CW Chu College The Chinese University of Hong Kong eNewsletter

It was difficult for us to promote effectively under the pandemic, so we tried our best to introduce this meaningful event through mass emails and social media. During this journey, we were grateful to receive much support from different very nice people, including the former CWC canteen and CU Corner staff for providing us a place to collect the books, social media accounts that helped our promotion and not to mention all the CU students and organizations that generously donated their books. Nevertheless, I personally was also grateful to have my team members and their dedication in promoting, collecting, and cleaning the books, which made the whole event run even more smoothly. This donation thus resulted in a great success with over 1,000 books donated to charity groups.

We hope that the books donated would provide more opportunities to disseminate various kinds of knowledge and show the colours of the world to people who might not be so fortunate to have many books.

Hike and Clean (Ms YIU Lai Yam, Year 2, Translation)

‘Hike and Clean’ was the first activity that captivated us. We thought the event would provide us with a great opportunity to connect with nature, letting us see enchanting views and providing an opportunity for relaxation during such a stressful time.

We decided to mount a cleaning operation in some part of the Tai Lam Chung Reservoir. At the beginning, we had some time to chit-chat, which helped us bond as a team since we barely got a chance to get together under the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, our team was so focused that we discussed ways to optimise the cleaning process to remove as much garbage as possible. As we hiked, other hikers consistently encouraged us, which was very heartwarming. It really made our trip enjoyable and fulfilling. This positive feedback is what we truly hope will spread to others as well.

At the end, we collected 18 bags of garbage in total. Most of them were masks, cans and cigarette butts. It immediately made us aware that the same things were happening in other areas of Hong Kong's countryside as well. We believe that the situation has worsened, since hiking has become increasingly popular as a leisure activity due to the pandemic. Through this activity, we hope to spread the message that every small action matters, and that hikers should protect the environment with love and respect.