It begins with char siu rice — half lean, half fat. A small preference, yes, but also a metaphor: for balance, for belonging, for identity shaped by both East and West.
Catherine Tong, born in Wales, raised in Hong Kong, carries the soft accent of a global citizen and the fierce heart of a local girl. As Executive Director of HandsOn Hong Kong, she doesn't just manage a nonprofit — she embodies a philosophy: that to live is to serve, and to serve is to be deeply, radically human.
But her story is not just hers.
It speaks of a quiet revolution unfolding in Hong Kong — led by foreign-born residents who have chosen not to remain on the city's periphery, but to step into its core. They may not speak fluent Cantonese. They may not have grown up in the estates of Kowloon or the towers of Central. But they have found something deeply meaningful: a place to give.
Through volunteering, these individuals — from all corners of the globe — are not merely helping others. They are claiming Hong Kong as home, not through ownership, but through contribution. They support the elderly who have no one to talk to. They teach English and Cantonese to newcomers. They walk rescue dogs. They carry groceries for the frail. In doing so, they dissolve the lines between "local" and "foreigner," between "giver" and "receiver."
Catherine's life is the bridge between these worlds. Her mixed heritage, her corporate past, her compassion-first leadership — all converge in her work. She doesn't just believe in change. She organizes it. She mobilizes it. She lives it.
Volunteering, she reminds us, is not reserved for saints or spare time. It is the purest expression of belonging. It is how we stitch ourselves into the fabric of a place. It is how a city becomes a community.
In a time where AI rises and human connection fades, Catherine — and the thousands of volunteers she represents — offers an antidote: presence. Not perfection, just presence.
This episode of Be My Guest is a meditation on quiet courage, on social imagination, and on the truth that the most profound change often begins not with grand gestures, but with the simple act of showing up — open-hearted, sleeves-rolled, ready to help.
Not because the world is perfect, but because we are willing to try.
(Video Shooting: Jack Wang / Felicia Li; Video Editing: Felicia Li; Editor: Felicia Li / Zoey Sun)
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