My wife Rosie and I became "mentors" with the HKU Mentorship (Australia) in 2005. This programme of the Development & Alumni Affairs Office (DAAO) in an overseas situation is slightly different from the one in Hong Kong. The “mentor” is not called upon to support the academic work or career development of the student. Instead, the “mentor” is more akin to a local guardian or a friend to HKU students, known as "mentees", who pursue short courses in Australian tertiary institutions.
We soon found our mentees to be intelligent and fun-loving young adults, longing to find their niche in society. All of them are experts in Information Technology and we have learnt a great deal of computer know-how from them. They are enterprising individuals with ideas different from those of their senior colleagues like ourselves. We have found them to be great company and they appreciate the limited occasions we are able to spend time with them.
Over the past 11 years, we have mentored about 40 mentees. Apart from those from the Hong Kong community, some from other Mainland provinces have also joined the programme. Females outnumbered the males. Where possible, our local alumni invite and welcome them to join in our social and education activities so that they can meet other local alumni. Some never registered for the programme in Hong Kong, but joined in the activities anyhow. Others considered this concept of mentorship as an interference of their routines. Many became bosom pals with each other, and shared their stories with us after returning home. We have attended a few Hong Kong weddings, and one former mentee now has two children with lots of new aunties and uncles. When we visit Hong Kong, we have great dinner parties where we share our experiences. Only “club” members are welcome!
The Mentorship Programme (Overseas) of the DAAO is a source of information for HKU undergraduates wishing to extend their vistas of the world. It is a worthwhile project, and is a great avenue with lots of fun along the way, providing benefits also for senior colleagues who may have been starved of news of recent and current events of our alma mater. For students with an enquiring mind and a venturesome spirit, this is a happy arrangement for them to explore faraway places with strange sounding names.