By CSR Times
Nayab Feroz, currently working as a cultural ambassador at WEDO GLOBAL, speaks fluent Cantonese. What's surprising is that she used to resist communicating in Cantonese because of her pronunciation and fear of being teased. She said, "When I was in Secondary School, others laughed at me as if I was saying foul language because of my inaccurate pronunciation. In order not to cause misunderstandings, I couldn't dare to speak those words again." Later, with the encouragement of teachers and the founder of WEDO GLOBAL, Bosco, she worked hard to learn Cantonese, and now she can speak and answer questions in Cantonese fluently. She has even become a cultural ambassador, leading tours using Cantonese to let more people understand the culture of ethnic minorities. She also goes to different schools to promote multicultural education.
Learn by Doing Overcoming Language Difficulties
Bosco also understands that authentic language profoundly impacts on ethnic minorities, so he and other colleagues have always encouraged ethnic minority colleagues to listen and speak more and are willing to teach and correct them. "During lunch, we all share our work experiences so we can understand the problems they encounter, and through simple conversations, let them have the opportunity to listen to and learn to speak in Cantonese." Nayab said with a smile “I like to repeat after my colleagues in Cantonese because this method of learning Cantonese is very effective.”
After graduating from secondary school, Nayab joined WEDO GLOBAL. In the past 4 years, besides overcoming language difficulties, she also gained a lot of inspiration and satisfaction during work. She said “I thought of becoming a teacher when I was young. But after becoming a cultural ambassador, I saw many participants’ attitudes and perspectives towards ethnic minorities change, especially witnessing those who were very quiet at the beginning of the activities becoming very friendly with us after the activity made me more interested in this job. I hope to continue working here in the future.” Thanks to her hard work, Nayab is now also in charge of communication and activity arrangements with the schools and other organizations. Bosco said he hopes to train her to the managing level, in order to bring her into full play.
Promoting multicultural education with empathy
Compared with other local ethnic minorities, Nayab is one of the luckier ones because she has not experienced discrimination when applying for a job. Still, she admits that she has encountered prejudice when conducting activities. Even so, Nayab considers it as a challenge "sometimes I feel frustrated when I hear other people's misconceptions, but I try to control my emotions and answer calmly so that they can understand and change their thoughts." As a person who has also been through unpleasant experiences, she hopes to teach ethnic minorities more knowledge and values of personal growth—hoping we all can love harmoniously with one another.