not take long before the baton was passed to the members to start presentations. All of the chapters were well prepared; especially members of the Hanoi Chapter and Ho Chi Minh Chapter were great in a way that other chapters had so much to learn from their well structured and organized model. Later, we discussed about “Global Citizenship”. How can we be one? The conclusion we had was to understand other cultures and nationalities, while keep your own intact and well complimented. This was a challenging topic because at the end we realized it took time to accept and understand others especially if you were in the environment where everyone else had different background and values. Thus, we had a lecture by Prof. Gordon Houlden, a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing and current professor of University of Alberta, Canada. He shared his experience living in Asia and how he became one of the Global Citizens. There was a lot to learn, and also some challenging questions were asked from the floor. After that, we had the Welcome Dinner with the governor of Fukuoka together with many more leaders from different fields.

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On Oct. 31st, we had a ceremony at Kyushu University and a memorial conference about Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, the well-known Chinese revolutionary as well as the first President of the Republic of China. We celebrated the ground breaking ceremony of the Jonathan KS Choi Cultural Center located in Ito Campus, Kyushu University. Then, various scholars around the world gathered to discuss about Dr. Sun Yat-Sen. I was amazed to learn how much influence he had, not only in China and Japan, but also in other Asian countries and all over the world.

On Nov. 1st, we had another conference to commemorate Dr Sun Yat-sen’s 150th anniversary of birthday in the city of Fukuoka which is “Conference on Kyushu as a Frontier of Asia Pacific Cooperation”. In the afternoon, we had some free time to go sightseeing, so we went to the Fukuoka city museum and it was already time to say goodbye.

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This was my second time to join Sunwah Foundation’s international gathering as a member of Japan Chapter and this time it was my great honor to welcome members from other chapters to my country. When I think about the term “Leader” there is a moment I feel that what we can do as individuals might not have that much influence to the world. However, this conference made me realize that if we do not do anything or not try to understand others nothing will change. Whenever I am in the community of Sunwah Foundation, I feel that we, as a group of future leaders, do accept the difference of individual uniqueness and this is certainly a leap to the next generation instead of grouping up people in a category and see them through the lens of stereotypes. I am glad to be a member of this Foundation, making connections around the world will gradually break those lenses and eventually each one of us will spread a positive change to the society.

Akari Hirata (Japan Chapter)

 

Sunwah GYLN International Summit (30 Oct – 1 Nov 2016)

 

A. GYLN Internal Discussion Session 

Venue: Ito Campus, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

Date: 30 October 2016

Time: 09:00 – 16:30

  • Ms Betty Chan, Executive Director of Sunwah Foundation to introduce new development for the Global Young Leaders Network, including Sunwah’s support for business start-ups business by members.
  • Presentations by Chapter representatives on their activities during the past year and what members have learned from organization of events.
  • Group discussions on global citizenship: What is global citizenship? What are the challenges? How to develop?

B. GYLN Exchange Session with Prof Gordon Houlden, Director of China Institute, University of Alberta

Venue: The New Otani Hotel, Fukuoka, Japan

Date: 30 October 2016

Time: 17:30 – 18:45

Topic: How to develop a balanced and positive global outlook

C. Attend Kyushu Forum on Dr. Sun Yat-sen

The Kyushu Forum on Dr Sun Yat-sen comprises two conferences. The Conference on Dr Sun Yat-sen’s International Legacy and Inspirations for the Future and the Conference on Kyushu as a Frontier of Asia Pacific Cooperation.

  1. Conference on Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s International Legacy and Inspirations for the Future

2016 is the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Dr Sun Yat-sen. The Conference is organized by Kyushu University and the Institute of Dr. Sun Yat-sen Studies of Zhongshan University with Sunwah Foundation and Kyushu Economic Forum as co-organisers.

Venue: Inamori Hall, Ito Campus, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
Date: 31 October 2016

Pre Conference Ceremony
13:00-13:30 Ground-breaking Ceremony of the Jonathan KS Choi Cultural Centre of Japan at Kyushu University

Conference
13:30-18:00
Opening:
Moderator: Prof. Reiko Aoki
Speech by President Chiharu Kubo, President of Kyushu University
Speech by Dr. Jonathan KS Choi, Chairman of Sunwah Group and Sunwah Foundation
Speech by Mr. Susumu Ishihara, Chairman of Kyushu Economic Forum

Session1: Moderator: Prof. Takeshi Hamashita (Zhongshan University)
1. Prof. Lin Jia-you, Former Director of the Institute of Dr. Sun Yat-sen Studies of Zhongshan University
Topic: Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s International Awareness and Its Key Implications (30 mins)

