Dear Ms. Christine,
I hope you still remember me! I was your first and second year student (2009/2010) How are you? How’s JEMS? I miss all of you dearly and I would really like to turn the clock and go back in time- the time when I would sit in your colourful classrooms, listening to the teachings and engaging in exciting activities.
I am so happy to see that other children are also benefitting from JEMS’ programmes. I’m not sure if you know my sister, Candace, but she also attended the summer camp last year, because I thought that the programmes are definitely life-changing. Though it may sound a bit cliche, I honestly think that JEMS can transform people… well, at least it did for me :) I never got a chance to tell you this, and it only occurred to me a few years after I left JEMS.
JEMS truly changed my whole personality and taught me how to look at situations in different perspectives. I learnt so much in JEMS, and those lessons are still with me. I remember the first time learning the word “perseverance”, the example of salmon swimming upstream and Helen Keller being able to earn a bachelor degree despite being blind and deaf. One of the most important things I learnt was that everyone is UNIQUE and special. No one (apart from my parents) has really told me that, and this message encouraged me to open up and be myself. I have learnt how to be a better person, an ‘excellent member of society’ and this, I believe, cannot be learnt anywhere else, but in JEMS.
I have countless enjoyable memories in JEMS- the time when we went on the streets of Wan Chai and gave food to the homeless, the time when I was a group leader at the Noah’s Ark exhibition, the time when we went to Crossroads and experience the Blind stimulator, the time when the visually disabled children came to JEMS and we had to take care of them, the time when one of the visually disabled girl sang “Somewhere over the Rainbow”, the times when I would sit in one of the 3 red/green/blue chairs and write my personal reflection, the times when I would bring gummy bears into class and share them with everyone, and all the laughing and smiling moments I had with my group- all of these memories are still with me, and trust me, I did not need to look back at all my reflections and photos to remember what had happened in those 2 years- they are still clear in my mind. :)
I remember you, Rebecca, Andrea, Ross, Phil, and Phoebe well, and I would like to thank all of you, no matter if they are still at JEMS or not, I would like to give my greatest gratitude towards all of them, because I have seen myself
grow and develop into a better person. This is my testimony, and I’m glad that I can finally express my thoughts about JEMS to you.
Even though I am too old to attend JEMS now, there is another student-based organisation which I am now in, called the Hong Kong Union for Young Leaders (HKUYL). I’m not sure if you have heard of it before, but I joined last school year. I was so drawn to this organisation because it was so similar to JEMS. The activities we do are of course different, because of the age, however we also went on an excursion to Crossroads. Being back at Crossroads for the second time brought back all the happy memories of JEMS, which is why I wanted to see how everything is doing. We (campers of the year- form 3-5) are now organising a summer camp for participants who don’t know what HKUYL is about. It was only now that I realised that organising a project, let alone a whole organisation, is so challenging, which is why I wanted to express my gratefulness and thankfulness towards your time and effort put into JEMS.
I miss JEMS a lot and I really hope to hear from you soon!
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Best regards,
Kristen Lam