Sharing by mentors
Helping a depressed participant through difficult times
Winner of the Outstanding Mentor Award (The fourth batch of NGO-run project): Ms KWONG Yuk-ping
Project participant : LAI Pui-hing
Project operator : The Urban Peacemaker Evangelistic Fellowship (Tsuen Wan & Kwai Tsing)
Participant LAI Pui-hing gets along well with Ms KWONG Yuk-ping, the outstanding mentor (left) whom LAI regards as her sister.
Choking with sobs at the ceremony, participant LAI Pui-hing said that she suffered from depression during the project period. Fortunately, Ms KWONG Yuk-ping (outstanding mentor) stood by her and gave her support and encouragement all along. Pui-hing ended by saying “I love you” to her mentor, which greatly impressed the attendees.
The mentor and mentee hit it off when they met for the first time. “We share common interests and beliefs and thus we feel particularly close to each other. When she was in trouble, she would tell me and we would work it out together. Similarly, I would also tell her mine. No matter what problems we had come across, we would face them together and give support to each other,” said Ms KWONG.
When mentioning Pui-hing’s admission to hospital, Ms KWONG recalled that she was at the office when Pui-hing called to tell her the news. She felt very sorry for her. She said, “Pui-hing has been working so hard to make her dream come true, but unfortunately she was hit by such a heavy blow at that moment.”
With the support from those beside her, Pui-hing eventually chose to face her problem with a positive attitude and was determined to finish her studies. Ms KWONG said, “Her perseverance not only gave me motivation, but also reinforced my confidence to continue to move on together with her. While noting her growth over the past three years, I think I have enhanced myself too.”
Ms KWONG once doubted if she was capable of leading her mentee to develop her potential as it was not easy to insist on doing so for three years. “Looking back, I now have come to realise that what she needs most is the company and support of her mentor. Over the past three years, I have been filled with gratitude.”
“Although the three-year project will come to an end, our relationship will last forever,” Ms KWONG concluded.