  1. Prof. Takeshi Shizunaga, Graduate School of Humanities, Kyushu University
    Topic: Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s visit to Fukuoka and the history of China-Japan academic cooperation in Kyushu University (30 mins)
  2. Prof. Nguyen Van Khanh, Former Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) and Director of the Institute of Policy and Management (USSH)
    Topic: Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Vietnam Revolution (30 mins)

Coffee Break

Session 2: Moderator Prof. Akihiro Iwashita (Kyushu University and Hokkaido University)
4. Prof. Leo Suryadinata, S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological, University, Singapore
Topic: Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s international legacy and inspirations for the future: Some examples from Southeast Asia (30 mins)

  1. Prof. Gordon Houlden, Director of China Institute, University of Alberta, Canada
    Topic: Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the West: A 21st Century Canadian Perspective. (30 mins)
  2. Prof. Takeshi Onimaru, Graduate school of Integrated Science for Global Society, Kyushu University
    Topic: Dr. Sun Yat-sen and the Revolutionary Networks in East and Southeast Asia in the 1920s and 30s (30 mins)
  3. Prof. Li Xin-chun, China Institute of Economic Transformation and Opening
    Topic: Guangdong Province: First mover and entrepreneurship -The birth place of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (30 mins)

Q&A session 10 mins

18:30 – 20:00 Reception at Inamori Hall

  1. The Conference on Kyushu as a Frontier of Asia Pacific Cooperation

The Conference will be held at the Kyuden Mirai Hall in Fukuoka, Japan on the next day, 1 November 2016, to explore opportunities for cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region from the inspirations of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his connections with Kyushu. The Conference is organized by the Kyushu Economic Forum, co-organised by Sunwah Foundation and the Japan Hong Kong Society – Kyushu and supported by Kyushu University for about 400 participants. Dr Jonathan Choi will deliver a keynote speech on Hong Kong’s partnership with Kyushu and the Asia Pacific Region at this Conference and there will be a panel discussion with speakers from various countries on Kyushu as the Frontier of Asia Pacific Cooperation.

Members of Sunwah GYLN Hanoi Chapter met with Mrs Carrie Lam and attended the Asian Youth Orchestra Tour 2016’s performance in Hanoi

On 17 August 2016, on the occasion of Mrs Carrie Lam, Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong SAR Government’s visit to Hanoi, the Asian Youth Orchestra had staged a concert at Vietnam National Academy of Music.  As a member of Sunwah Global Young Leaders Network, I had the honor to attend the concert and met with Mrs Carrie Lam. For me, it was not only an ordinary concert but I also learnt a valuable lesson in terms of international relations.

Being invited by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), our Sunwah GYLN members arrived early for the pre-event meeting with Mrs Carrie Lam. In spite of her glamorous and powerful appearance, our feelings when talking to her was somehow like talking to a family member. She had such a gentle voice that we felt being respected, which encouraged us to develop ourselves as the young generation of the country and opened up to opportunities for youth development between Vietnam and Hong Kong.

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Mrs Carrie Lam met with Sunwah GYLN Hanoi members before the Concert

After the meeting, we moved to the Grand Hall where the concert took place. The concert’s conductor – James Judd greeted the audience and they started with Symphony No.8 by Dvorak and Symphony No.6, Pathétique by Tchaikovsky. It was not the first time I went to a classical music concert but I still regarded it as a surprising fortune to be there. The audience gradually fell into the rhythm played by the youth from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Vietnam.

After the performance, the conductor and the orchestra introduced themselves, which was the most interesting part of the night to me. Mr. Judd asked the only one member from Vietnam to stand up beside him as a translator to help him introduce other members.

The concert was over, everybody headed to the gate. I asked some Sunwah GYLN members to stay behind as I would like them to have a talk with the AYO member from Vietnam – Do Ngoc Thao My, whom I know personally. It was a long time since I last saw her, she had really grown up!

I think, apart from organizing events on our own, we also need to attend the events professionally organized by others to learn from them and help ours to be more successful. The Asian Youth Orchestra Tour 2016 is one of the lessons like that and we want to thank Sunwah Foundation for this precious opportunity.

Members of Sunwah GYLN Ho Chi Minh City Chapter met with Mrs Carrie Lam, Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong SAR Government

Over the past few years, Vietnam and Hong Kong have achieved much progress in trade and diplomatic relations. On the occasion of Mrs Carrie Lam’s visit aimed at boosting trade and investment between the two sides, members of HCM Chapter had an interesting conversation with her at Sunwah Galleria on 16th August 2016.

