Annual Report of Hamilton Chinese Golden Age Society

Annual Report of Hamilton Chinese Golden Age Society




(08/2011--07/2012)



To sum up the last year's job, we, Hamilton Chinese Golden Age Society did as follows:



1. We mobilized those who were talented in singing and dancing to form a performing team. They prepared performances such as Waist Drum Dance, Yangge Dance, Taiji, Gongfu Fan Dance, Hulusi, two Tibetan dances and two Sinkang dances. We were invited to participate in several important occasions such as a NZ national Football Event, Multicultural Event, India's Event, Pacific Event, Garden Place Summer Event, Refugees' Event and Chinese Sport Meet Event and gave performances there. Thousands of people enjoyed our culture while we got to know more about other ethnic groups' cultures. We also attended the National Cancer Society's Event to help fundraise for their cancer research.We participated in Christmas Parade which was a very big attraction. All these were warmly acclaimed by the public.



2. In order to raise our members' English level and their communication ability, we ran an English class in our society. About 50-60 people attended the class. Each time each week they spent more than an hour learning everyday English in class and continued to review English for quite some time after class. Lots of them say this is quite useful and helpful and has become their daily routine.



3. In order to help our members integrate well into NZ society, we often organized lectures to introduce NZ law and policies and Kiwi customs. We invited the MP in Hamilton West to talk about the 2011 national election so that our members could better understand the election. We invited a police officer to teach dealing with emergency cases. We invited officials from government departments to brief us on their work and regulations. All these made it easier for our people to live and work in this new country.



4. It is very important to us all to live and work in harmony with other ethnic groups. This year we organized tours with other societies such as New Zealand-China Friendship Association and Students' unions from Wintec and Waikato University. During the tours we exchanged our living experiences. By this we enhanced friendship and ties with people from different circles of life.



5. China has several important traditional festivals each year. This year we organized several gatherings to celebrate Moon Day, Lantern's Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. We invited people from different ethnic groups to our events. We gave performances and let them share our unique festive foods. Thousands of people from our society and other ethnic groups benefited from our celebration gatherings.



6. We held several talent competitions such as photographic skills, poem-making, health knowledge and singing contests. Through these activities we enriched our cultural life in our society and discovered talented people to better serve the members and the society.



7. This year we did quite a lot in healthcare and aging services to our members. We invited a psychologist to give consultancy to those who needed help. We organized hearing tests for those who had hearing loss and encouraged them to buy and wear hearing aids so that they could improve their quality of life. We often visited the patient members and gave them comfort and encouragement. When they went to see doctors we had volunteers to help them with English. All these made our members feel at home in our society.



All in all, our members thought and believe our society is reliable and supportive to them all. We were funded by the City Council and Trust Waikato. We very much appreciate their support. Our members hold high hopes in the future of our society. So in the next term we should do more in order to satisfy their needs and desires. This is why we should seek more funding channels and win more support and response from our members.





By Diamond Zhu /Originally Advisor and now President of Hamilton Chinese Golden Age Society