Community topics
Written by: Lu Ningmin
2021-04-02 12:00
Last update date: 2021-04-02 12:00
DEAtHFEST (Death Festival) was founded by a senior social worker in Hong Kong in 2015 and has been promoting life and death education through various community activities for many years.
This year DEAtHFEST held the first global marathon-style facebook live lecture, inviting 18 speakers from different countries to share life and death issues with the public for 34 hours from tomorrow (3rd) to the next (4th), covering hospice care, funeral rites, and grief Counseling, life and death culture, suicide knowledge, spiritual care and family dignity treatment.
Some speakers described that Chinese society has always been taboo to talk about death, but the epidemic has made the public feel that death is very close to them, and hopes to take this opportunity to let people from different places "talk about life and death."
Registered social worker Arnold Liang, Senior Service Manager and Registered Social Worker of the Anniversary Service Department of the Anglican Church St. Carpenter’s Elderly District Center, is the founder of DEAtHFEST in Hong Kong and has been actively promoting life and death education for many years.
(Respondents provide pictures)
The 34-hour marathon video lecture of DEAtHFEST was held from the 3rd to the 4th of this month. It turned out to be the organizer’s mind, "because 3 and 4 are homonyms of life and death respectively." Department senior service manager and registered social worker Arnold is the "handler" of this event. He is also the founder of DEAtHFEST in Hong Kong and the vice president of the Hong Kong Society of Life and Death. He has been actively promoting life and death education for many years.
He described the epidemic for a long time and made the public feel that death is close to them. "Chinese in many areas are taboo to talk about death, but the new crown pneumonia has struck many people around them with relatives and friends diagnosed and even died." Liang Zidun said that it was founded that year. DEAtHFEST hopes to promote life and death education and hope that through this global marathon lecture, more Chinese people will start to discuss life and death.
This year DEAtHFEST held the first global marathon-style facebook live lecture, inviting 18 speakers from different countries to share life and death issues with the public for 34 consecutive hours tomorrow (3rd) to the next (4th).
(DEAtHFEST picture)
This year DEAtHFEST held the first global marathon-style facebook live lecture, inviting 18 speakers from different countries to share life and death issues with the public for 34 consecutive hours tomorrow (3rd) to the next (4th).
(DEAtHFEST picture)
Malaysian cultural conservative abortion parents, comrades, widowed, unspeakable
Currently there are only three regions in the world that have established DEAtHFEST. The first region is Hong Kong. In 2018 and 2020, Malaysia and California, the United States have also established successively.
Feng Yiliang, a senior counselor from Malaysia, has been working in grief counseling for 20 years. He pointed out that the local culture is relatively conservative, and griefs such as aborted parents and widowhood of gays are difficult to discuss publicly.
He recalled that a lecture on life and death education was held in the local area 20 years ago. The Chinese were very resistant. "There were 80 stools in the venue and only 2 people came to listen."
"There was a woman in her 40s who lost her husband. On the last day before her husband was alive, they were arguing because of an affair." Feng Yiliang still remembers that when she first entered the industry, she had dealt with a case of bereavement. The female victim sent a text message to her husband, asking the other party to come back for dinner. The husband agreed, but unfortunately her husband suffered a heart attack when he was out of work.
The female victim has been suffering from insomnia since then. Feng Yiliang said that every time the female victim walked into the counseling room, she would show him her husband's "last short message", and she was worried about the other party's failure to fulfill her promise.
Feng Yiliang, a senior counselor from Malaysia, has been working in grief counseling for 20 years. He pointed out that the local culture is relatively conservative, and griefs such as aborted parents and widowhood of gays are difficult to discuss publicly.
(Respondents provide pictures)
Husband's "Final Message" promises unfulfilled widows
"That lady will come to receive counseling every month. If she has been showing me that short message for 3 years," Feng Yiliang blamed herself for not being able to help the female victim out of the gloom and expressed her heartfelt feelings to her.
The other party actually said, "You have been willing to listen for 3 years. It is already a kind of company for me, because the relatives and friends around me have found me very annoying, and no one wants to listen to my heart." Feng Yiliang said, "If you are happy, you can be simple. To be happy, why can’t grief be simply sorrow? Why must we come out and must resolve this emotion?” Feng described that in Chinese culture, whenever someone encounters death, everyone around them encourages the other person to move on, “but This lady made me understand that major grief is difficult to transform, as long as we are given enough company, understanding and understanding."
For many years, Feng Yiliang has communicated and cooperated with experts from all over the world to share unforgettable supporting cases. In addition to publishing books, he will also attend radio programs and organize community activities, hoping that diversified forms will make it easier for the public to receive life and death education.
He revealed that in this online seminar, he will share how he had a farewell ceremony in a funeral home with bereaved family members.
Another event sponsor is Janice Huang from California, USA. She used to work in hospice care in the West Coast of the United States and is currently a medical social worker and therapist.
The majority of Huang Jiewen's contacts are Chinese cases. "Many dying patients are reluctant to discuss what happened behind them, so I see a lot of regrets."
Elderly people are willing to talk about life and death
She believes that the most effective way to promote life and death education is to create a community space where everyone can openly discuss life and death.
There are many apartments for the elderly in the American community. Old people who don’t know each other live in the same building and gradually become friends. "From time to time, when an elderly person passes away, people in the apartment will talk about it. We only need to hold lectures in the apartment. It is easy to bring people to discuss life and death issues.” In addition, Huang Jiewen believes that reports on life and death education from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan can also stimulate local Chinese to discuss the issue. Discuss medical advance directives", so I believe that community education is an important part of promoting life and death issues.
Liang Zidun revealed that the 17 speakers came from Taiwan, Australia, Macau, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore and other places. He hopes that through this exchange, DEAtHFEST can be expanded to more regions, so that more Chinese can break the taboo and take the initiative to talk about life and death.
34-hour Lasson Global Death Education Video Lecture
Date and time: 10:00 am on April 3, 2021 to 8:00 pm on April 4, 2021 (Hong Kong time)
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