Visitors from The Hilton Humanitarian Award Miss Dyanne Hayes, Mr. Ray Nash and Mr. Ralph Bilby visited Phoenix Clubhouse on April 19, 2004 and met with our members, their families, and members of Friends of Phoenix Clubhouse.

It was my first encounter with foreign visitors at the Clubhouse and I had to speak English to communicate with them.  Perhaps I did not have enough sleep the night before, I did not have much energy on that day and my neck was aching; hence my normally good communication skills were totally out the window! I had always known how to introduce the Clubhouse fluently in English, but because of my physical weakness on that day I could not exercise my language skills.  I felt quite bad about that.  Still, I did my job as best as I can.  When I related my story to Dyanne, Ray and Ralph, I missed some points so the story is quite incomplete.  But I am very happy that they were patient enough to let me finish my story slowly.  They were really polite.  I was very nervous throughout the whole process, but they comforted me.  They asked me to drink some water to relax.  On leaving the Clubhouse, they praised me for my presentation skills and for being an excellent tour guide.  That raised my self-confidence indeed!

Thank you Ms. Stella Poon for proof-reading the English translation.

Author:  Ada

Translator:  Michelle