Re: Hakka Youth Panel

[Kelvin & Henri <kachie-hakit@account-pro.com>]

Hi Fiona,
You wouldn't know how happy I am to hear from you. It's people like you I
would want to definitely sit on a Hakka Youth panel, and stir up some
respectable discussions from the audience at the conference in December. I
like your ideas, and all your comments, they're all very useful and very
sensible too.

I guess the whole issue for youths will be identity discovery or crisis for
some. I've been feeling as though I'm no longer a youth(I'm only 31), maybe
because I've been having too many mature and educational discussions with
people at the asiawind forum, people who have more life experiences and are
in their 50s, and 60s and older than me and maybe more mature. I don't
really know what's on the minds of youths today, but after chatting with
you, I can only imagine some of them are into normal things like dating,
and socializing, and some are into their roots and culture and some think
of their future and career. I'm truly fascinated by your academic history,
at 23, and teaching first year Sociology students already. I'm totally
impressed. I'm also feeling older than my age lately.
Henrietta.

At 10:33 PM 05/26/2000 +0800, you wrote:
>Hi All!
>
>A topic that needs to be seriously considered at the forum, especially for
>the youth forum, is how to be bi-cultural.  They are not solely
>Hakka/Chinese, they are Hakka/Chinese plus something else.  It is the "plus
>something else" that is causing the identity issues.
>
>When I was growing up in Perth you had 2 choices, you were either Chinese
>(reject/dag) or Australian.  There was no middle ground.  This middle ground
>is now available but no one knows what to do with it.  Parents who are first
>generation migrants cannot sympathise or empathise because they have their
>own settlement issues.
>
>We can no longer be isolated or insulate, nor would we be want to, there is
>a whole world out there to explore!  But the issue of having the ability to
>be comfortable, and not merely survive, in both cultures has be addressed
>because neither one is going to go away.
>
>Thank you for all of your interest in my research and for the ability to
>participate in your forums.  Yes I will be interested in presenting a paper
>at the conference and/or at the youth panel but as I have mentioned to
>Henrietta, it depends on the availability of scholarships to fund the travel
>expenses.  I am in process of scouring for scholarship information so if you
>get wind of any, I would truly appreciate you giving me a yell.
>
>Cheers
>
>Fiona
>
>