Saying Thank You: Jie Jie Day 2015

The PAC was filled with the sounds of laughter and loud chatter on the afternoon of Friday the 16th of October, where helpers came together for the annual Jie Jie Day.

Exactly 300 hundred helpers attended this years event, organised by students Catherine, Jarom, David, Natasha, Jade, Anisha, Anoushka, Pandora which ran for two hours.

“It was a surprise to be treated to something special,” said Mimi, an attending helper. “We are all lucky to be here."

In Hong Kong, there are an estimated 320,000 domestic workers (2013) living and working here. They are the invisible force, cooking, cleaning and taking care of us when we might not have the time to ourselves. Sometimes, we also take them for granted, and this is where the first Jie Jie day came into being.

The first Jie Jie day was organised years ago, when it was started by teachers Carol Paterson and Katheryn Bignold along with a few other students to appreciate and give back to the helpers in our RCHK community. It started out as a small event, in the 6th floor seminar room, but soon grew big enough to be held in the PAC, where it has been held ever since.

Catherine Sung, a student organiser for this year’s Jie Jie day, said that, “I myself have a close bond with my helper, and I first joined the event in Year 11, but felt that I could do more, so I decided to help organise it.”

Over the course of this year’s event, the helpers were treated to a wide variety of snacks and drinks (served by the students of course!), and had plenty of entertainment, with Kody and Miguel performing together as well as James’s Secret. There was also a dance competition, and everyone was presented with the opportunity to watch them Whip and Nae Nae on stage.

When asked what the she liked about Jie Jie day, Eleda, a helper, said, “Everything! The food, the friends and... you are serving us!”, before she broke into a stream of laughter.

All of this closed off with a final and favourite part of the event: the lucky draw. This year there were four MacBook Air’s to be won, as well as countless other prizes. There was suspense in the air (pun intended) after

winning numbers for the laptops had to be drawn more than once when they remained unclaimed.

“To see the smiles on the helpers faces is why I do this.” says Mr. John Hogan, the supervisor for the event. “The helpers sacrifice a lot to be here and care for us and sometimes they are not appreciated enough. We need to remind people that helpers are awesome.”

To help with the reminding of awesomeness, a Thank You board was also placed outside the PAC for everyone to see, filled with letters from students to their Jie Jie’s thanking them for everything they have done.

Jie Jie Day was once again a joy for everyone there. A joy for the helpers, for the more than 100 student volunteers, for the teachers and for the guests who came along. It is an event that should - and hopefully will be continued. Of course, while Jie Jie Day happens only once a year, we should keep in mind that, appreciating our Jie Jie’s shouldn’t just be for just one day a year, but should be everyday!

Photos by Kelsie Leville