A Focus on Chinese Lifeline
As the Chinese New Year celebrations begin, we welcome in the Year of the Ox - an animal regarded for its patience and tireless hard work.. It's a timely reminder of the growth of Chinese Lifeline over the last 15 years and of those volunteers who have been committed to developing the service. |
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In the last 15 years, Chinese Lifeline has expanded its operating hours to now provide 43 hours a week of telephone counselling. The service was founded by Sybil Au in 1993 when she approached Lifeline Auckland with the idea of establishing a free phone counselling service in Cantonese and Mandarin. A small team of dedicated volunteers began to build up the service and received training from Lifeline 24/7 staff.
In October last year, the service celebrated its 15th Anniversary with an Anniversary Dinner at Novotel Hotel in Ellerslie. The event sold out completely and raised over $18,000 for Chinese Lifeline.
Benjamin Liu is one of the volunteers who has been with Chinese Lifeline since the service began.
“When I first heard about Lifeline, the idea of counselling was totally new to me. In China, I wasn’t aware of this form of talking which can actually heal.”
Chinese Lifeline now has 60 volunteer counsellors with 11 new recruits having come on board in 2008. The team is looking forward to continuing its growth and support of the Chinese community in 2009. |
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