During the meeting, we talked about Vietnam and Hong Kong’s young generation, our differences, challenges and opportunities. Through a short conversation, her profound story and leadership style have inspired us and left a deep impression in our hearts. Spending time to understand the establishment of HCM Chapter and the background of GYLN members, Mrs Carrie Lam also shared the vision of youth development in Hong Kong. Mrs Lam expressed the promising outlook to connect and open up opportunities for youth development between Vietnam and Hong Kong. Dr Choi also shared the reasons why he founded the Sunwah Foundation Global Young Leaders Network (GYLN) as well as his commitment to provide a ready platform for the youths from various countries to develop their international outlook, leadership skills, and commitment to public and social services.

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Mrs Carrie Lam received Sunwah GYLN Hong Kong Chapter T-shirt from Dr Choi and a 3D handmade painting from Sunwah GYLN HCMC Chapter members

At the end of the meeting, GYLN HCM Chapter members presented a 3D handmade painting by a local artist to Mrs Carrie Lam as a memorial gift of her visit and expressed their deepest appreciation to her for her willingness to support youth development.

We hope that Mrs Carrie Lam’s visit will enhance the relationship, trade and investment between Vietnam and Hong Kong, and the young generation of the two sides will inherit and continue to develop this legacy.

 

 

[Sunwah GYLN Hanoi ] Teamwork Training Report

After the completion of the annual recruitment program of Sunwah Global Young Leaders Network in Hanoi, the newbies headed for the first training and got in touch with brothers and sisters of Sunwah GYLN family in a cozy and loving atmosphere at Dong Mo, Son Tay. The ice-breaking training does more than a normal training –a chance for us to become more united and connected. All the games were physically demanding but that could not stop us from having our ultimate fun in the sun.

At half past 7 in the morning, all members gathered at the ULIS – Jonathan KS Choi Cultural Center to take a bus and get to the training place – a camping site at Dong Mo with fresh air and beautiful greenery. When the whole team arrived, we were divided into 2 teams to start the games. All members were eager to name our teams and choose a slogan to show spirit of the team. The first game required all members to walk together on special wooden boards to reach the goal as fast as possible. Everyone has to focus and trust each other in every step in this game. After the game, GYLN members were all thrilled and excited to join the next.

The next challenge was more exciting and quite unusual – it was like table tennis with the use of band rolls to pass the ball over the net. Everyone at first doubted that they could not play this game well but after some trials, we all got the hang of it and had a lot of fun playing. The competition was very fierce; two teams took turns by leading each other point by point and got better after each turn of play.

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The third team game was very much demanding and difficult. Everybody needed to overcome their own fear of heights while remaining balanced on the specially designed terrains and obstacles. Nevertheless, nobody is alone in the fight; we all supported one another in these obstacles and had a success in the end. Everyone was quite exhausted but the most important thing was that nobody gave up – we all tried our best to contribute to the success of the teams.

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Finally came the last challenge and also the hardest one. Whether it was walking on cables, running on old car tires, keeping balance on strings or small wooden boards, hanging on to ropes above our heads, everyone needed to learn the techniques fast and applied carefully with the support of the whole team. It was almost like intensive gymnastics exercises. The most memorable obstacle is the one when we had to swing like Tarzan to reach a giant spider net and finish the whole chain of tasks. That last moment of victory would definitely stay in our hearts and minds for long after the training ended.

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Lunch break followed with a BBQ feast when everyone finally charged with new energy and connection to be a strong team for the next year. All members learned more about each other’s personal stories and experience when applying to GYLN and their expectations. There were also great suggestions for future work of the network. We held our hopes high for Sunwah GYLN as a place where great minds meet and we implement projects that will have lasting and sustainable impacts on society. We discussed about the vulnerable, disadvantaged groups and planned out some activities or events to help them develop their own potentials. But all great mission needs to start with solidarity within the team itself, this first training for the new generation of members served as a stepping stone for bigger and better moves for Hanoi Chapter of Sunwah Global Young Leaders Network.

31st July of 2016.

