From Rita Chan (Past student, GHS Assistant Principal, GHS PSA Exco Member) Heart to Heart……Hand in Hand!
心連心、手牽手
“Remember the times you were here, remember when you’re away…..
For you girls belong to Good Hope, and Good Hope belongs to YOU!”
The lyrics and melody of this little tune still lingered on when I walked up the slope leading from the primary to the secondary after praying at the newly opened chapel. This was the tune we sang to each other on our last day of school in Form 7.
Now I am back to this familiar place - a place where I have spent 13 years from childhood to adolescence. My memory of Good Hope is always filled with little tunes we sang back in those good old days. Here is another one:
“Good Hope will shine today, Good Hope will shine,
When the moon goes down, and the sun comes up,
GOOD HOPE will SHINE!
I can still remember how we shouted at the top of our voices, chanted and sang at the Inter-School Athletic Meet and how I lost my voice for 3 days after that event. But after all, it’s worth it - we were the overall champion for Division I.
Yes, singing was very much a part of our lives in Good Hope…..the deadly silence at the hall of Wah Yan College Kowloon waiting for the adjudicator to announce who the champion was at the Hong Kong Schools’ Music Festival…..the silence mixed with the anxiety of hundreds of students there ached the ears but this was nothing compared to the piercing screams of joy from us Good Hopers when we beat other girls’ schools yet again! Our choirs were invincible then!
More bits and pieces about school life back then: we were taught to walk properly (never stamped our feet when we walked up the stairs) and running was definitely a “no no” for us young ladies. We had to eat gracefully and should use a fork to pick up the rice so that there was only a small mouthful of food when we ate. It took me years to learn how to maneuvre the fork so that no rice would be dropped. Now I can immediately identify a Good Hoper if she eats that way. Oh well, talking about food, I still miss the peanut butter hot dogs in the tuck shop; the congee sold at the canteen during exam time and the extremely hot vitasoy from the tuck shop again on a cold winter morning…..it’s so hot that I thought it would melt the straw!
When the bell was gone after recess, you were sure to find Mr. Josiah Lee at the corner of the stairway waiting to hand you the “yellow paper” (still remember that was the “warning paper”) for talking while walking back to your classroom. This is one thing I choose not to remember – I can’t remember whether I have got one of those!
Did you have secret hideouts in school? I did. I liked staying in the toilet of Our Lady’s Hall to study for tests…..we often explored the bush behind the sand pit where the swimming pool is now, believing that the caveman would wander that far…..the caveman was quite a legend!
I am sure many of you still remember the picnics you went with your class and the silly games you played on the beach in Stanley or Shek O; and for some of you helping to run the orientation camp for Form 1 students, still remember having to sleep on judo mats in the St. Joseph’s Hall? What about the Walkathon up the steep slope of Tze Wan Shan? I almost passed out then…….I can go on and on…..and I believe you have your own stories to tell.
Over the years, I have kept these fond memories deep in my heart and at times, I will retrieve these memories and they often bring a smile on my face. When old friends meet, these memories will forever be part of our reminiscence of our days at Good Hope!
But life has taken its toll on us all – whether you are a career-minded woman climbing up the corporate ladder; a hardworking student at university striving for excellence in your studies; a full time mom having your hands tied with tedious household chores; or simply a retiree getting your schedule planned to the hour and the minute - we claim we work 24/7 and so we are simply too busy to care about what is happening around us, let alone care about how the school is developing. But is this just an excuse?
Deep down, I know we all have the heart for our school. I still maintain that I would not be the woman I am today without the dedicated MIC sisters and teachers, enriched knowledge and experience I gained in and outside class and the valuable opportunities I have been given to unleash my potential. I am forever thankful for what the school has done for me!
Like me, you do care about the school since Good Hope School has been an important part of our lives. The only way to show our gratitude to the school is to stay connected! As the school has more than 50 years of history, we have past students spanning over different decades. But thanks to the group of thankful and devoted ladies who, apart from their own daytime job, have worked tirelessly for decades to try to unite the past students. Let’s not forget the Good Hopers who graduated in the ‘60s who are the pioneers of the Past Students Association (PSA). They even succeeded in extending the PSA network to Canada and to other countries.
Now the baton is passed to current Exco members of the PSA. Many will agree with me that the PSA has gone through good and bad times with very low participation rate in recent years. It suffers a setback (I am sorry to say) especially with the younger generation of Good Hopers (the post-80s as they are called now) as they are less appreciative of their school and so become less interested in maintaining closer ties after graduation. The challenge really lies in how to re-energize Good Hopers to care more about the school, the PSA and other fellow Good Hopers. I don’t mean this can be achieved by just writing this article.
In fact, the current office of PSA Exco members are committed to bringing about changes to the association. The PSA will play an active role to bring together long lost friends, organize meaningful activities and interest classes for you and your family, help with class reunion and homecoming, show care about the school and the community we live in. So Good Hopers near or far, old and young, choir and athletic team members or just any past student, we hope to hear from you!
