2013 HCGAS Annual Report

2013 HCGAS Annual Report


(07/2012--06/2013)



July,2012-June,2013 witnessed great progress and outstanding contribution for Hamilton Chinese Golden Age Society. Adhering to the principle of “be as happy as we can, learn as much as we can, do as much as we can and make people as reliant as we can for the elderly people” has been our aim. We did quite a lot in the past board period.

1. We mobilized those who are talented in singing, dancing and other artistic fields and have formed an about thirty people performing team. They prepared performances such as Waist Drum Dance, Yangge Dance, Taiji, Gongfu Fan Dance, Gongfu Sword Dance, two Tibetan dances, two Sinkang dances, one Taiwan dance, a local opera and a magic show, and we have several singers. We were invited to participate in quite a number of important occasions such as Wintec Opening Week Activity, NZ national Football Event, Multicultural Event, India's Diwalli Celebrations, Pacific Event, Garden Place Summer Event, Refugees' Event, Chinese Sport Meet Event, Twilight Event, Waikato Show and there we gave performances. Thousands of people enjoyed our unique 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 were the biggest team in Indigo Performance and parade. We participated in Christmas Parade which was a very big attraction. All these were warmly acclaimed by the public. We were invited to a rest home to perform for the elders and disabled so that we could give them comfort.

2. In order to raise our members' English level and their communication ability, we furthered our 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. This year we, besides using bilingual teaching method, attracted some Kiwis to join in our teaching so that our learners’ interest was more greatly aroused. Lots of them say this is quite useful and helpful and has become their daily routine. People outside our society quite envy this teaching and learning class. It has become a great attraction in Celebrating Age Concern Centre, 30 Victoria Street.

3. In order to help our members integrate well into NZ society, we continuously organized lectures to introduce NZ geography and history and policies related to work and income , education and immigration and Kiwi customs. We invited Waikato district police and Hamilton city police officers to brief the security situations in the region in order to let our people know how to protect their property and themselves. 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 to Creek Heritage village, a dairy farm and the water treat plant with other societies such as New Zealand-China Friendship Association and Students' unions from Wintec and Waikato University and other Kiwi societies. During the tours we exchanged our living experiences. We also organized a tour by ourselves to Taupo so to make our people know more about New Zealand. By this we enhanced friendship and ties with people from different circles of life and make our people better love this country and help develop NZ economy.

5. China has several important traditional festivals each year. This year we organized several gatherings to celebrate Moon Day ,Lantern's Festival, Double Ninth Festival and Dragon Boat Festival. During Moon Day occasion we celebrated the 40th anniversary of China-NZ diplomatic relations. MPs and Deputy Mayor and Chinese Consulor -general attended the event. Thus we help promote the NZ-China friendship and close ties with the sister–city of Wusi with Hamilton. On New Year Day & lantern’s Festival occasion, we had a celebration party with another Chinese group to promote the tie and friendship with our compatriots and make our people live in harmony. During Double Ninth Festival, we held a big party to honor those over eighty year old and thus promote the splendid tradition of young love and respect for the old in Chinese communities. And during the Dragon Boat Festival we had our fifth anniversary founding celebration. We invited officials either from local government and Chinese Consul and invited friends either from Hamilton or Auckland to share this event. During these events, we gave performances and let people share our unique festive foods. Thousands of people from our society and other societies or other ethnic groups benefited from our celebration gatherings.

6. We held several talent competitions such as rose photographic skills, poem-making, health knowledge and singing and dancing 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 a blood and hearing test to tell their cholesterol, their glucose result and their blood pressure, We advise those who had problems in any of those to see their GP as soon as possible and advise those who had hearing loss 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. This year one of our members passed away of a heart attack. We helped the family organize a funeral ceremony. All these made our members feel at home in our society and they all say our society is very supportive when they have difficulties.

8. This year we focused a lot on our website. We uploaded more than one thousand articles telling our people what is going on both in New Zealand and China even in the whole world, giving knowledge about health caring and living experience. By this way although our members do not know about the world in English, they can get to know in Chinese. Besides we encourage our members to write about their activities in the society and their daily life experience. Thus everyone who likes to learn about our society can just log on our website. This year 16 different articles describing our different events and activities were published on NZ and China different media press and websites. Our society was thus made more famous than ever before.

This year our outstanding performance and contribution to the public and society was highly recognized by the government and the public. We were funded by the City Council and several funding organizations. 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 / President of Hamilton Chinese Golden Age Society