I created this group in hopes of helping the expatriate community in Kaohsiung find an outlet for their want to do some good in this world. Most people when they set out from their own country do so to see the world, but few end up getting involved in the community they land in because there are so many barriers to doing so. The most obvious and difficult to overcome is quite obviously the language barrier. Chinese is just friggin' difficult to learn. No doubts there.
But as it turns out through my efforts I managed to re-make a mistake I've been making my whole life: I've stretched myself too thin. Trying to do too many things at once has always been an issue for me, and though I feel I did an excellent job managing the Kaohsiung Massive Football Club, I feel I've done a less than perfect job of running the KHH Enviros.
Now I think I know why. You see, managing a football club with all your friends on it is encouraging. I see my friends 3 or 4 times a week and they're always wanting to know what's happening with the club, so it ended up taking priority over everything. It's not such a bad thing to give priority to because I think it helps a lot of people who arrive to find a family overseas. It's a ready-made community that anyone who feels like kicking a ball around can jump into. That's a good thing.
However, now that my time as captain has ended (I've resigned) it's now for the real challenge of creating something great out of nearly nothing.
I have had loads of help up to now from great people like Renata, Sarah and Kayla and the work we've done with the Senior Girls High School was great, but I KNOW that we're capable of so much more and Kaohsiung is so ready to jump into this enviro movement that's been developing. In fact, my students at Jhong Shan University asked me what they could do to help just last week. They want to create an enviro group at the university. That's awesome! And far beyond what I had hoped or expected. They're so busy with school you see, but then again, isn't every university student?
Coming to the point of this blog, I'm currently in Germany visiting friends on my way to Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December. Thanks to New Life Copenhagen I'll be staying with a student at their university for free! I'm excited but have no idea what to expect. What I would like is to network a little bit and get a bit of that energy and fervor back that I used to have but had put mostly into football.
I know that this world needs the sort of groups that I've made and I feel a bit bad about my half-assed efforts over the past two years in Taiwan but I'm only one person and I don't regret all the work I put into the football team. Plus, it's not like we've done nothing. We've created a monthly newsletter and green tips and videos series. We've run beach clean ups, fundraisers and had some interest in the group from Taiwanese students.
There's lots to build on and I plan on building it up over this next year in Taiwan.
--Tim
khhenviros@gmail.com
The KHH Enviros website
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