Only when we speak heart to heart and work hand in hand (心連心、手牽手)can we make the PSA truly your association. For those who have not joined us yet, please go to the "Enrollment form" section of the PSA website. Others who were previous members of PSA, we will be in touch with you shortly to update your contact details. Help us spread the words to friends you keep contact with…..join the one big Good Hope Family!
The PSA will never be a “S_ccess”without“U”!
Rita Chan
Class of 1980
Do you know........?
With the completion of the new Primary campus in April 2009, a new chapel is opened most time of the day for students and teachers to pray. You will be able to see the chapel in the coming Primary Section Visit organized by the PSA.
For decades, students have helped raise funds through organizing bazaars, selling raffle tickets, participating in walkathons to build the swimming pool. The swimming pool became a reality in 1995 thanks to the efforts of thousands of past students.
Inter-School Athletics Championships (Division One) will be held soon in the WanChai Sports Ground
Day One: 3 March 2010
Day Two: 9 March 2010 Day Three: 12 March 2010
The catastrophic earthquake has left a major devastation in Haiti. It was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years. Three million people have been affected; hundred of thousands injured and one million are homeless, needing shelter, water, food, sanitation, and healthcare.
We are informed that 55 of our own MIC Sisters are amongst the millions displaced from their homes. The Sisters experienced profound powerlessness and anguish in looking out for their dear ones still missing in the massive earthquake. From the news shared by Sister Mary Olga Lam, she states, “our sisters are especially blessed. No one is injured. The Convent Chapel caved in and disappeared…”…a miracle of the power and grace of God…”… the roof of the Convent is no longer there: the two schools are very damaged: one is irreparable… again luckily, no pupil has been killed…. except the mother of one of our sisters who was in a house with all their cousins and the twin sister of one of our sisters. She was in the Cathedral and so died with the 100 priests and seminarians and the archbishop. The roof of the Central house has caved in… Right now, our sisters are sleeping in the open-air, as it is too dangerous to be in the Convent”.
In an emergency like this, female victims are at an increased risk and face numerous dangers while seeking food, shelter and other services for themselves and others of this earthquake. With the unstable situation in Haiti, their lives and daily subsistence are continuously at stake. We are appealing to you for a generous response to this horrible situation in Haiti. Your contribution to the MIC Haiti Relief Fund will help us meet the immediate and urgent needs of our Sisters and also help rebuild or restore the schools, chapel, and convent in the weeks and months to come. We ask every one of you to give what you can to ensure that the Sisters in Haiti can rebuild, remain strong and return to their normal lives.
Please see the current situation of Haiti below.
“Compassion is the basis of morality”
……Arnold Schopenhauer Donation Forms:Hong Kong, Overseas
Organizing Committee, Friends of the MIC Sisters
(We are a group of Good Hopers who have, on our own iniatives, gathered for the specific purpose of fundraising for the MIC sisters)
2010-01-20
Post Dinner Update by Friends of MIC Sisters
"The organizing committee would like to inform you that we had a successful evening on 12 December, 2009 where over 400 participants had shared joy and thanksgiving as gratitude to our beloved MIC sisters and the long term friendship amongst the alumni.
Result of the fund raising objective was also encouraging, we had raised HKD1,007,553...."
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I can still remember how we shouted at the top of our voices, chanted and sang at the Inter-School Athletic Meet and how I lost my voice for 3 days after that event. But after all, it’s worth it - we were the overall champion for Division I.
Yes, singing was very much a part of our lives in Good Hope…..the deadly silence at the hall of Wah Yan College Kowloon waiting for the adjudicator to announce who the champion was at the Hong Kong Schools’ Music Festival…..the silence mixed with the anxiety of hundreds of students there ached the ears but this was nothing compared to the piercing screams of joy from us Good Hopers when we beat other girls’ schools yet again! Our choirs were invincible then!.jpg)
More bits and pieces about school life back then: we were taught to walk properly (never stamped our feet when we walked up the stairs) and running was definitely a “no no” for us young ladies. We had to eat gracefully and should use a fork to pick up the rice so that there was only a small mouthful of food when we ate. It took me years to learn how to maneuvre the fork so that no rice would be dropped. Now I can immediately identify a Good Hoper if she eats that way. Oh well, talking about food, I still miss the peanut butter hot dogs in the tuck shop; the congee sold at the canteen during exam time and the extremely hot vitasoy from the tuck shop again on a cold winter morning…..it’s so hot that I thought it would melt the straw!.jpg)
Like me, you do care about the school since Good Hope School has been an important part of our lives. The only way to show our gratitude to the school is to stay connected! As the school has more than 50 years of history, we have past students spanning over different decades. But thanks to the group of thankful and devoted ladies who, apart from their own daytime job, have worked tirelessly for decades to try to unite the past students. Let’s not forget the Good Hopers who graduated in the ‘60s who are the pioneers of the Past Students Association (PSA). They even succeeded in extending the PSA network to Canada and to other countries..jpg)
With the completion of the new Primary campus in April 2009, a new chapel is opened most time of the day for students and teachers to pray. You will be able to see the chapel in the coming .jpg)
For decades, students have helped raise funds through organizing bazaars, selling raffle tickets, participating in walkathons to build the swimming pool. The swimming pool became a reality in 1995 thanks to the efforts of thousands of past students.
