Summary of conference

["Henrietta Akit" <henriettaakit@hotmail.com>]

Dear friends at the asiawind forum,

I received an email from SL Lee requesting some feedback and comments about 
the Toronto Hakka Conference (dec 28-30.) I will do a brief summary after I 
make an important comment, that I want my friends at the forum to know.

First of all, it was the existence of the asiawind forum that gave me the 
chance to find some of the speakers for the conference. I will list names of 
people I contacted through the forum. Paul Chung, assistant principal of a 
school and his friend, Dominic Lee of India. Carolynne Hew, a film maker 
living in Toronto. Of course, SL Lee. Prof Eriberto Lozada had used the 
forum. Because of immediate access to the internet and email, I had 
contacted the following people, Patricia Powell of Harvard, Yi-Jung Liu of 
CUHK, Trev Sue-A-Quan, Helen and Philip Atteck. I was instrumental in 
convincing a few speakers (sometimes with the help of others) to do a 
presentation, such as Patrick Lee, Alex Lee, Herman Chang, Su Mei Ku, 
Shirley Hsieh Marsh, Brian Chin, Tony Wong, Carie Chong, Louis Ng Cheng Hin. 
Sometimes, it was a group of people working together to convince a speaker 
to attend. I collected the articles for the paper HAKKAS IN ONTARIO. I 
helped Louis prepare his slides. I helped collect most of the proposals and 
bio-sketches for the conference. I helped to collect all the short stories 
for the souvenir brochure. None of this work was easy. I did many other 
things to help out, and so did a large group of people. Each person 
contributed in their own way.

The Toronto Star reporter Nicholas Keung had interviewed me, and an article 
about myself was published dec 29, it was focusing on my roots and culture, 
a topic that I co-presented with prof  Juliana Ramsay of Trinidad.

Brief Summary:
dec 28: I arrived at the speakers’ reception not knowing what to expect. I 
was surprised by the cameras and bright lights, the appetizers tasted like 
authentic Chinese cuisine. I met a few speakers and received a nice warm 
embrace from Patricia Powell, my favourite Caribbean author. A lot of people 
wanted to meet me, since I had contacted them, that was nice, it felt good 
to be remembered. There was music by a Chinese group, they played ancient 
instruments, I wasn’t sure if it was Hakka music, but as you know, all 
Chinese music is beautiful.

Someone told me they saw my name in the Sing Tao, the Chinese newspaper 
daily here in Toronto. I assume it was an article about my roots and 
culture; my Chinese friend called me that same night to confirm my guess, 
and he said it was a nice article, he even kept the copy for me, even though 
I can’t read the Chinese characters.

Dec 29: I arrived at the conference at York, and found out the Star finally 
put the article in the papers; people wanted to meet me, even though I’m not 
a famous pop star or literary scholar. I tried to go to a few sessions, but 
only got to attend one or two because of the timing of the schedule.

Dec 30, 10 am and 1 pm; my roots and culture session was a full house, thank 
goodness. My professor sister said she liked what I did and I was happy with 
her comment.

The conference was okay. The key people who gave their time and effort 
should be acknowledged. I will try to list their first names here, they know 
who they are. Patrick, Roger, Loraine, Yinnie, Brian, Elaine, Peter, 
Michelle, Raymond, Hubert, Fulford, Gerard, Joseph, Lucy, Wennie, Ying, and 
many more people. All the spouses and friends deserve recognition for their 
insurmountable support, kindness and patience.

All the best,
Henrietta.
p.s. I’m looking forward to other people’s comments. From mistakes, the 
future organizers (whoever they are) will be able to improve the whole show. 
I was a little disappointed and sad that a list of names of all the key 
people who did work so hard, weren’t mentioned at the banquet. I was looking 
forward to giving an extra special huge round of applause for my new Hakka 
friends who worked so hard. Sometimes, it is nice to hear an official and 
public announcement like, thank you for all your efforts and support. 
Sincere gratitude is something we all cherish....

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