Reporter: Binh Minh

[Sunwah GYLN Hanoi] SUNWAH-VNU Model United Nations 2016

Date: 7th May 2016 – 8th May 2016
Venue: 2nd floor – ULIS – Jonathan KS Choi Culture Center, 144 Xuan Thuy, Cau Giay, Hanoi

In order to raise the awareness and responsibilities of students who will soon be the masters of the future to understand about the United Nations (UN) in general as well as to get acquainted with the ways and means this Organization is willing to solve the current problems of the world, Sunwah GYLN Hanoi Chapter organized the Sunwah-VNU Model United Nations (MUN) 2016 on the second floor of ULIS-Jonathan KS Choi Cultural Centre within two days on 7th and 8th May 2016 with the participation of more than 60 students from a wide range of universities in Hanoi.

To well prepare for the two-day meeting, an experience sharing session was held for potential delegates to understand more about rules of the program and to get inspired by distinguished guests, that were, Madame Nguyen Thi Nha – Ambassador of Vietnam, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presently Honorary Consultant of Sunwah Foundation in Vietnam; and Mr Ngo Quang Xuan – a Member of the National Assembly and Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the UN Office in Geneve and New York. Attending the sharing session were all potential delegates and observers. They raised various interesting and critical questions to both the organizers and the guest speakers. Importantly, after the event, they said that they got much more in-depth knowledge about the MUN, including diplomatic terminology to be used in and the rules of UN conference.

The sharing session led by Madame Nguyen Thi Nha, Ambassador of Vietnam, presently Honorary Consultant of Sunwah Foundation in Vietnam

A week later, the Sunwah-VNU Model United Nations officially took place at the ULIS – Jonathan KS Choi Cultural Centre. The simulation of UN conferences was divided into three meetings of sub-Committee United Nations Security Council, Economic and Financial Committee, and WHO Organization, held in three different meeting rooms.

The opening ceremony of the grand plenary session

At the United Nations Security Council forum, the delegates discussed and made decisions on prevalent issues the world had been facing such as Immigration & Migration, Military Intervention for Humanitarian Aids, etc. Chairing this council were Mr. Le Thanh Trung and Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh.

United Nations Security Council

During the meeting of the Economic and Financial Committee, 20 delegates representing 20 nations jointly discussed about ‘Equal, Socially Cohesive, and Sustainable Urbanization’ and ‘Youth employment and entrepreneurship for sustainable development’. This council, chaired by Ms. To Minh Ngoc and Ms. Soya Bui, was nominated to be the best of Sunwah-VNU MUN since all delegates showed their efforts and close relationships with all others. In particular, some of Sunwah GYLN Hanoi Chapter members joined as delegates in this Council and competed and gained recognition for their performance.

Economic and Financial Committee

The last council was World Health Organization whose topic was about ‘Control and prevention of Non-communicable diseases’ and ‘Access to Universal Health Coverage’. WHO Organization was the only committee whose medium language of discussion and statements was Vietnamese. Because this council hosted the largest number of delegates in comparison with the other two, all topics and ideas were impressively and energetically brought to the table with good solutions. The delegates of this council still stayed in touch after the event through gatherings and various meaningful activities together.

World Health Organization

Many journalists from different online newspapers such as Zing.vn and VTV broadcasting came to the event to gather information for news entries. The GYLN itself reported this program to the Media Department of VNU and got publicity in the official website of VNU. Generally, this program succeeded far beyond expectation of the organizers for a networking event and a platform for students to practice leadership, public speaking and debating skills.

For the organizers, this program has been a strong drive for Sunwah GYLN Hanoi Chapter to continue its efforts and missions to build and uphold students’ leadership skills. We truly hope that under the support and sponsorship of Sunwah Foundation as well as Sunwah Group, we will be able to continue to conduct similar programs in the future.

[Hanoi Chapter]

[Sunwah GYLN Hong Kong] Sharing about the trip to Hanoi in Dec 2015

 

Dear fellow GYLN Hong Kong Chapter members,

Last week, three members from the Hong Kong chapter, Jacky, Jocelyn and I, we participated in the Hanoi International Gathering trip 2015. We met a diverse and enthusiastic team of members from Japan, Korea, Canada, Beijing, Macau, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. I would like to share with you some highlights of our trip in Hanoi.

On 20 Dec, the members from Hong Kong and Canadian Chapter successfully collaborated on a dancing performance in the opening ceremony of the Celebration of 45th Anniversary of Sunwah Group – Sunwah Project 45. The ceremony also kicked off the Sunwah VNU Social Services Day,IMG_7194 involving street-cleaning and wall-painting by 500 local students. We contributed in the event through painting colorful murals on walls. Not only did we brighten up the exterior of the school, but also built up connections and friendships with the local students. This shows that community projects can be powerful vehicles for making positive changes in the city.

