School of Everyday Life activities connect volunteers of all ages, including the community interns from
different generations. Everyone can share their ideas and learning experiences.
Since its establishment in 2014, School of Everyday Life (SOEL) has encouraged reflection on the shared values of all life through life education rooted in everyday experience. In 2021, they moved to become closer to their local community. Their new venue, called Casphalt, is in Tuen Mun, northwest New Territories. Here, they can more easily promote sustainable living through building a life education platform and
discovering local culture.
It has been four years since PCD partnered with SOEL. The last project phase focused on connecting with different local actors and groups. Participants of various age groups and backgrounds formed local research teams to make community maps, visit local shops, interview local people and produce stories, and create community-guided tours and exhibitions. The process helped participants gain a deeper understanding about their own neighbourhoods and produced valuable community cultural resources.
In the current project phase, SOEL invited former participants to become community interns. They attended community research and action workshops on themes such as food, farming, community activity design and organising. The interns also engaged in cooking, farming and various other activities.
Anson (picture at right) is a community intern who advocates mending as an alternative to buying new items.
She hosts a mending service point as well as a mending club at School of Everyday Life,
and also gathers like-minded neighbours together to share techniques.
Whatever the activity, they always kept their attention on the people, the environment and community relationships, and motivated others to do the same. They also helped run SOEL's space at Casphalt where they organisedworkshops, community fairs, markets, shared meals and other community activities.
The interns further supported activities to cultivate a new cohort of interns. The enthusiasm of former interns inspired the new ones to actively initiate group discussions and skills sharing around food and agriculture. For one activity that the new cohort planned, they divided up the responsibilities to purchase supplies and created a leaflet for various purposes. Differences in opinions were seen as opportunities to know more about each other's perspectives and to learn to build a team based on values of collaboration and respect.
This market hosted by School of Everyday Life has a diverse range of community stalls where
people sell their own creations and appreciate exchanges with visitors and with other stall keepers.
Another goal for SOEL was to build a diverse network of local artisans, producers, community organisations and residents. The community markets at Casphalt proved to be wonderful. Local producersshowcased their produce. African refugees, Indonesian and Filipino migrant workers, and other people with various backgrounds performed. Students from Hong Kong Christian Service Pui Oi School set up a market stall. Their teacher said it was a rare opportunity for the students with physical or cognitive impairments to meet the public and other community groups. All in all, mutual understanding was fostered, connections were made and a foundation for further support was built.
Realising that participants come from diverse backgrounds and age groups, SOEL sensed that there was a need to expand understanding on community building among its own staff. Based on interests and issues of concern, five project staff took up internships at Essence Hub of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service – Hong Kong, Hong Kong Birdwatching Society, Very Hong Kong, and two PCD partners, Sangwood Seeds Lab and Tin Shui Wai Community Development Network. The opportunity allowed them to learn from and interact with various groups, often with different organisational cultures. During the internship, they facilitated exchange and sharing. At the end, they shared with their own colleagues at SOEL.
Sharing ideals and values is a gradual process. One person inspires another. Motivated individuals slowly form a group. Slowly but surely, a close-knit community is being formed with SOEL — friendships are being made, sustainable living is nurtured and community resilience is developing.