Dear readers,

"While everyone has a lifespan of 120 years, people at 60 are just middle-aged," said the Secretary for Labour and Welfare on 14 January 2019 when asked about the possibility of pushing back the government's move to raise the age threshold for elderly welfare payments from 60 to 65.  No matter how veracious or cruel-hearted this construal is deemed, we can see a certain extent of validity there - people live longer now; Hong Kong must prepare for an ageing population; and those who are over 60 and still working 10 hours a day, like the Chief Executive, have gradually increased.  Many seniors around us still appear physically youthful and mentally energetic.  Their unremitting contribution (e.g. shouldering teaching load to conduct quality classes for students; releasing new research/ trial results to improve people's living standard) has corroborated that they are indeed "older and wiser".

This Centre will stage the 4^th I·CARE Book Festival in March of this year.  CUHK staff, students, alumni and friends are cordially invited to donate obsolete books at home so as to let them be revitalised from the lonely bookshelves for passing down to the next generation of CUHK people.  Please click here for details of the book donation.

Co-organised by this Centre and The Office of the Arts Administrator, the I·CARE Theatre 2019 had its first screening of a shortlisted film for the Best Documentary of the 55^th Golden Horse Film Awards, Umbrella Diaries: The First Umbrella, held on the 10^th of this month.  The screening made the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall a full house.  After the screening, a sharing session was hosted by Prof. Eric Poon, School of Journalism and Communication, and graced by the presence of the film director James Leong and executive producer Shu Kei.  They talked about their filming experience and insights of the future.  Participants comprised of CUHK students, staff, alumni and the general public were eager to express their views and feelings which emerged a thought provoking discussion.

Launched in 2015-16, the I·CARE Social Enterprise Startup Scheme has been encouraging CUHK students and recent graduates to make good use of their expertise to establish or expand their social enterprises.  The scheme is going to organise several workshops, which aims to equip participants with knowledge of formulating business plan and practical skills of running an enterprise.  Details are as follows:

This Centre, together with the Faculty of Business Administration and Faculty of Engineering, serves as collaborator in the Cross-institutional Project on Student Learning in Generic Skills.  Other collaborators include The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, The Education University of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

I·CARE Salon, which is under the University Lecture on Civility, will continue to be organised in the new term.  Participants are allowed to understand and reflect on significant academic, cultural and social issues.

The I·CARE NGO Internship Programme (Mainland & Taiwan) collaborates with the non-governmental organisations (NGO) in the Mainland and Taiwan to offer non-local internship opportunities to students.  Lasting for 8 weeks, this programme provides students with a better understanding of the services of the NGOs, in addition to reflecting on their values and their connection with the communities from a wider perspective.  Details of the programme for this academic year are as follows:

Yunus Social Business Centre@CUHK, which is a subsidiary of this Centre, is going to organise S.I. Leadership Workshop II, which aims to facilitate participants' acquisition of in-depth knowledge of the underprivileged, and adopt people-oriented approach to address social needs and challenges.  Details are as follows:

The "Fitness x Mentorship" Scheme associates "exercising" with "volunteering" to foster a serving heart of students and strengthen their understanding of the community.  Participants of the scheme will be trained with basic skills of a sports item and given chances to partner various members of the community in pursuing sports.  This will allow students to develop regular exercise habit and build up healthy lifestyle.  Above all, mutual understanding between students and the circle of their counterparts will be facilitated.

Nine students enrolled in this Centre's "Fitness x Mentorship" Scheme, together with their sports partners (all from Shui Chuen O Supported Hostel, Tung Wah Group of Hospitals), took part in the TWGHs "iRun" - The Hong Kong Jockey Club Special Marathon 2019 on the 13^th of this month.  The event, which attracted a total of 4,200 participants, aims to encourage the intellectual disabled to practise sports.  It is also hoped to achieve inclusion of people with different abilities.

During the past two months, project members of the I·CARE Community Research Scheme of this academic year had been in touch with their study subjects and performed researches for their respective projects, namely "Study of the Pattern of Hidden Elderly in Public Estates" and "Study of the Child Caretaker in Grass-roots Families".

The "Value Exploration Series" of the I·CARE Achievers Programme aims to enhance the self-awareness and good qualities of CUHK members through a number of activities on character building so as to promote positive development of the community and the world.

This Centre is giving away 50 free admission tickets to the Forum on "Trade War, Development of the Greater Bay Area, and Hong Kong" to CUHK students on a first-come-first served basis.  The forum is jointly organised by the Chinese Executives Club of the Hong Kong Management Association, Business School of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Economic Journal Monthly.  Speakers include Mr. Matthew Cheung (Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government), Prof. Simon Ho (President of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong), and Mr. Godwin Gaw (Chairman & Founder of Gaw Capital Partners).  Other information are as follows:

Please click on the image below for more information.