Helping Refugees in Hong Kong Break the Language Barrier: Seungjae Lee

Seungjae says that while the number of refugees in Hong Kong is not so high, they face a big language barrier: apart from a little bit of English, people in Hong Kong mainly speak Cantonese and Mandarin, which can be difficult to learn. It gave him the idea to organize volunteers who speak the refugees’ languages to tutor them. 

Language is a very, very important factor of life nowadays because there’s tons of languages and it’s important to communicate with other people. And so when it comes to refugees, being able to establish the same level of communication and getting rid of this language barrier is very, very important.” – Seungjae Lee, UNITAR Youth Ambassador Asia-Pacific Programme 2024

Seungjae’s interest in refugees was first piqued in one of his classes at school. He found refugees inspiring, but it struck him how demeaning it can be to struggle because of things that are out of their control. It made him want to do something to support refugees in Hong Kong. 

He started his project at his school, which allowed him to gather peers to share ideas and raise awareness about refugees to effect change in Hong Kong society. Every week, his community of volunteer tutors goes to this centre to teach the refugee children music, performing arts, and academic subjects such as writing, English, maths, and science. Being in an international school with a diverse student body, he mobilized classmates who could speak the languages that the refugees also spoke, as he thought that this would help the refugees learn more effectively.