Three HU students are working on an honour project focussing on collecting more volunteers for the ANNE house, a hangout spot for Ukrainians. They are creating posters, networking with other HU institutes and working. In this article, we meet the third student, Ming Chi.
Door: Lune van den Berg 21-06-2022
Ming Chi arrived in the Netherlands from China nine years ago. Originally going to the ISKA school, she had a class filled with refugee children. Some were from Syria, some from Iraq and others from other countries. She loved to hear their stories to make them feel heard and help where she could. Now she proceeds to live by this sentence, but instead of classmates, she listens to and helps Ukrainian refugees.
“They need to learn everything again, just like me. I had no one to help me, but you do need someone to help you find the information and help you navigate through the Dutch culture and society,” Ming explains.
During this project Ming not only has a chance to help people she relates to, but she also got to learn about working out in the real world, “I got to learn how to build a team connection, find the point of the tasks at hand, think of myself in the process and work and see the result.”
Ming, however, has learned that some people she has certain opinions about the Ukraine war because of her Chinese heritage. Even though she can not speak for China or other Chinese people, she does have her own opinion, “You can have your own opinion which is separate from your country’s stance. Nationality does not equal an opinion.”