Teacher hopes to spread kabaddi in Hong Kong and help kids from ethnic minorities gain confidence in their own cultures
- Lo Yuk-kwong and Wyman Tang have chosen the physical sport of kabaddi as a vehicle to help Hong Kong people embrace aspects of South Asian culture
- ‘They don’t trust themselves. That’s why they just think oh, I’ll just do food panda,’ assistant principal Lo says
After graduating with degrees in anthropology from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Lo Yuk-kwong and Wyman Tang wanted to do more to help youth from the city’s ethnic minority groups integrate into local society.
The default methodology was to help these kids learn about Chinese culture, a system that has its merit but which Lo felt may produce feelings of inferiority towards their own identities. So Lo and Tang are taking the opposite route. They want Hong Kong people to embrace aspects of the South Asian culture and chose sport as their avenue, specifically kabaddi.
Lo and Tang co-founded Kabaddi United, Hong Kong, a body that promotes the sport among the local population. Lo has also launched a kabaddi programme at the Caritas Wu Cheng-chung Secondary School in Pok Fu Lam, where is the assistant principal.
“Myself and Wyman wanted to promoted social inclusion in Hong Kong, we wanted to hold some talks and conduct a tour of the city but we wanted to find something more interesting,” Lo told the Post.
“Sport is a good medium because it doesn’t require much talking to overcome the boundary of language. Wyman went on a site visit to Nepal and he found that kabaddi is very popular and famous there, as well as in other South Asian countries. So we chose kabaddi to promote social inclusion in Hong Kong.”
