Living Without Borders: Sharing The Love!
- Kayli Liebenberg
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Founded back in 2020, One World Spirit Association has grown into a vibrant community force, connecting cultures, generations and neighbours through education, celebration and shared experience. Sam Agars reports
Founded back in 2020, One World Spirit Association has grown into a vibrant community force, connecting cultures, generations and neighbours through education, celebration and shared experience. Sam Agars reports
Started in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic as a way of “cheering up” Discovery Bay residents, One World Spirit Association (OWS) continues to go from strength to strength as it surges into its sixth full year in operation. Launched by Shirlee and Hans Dickert in August 2020, the non-profit, volunteer-run charity constantly finds new and improved ways to promote cultural diversity and exchange within the community and beyond.
Specialising in cultural education, Shirlee, Hans and Co. cover a lot of ground – facilitating cultural immersion seminars in schools, kindergartens and public libraries; organising whole-community DB events and workshops; and offering corporate and institutional team building.
Upwards of 15 people can be seen joining Hans and Shirlee as volunteers on a regular basis, while OWS also works to raise funds for small, hands-on local charities, such as Love to the Moon Foundation.
“We started as an NGO because of the tough times with the pandemic in Hong Kong but actually the East-meets-West cultural exchange idea had been in our minds for many years,” says Shirlee, who was born in Guangzhou, came to Hong Kong as a student and has lived in DB with German husband Hans for over 16 years.
“We wanted to do something more positive to cheer up the people and we thought Covid was a good time to start the cultural programmes. Many residents couldn’t make it back to their home countries for Christmas so we started our St Nicholas visits.”
While those initial visits of St Nicholas – the third-century Catholic saint who inspired the modern version of Santa Claus – were confined to WhatsApp video calls in year one, physical home visits have subsequently become an annual highpoint on the DB event calendar.
“Our core mission is upstream: character building for youth through cultural education,” Shirlee says. “If we can help young people develop strong values – like the generosity embodied by St Nicholas – they will grow into adults who support the underprivileged. That’s sustainable, leveraged impact.”
OWS’ Bridging Cultures, Building Character project, which brings Chinese and Western traditions to life for students aged 6 to 18, is a major focus. Seminars are provided by a dedicated team of DB volunteers and designed to “go beyond theory, offering practical understanding of history, culture and ethics that students can apply in their academic work and daily interactions”, with learning in both English and Chinese woven naturally throughout.
Schools and kindergartens from across Hong Kong have engaged OWS to help children gain cultural understanding and learn about diversity. The most recent seminar in the series focused on Yam Cha Etiquette and was held at C.M.A. Secondary School, Shek Kip Mei in October. Last year also saw the launch of OWS’ Chinese Splendid Culture series at Tin Shui Wai Public Library, plus a school pairing project between Hong Kong and Germany.
Working within DB, the team provides a vibrant series of multicultural events that bring the community together and also serve as a recruiting ground for new OWS volunteers. The offering has included those annual Xmas visits, numerous CNY parties and workshops, a flurry of bazaars, cookery workshops, even a small-scale Oktoberfest, and you can bet your bottom dollar there is always more to come.
Right now, Hans and Shirlee are preparing for a CNY party at Midvale Village featuring Hanfu, throw pot, paper cut and calligraphy, which they hope will be as big a success as last month’s International Food & Beer Fest, also held at Midvale. The latter brought neighbours together to share homemade dishes representing their hometowns or cultures. There was a global beer tasting challenge and a best hometown cuisine award.
“We believe that food has culture and history, so everyone can share the story behind their hometown food. It’s one of the easiest and most down-to-earth ways to promote diversified culture,” says Shirlee. “We want to do more cookery workshops and get more people, from more parts of the world involved.”
“DB is one of Hong Kong’s most unique residential districts where East meets West naturally. OWS acts as a cultural bridge helping residents of all ages connect though language, tradition and shared cultural experiences,” adds Hans, who also organises regular Greater Bay Area Foodie Culture Tours for OWS’ core members and volunteers.
OWS partners with the German Chamber of Commerce to deliver cultural team-building through dragon boating training, combining sports, tradition and teamwork, and further opportunities to work in the corporate space are welcomed.
“Because we are an NGO, we also need some support and we try to target cultural and corporate partners,” says Hans, who works for a German industrial tech firm, while Shirlee is a financial adviser. “Our job is not in the NGO, the NGO is our hobby.”
Shirlee and Hans have seen plenty of change in recent years, and have enjoyed watching the local community evolve. “DB now welcomes more Mainland Chinese families and residents from various international backgrounds, creating a richer, more diversified cultural landscape,” says Shirlee, who prides herself on her proficiency in Putonghua and the value that brings when promoting Chinese language and culture. “In turn, OWS has also become more experienced, structured and optimised in delivering its community programmes, school and kindergarten cultural education and cross-cultural activities for both children and adults.”
“We have maintained a stable commitment to contributing meaningfully to DB and beyond,” Hans adds. “In spite of our busy lifestyles – our work and family responsibilities – we believe community contribution matters. Our work is driven by passion, consistency and local understanding.”
Looking ahead, OWS will continue with more of the same – “We aim to deepen collaboration with DB schools and kindergartens, expand community-based cultural programmes and partner with city management offices, NGOs and institutions,” says Shirlee.
“There is a lot coming up this year,” Hans concludes. “There are always a lot of newcomers to DB, so I’m considering taking small groups to explore Hong Kong and I can show them some interesting spots. There are some hidden gems in Hong Kong. Or we could go to China – the Greater Bay Area. We want to bring cultural understanding and community bonding.”