DSC_0263

In the afternoon, we attended a session on leadership with Dr. Jonathan Choi, two professors from the University of Alberta, Canada and the University of Melbourne, Australia, and the Dean of Kyushu University. In the session, Dr. Choi addressed the importance of cross-cultural understanding and international cooperation to promote mankind’s peace and development. Members from each chapter also shared their commitment towards community building in their home countries and personal views on leadership. The session had been illuminating. As global young leaders, we must grapple with the challenges arise from cultural diversities to create a more integrated and open world. On 21 Dec, we had a GYLN meeting with members across chapters and discussed three main topics: the insights on leadership gained from the two videos (featuring Dominic Shellard, Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University, and Prof. C. N. Yang, Nobel Prize Winner in Physics), the management of each chapter, and the establishment of the GYLN website. In particular, there are some ideas about the management of each chapter and the GYLN website I find worth-sharing with you as follows:

About Chapter Management:

  • To draft and implement a constitution that best suits each chapter with regard to their distinctive characteristics;
  • To share the management strategies used in Sunwah Group;
  • To organize workshops and training for members in leading an organization;
  • To increase information-sharing and transparency across chapters;
  • To devise recruitment strategies that attract talented students across disciplines;
  • To improve alumni retention.

About GYLN Website:

  1. To build an external website which includes the newest updates and information of the project.
  2. To set up an internal portal for all members:
  • To facilitate better Communication (Forum+Chat room);
  • To facilitate Project Management (Virtual office, e.g Slack);
  • To provide Internal Training (Workshop videos of different places);
  • To showcase voluntary/ internship opportunities in different chapters.

At night, we were privileged to have a dinner with a successful Vietnamese woman leader Ms. Le Hoang Uyen Vy, who has been elected as one of the successful people under 30 by Forbes Vietnam. She founded Chon.vn, a leading fashion e-commence company in the country, and Aiya Limited Company, a restaurant chain which serves Vietnamese street food in a fine-dining atmosphere. Throughout the dinner, she shared with us her experience and gave us valuable advice. I greatly admired her confidence, foresight and undaunted pursuit of excellence as one of the pioneering female leaders in the business sector of Vietnam.

GYLN has served as an international platform for distinguished individuals to conduct multi-cultural perspective and meaningful dialogues.The Hanoi International Gathering trip 2015 was an extremely rewarding and interesting experience for me to engage with so many talented leaders. Wendy, a fellow member from Ho Chi Minh City chapter, has produced a video which captures some of our best moments in Hanoi.

I look forward to meeting all of you in January to share with you my fruitful exchange and work on our project “Hidden Gems in Hong Kong”.

 

Wishing you and your family a Happy New Year!

 

With warm Regards,

 

Sharon Ho

 

[Sunwah GYLN HCMC] Sunwah GYLN Summit 2015 in Hanoi

 

From 19th to 22nd December, we received the credibility to take part in a global summit for Sunwah GYLN’s members from 8 chapters: China, Canada, UK, Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. This was a precious opportunity for young future leaders to assemble and discuss the development of the Network.

In the trip, we gained a lot of practical experience that we would like to share for all of you.

Through our 4 full-day trip, we all felt really excited. In the opening ceremony of the Celebration of Sunwah Group’s 45th Anniversary in Viet Nam and Award Presentation to winners of the Photo Contest “Sunwah Project 45 – The Hidden Beauty of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City”, we got deeper information about Sunwah Group, Sunwah Foundation and its development throughout 45 years in Vietnam and the practical, precious values that Sunwah brought about to the community.

We were involved in the Sunwah – VNU Social Services Day 2015 with many exciting activities. In the afternoon, we focused on the “Leadership skills” and listened to Dr. Jonathan Choi’s sharing remarks. He mentioned the importance of language in the integration process. In terms of leadership, he stressed on communication and motivation. According to him, a good leader should be very influential and visionary. And we ourselves can become leaders and planners in the future.

On the next day, we participated in a discussion for expanding the network as well as how to develop and implement projects in the country-based networks. At dinner, we were so lucky to meet and exchange information with Ms. Le Hoang Uyen Vy, Founders of Chon.vn (now is Adayroi.com), one of the most successful women under 30 years old in Vietnam (by Forbes magazine).

According to Ms. Uyen Vy, the core value was not experience, but visionary and hard working. Her simple and practical message made all of us more motivated to dedicate.

Time flies away callously, while all the memories are still there. Besides the meetings, conferences and events, we also had time together for chatting, talking about the future, career and tasting delicious dishes. For those memories, we will keep them in our heart for a remarkable youth, a beautiful moment and part of our present.