Cheryl, volunteer, Step out and promote HK masks

Cheryl in our team wants to share with us.

“Melbourne G'day. My name is Cheryl and I am originally from Hong Kong. I’m a first-time mum of a one year old girl. Although I am an international student in Australia, I love this land as Australians do. Since the coronavirus outbreak started in Australia, the memories of my bitter experience with the SARS epidemic in Hong Kong came flooding back. SARS taught us a lesson about the importance of mask-wearing. The first thing that came up in my mind was - I have to protect my little kid.

At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in January, I placed an online order for 2 boxes of surgical masks for $40. I was lucky to get one box due to the shortage of surgical masks. After a short while, the price of the surgical masks sky-rocketed in pricing, almost three times more than the original price. Due to the shortage of surgical masks, as a result of people’s panic buying, I was worried that our health care workers wouldn’t have enough PPE, and that we should be reserving surgical masks for those frontline workers. Then I noticed the Hong Kong Mask, which was invented by a Hong Kong scientist - Dr. Kenneth Kwong.

I was lucky enough to see the Hong Kong Masks Australia’s founder’s (Olivia’s) message on the internet. She was recruiting volunteers over the internet to help with this giveaway project. I had no idea how to sew, but I can help the group by spreading the mask-wearing message instead. I then started helping people around me by educating them on the importance of mask-wearing. I didn’t stop there. I started to spread the message to the Australian community. There have lots of elderly and vulnerable people within our community, and they need help with getting a face mask. While everyone is struggling to get a surgical mask, a fabric cotton mask is a great alternative.

The Hong Kong Mask is reusable and lab-tested in Hong Kong.

In helping to spread the word, I have been in touch with different community groups and shared messages on local community platforms. Some appreciated our kindness, while some asked me to go away. I can’t change everyone’s mind if they don’t feel face masking is appropriate. However, I was still trying to pass the information onto them. Abusive wording didn’t stop me from helping people in need. As the pandemic got worse, more and more people reached out to me through these messages and got in touch with us. I was pleased, encouraged, and motivated to keep doing this. While I was isolated at home, sharing a tiny message of hope in the community and helping people feeling loved and cared for in this tough time. Mask wearing became more common in our society. However, lots of people still don’t know how to wear a mask properly and are still struggling to obtain one.

Infection cases are appearing on a daily basis. I hope the Australian government can learn from other countries, and soon advise the wearing of a face mask is advantageous when going out, as lockdown restrictions ease. The risk is still here. I wear my mask for you, you wear your mask for me. Stay safe and we will overcome everything together!”

Cheryl, Melbourne