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Overall learning from this tour
1. Introduction
The destination of this cultural exchange tour is Philippines. We stayed there for 21
days. We are served by the KAMPI which is the disabilities organization in
Philippines. We had a nice trip in Manila, Iollio and Cebu. Through this tour, we
learnt many different things from the staff members of Philippines’ social welfare
organizations and ourselves. The following is our learning from this tour.
2. The importance of material’s support?
It can be observed that most of the social welfare organizations are not supported by
the government. The government does not provide any financial support for most of
the organizations. For example, KAMPI is an organization which was started by a
group of disabilities. They tended to gather the donation from foreign countries. The
operation was difficult. But they can still do so. Now, KAMPI became a famous
disability organization in Asia. It can be found that most of these organizations were
started by the dreams of those people. It can be found that their equipment and
facilities are not very good. The area for working is also very small. But each staff
member has the mind of doing as much as possible. The energy is very high.
In Hong Kong, the support of government is higher than the support of Philippines’
government. However, whether the material support can represent that high quality of
services can be provided. It can be found that Hong Kong’s social worker usually
expect the financial and material support from the government. But whether these
social workers can provide high quality service for the clients. I can remember that in
my first placement, I worked in halfway house of offenders. It can be observed that
the support for the offenders is lower than other services. But the office-in-charge do
not complain that the support of government is not enough. In contrast, I observe that
he can provide very well service for the client. In the limited resources, workers can
also provide good quality service. The clients also think that talking with the
office-in-charge can learn many different things. Comparing with the situation in
Philippines, this makes me reflect that whether the material and financial support is so
important. It does not mean that the government does not have the responsibility to
support the social services. However, whether the provision of material and financial
support from the government is enough. And whether the social workers in Hong
Kong think about the quality of services whether some problems can be solved by the
financial and material support. How to make use of the materials is very important.
This is one of the things which can be learnt in this tour.
Prepared by Cheung Siu Man
City University of Hong Kong
Department of Applied Social Studies
17/07/29
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3. Team work spirit
Comparing with other tours, it can be found that the team spirit of Philippines is very
high. When we need to make a decision, leader must ask for the agreement of all
members. It can be found that we had all meals together. This is very special. In the
beginning, it may spend a lot of time for group decision. However, this became a
habit for our group. This is a good experience for us. When we work in any agencies,
group decision is needed. How to help a group to make a decision is very important.
Sometimes, group decision cannot be applied. For example, whether we went to disco.
This is an individual decision. Members cannot force other members to go together.
Thus, it is also important to learn whether we need to have group or individual
decision. Because of the high team spirit, the relationship between the members
became closer. Since we did anything together, the time for meeting with each other
became much more. Besides, our group would have an evaluation each night. Each
member needs to attend. This also showed our team spirit. Besides, it can be also
found that the co-operation is very important for a group. If one member does not
co-operate with each other, it will be difficult to have a group decision. For example,
if one member did not come to the evaluation, the evaluation cannot be run. Thus, the
co-operation of each member is very important. This can help us to have a higher
team spirit.
4. Conclusion
As most of the members have not come to Philippines before, most of the things are
new for us. This is a new chance for us to learn how to operate a group of student in a
foreign country. The safety is one of the things which is concerned by the members.
Thus, members always went out together. Fortunately, our tour is very safe. And we
also learnt a lot things from this tour. We hope that in the following time, department
Prepared by Cheung Siu Man
City University of Hong Kong
Department of Applied Social Studies
17/07/29
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also have this kind of exchange which can help us to explore more about the world.
Prepared by Cheung Siu Man
City University of Hong Kong
Department of Applied Social Studies
17/07/29