Reading Hongkongers Community Interest Company (CIC) aims to provide mutual support networks among Hongkongers in the UK. The group wants to promoting social integration while preserving the cultural heritage of Hong Kong. 

Pandora Liu joined the group after arriving in UK during the pandemic of 2021, “I was a social worker in Hong Kong and after initially needing to quarantine, I was determined to get involved in horticultural therapy. Nature can contain body, spirit, emotion and feelings in difficult time.” 

Pandora joined the local volunteer team at Ridgeline Trust's therapeutic garden in Reading. There she met local people and learned lots about caring for plants in a garden, “The weather, trees and plants are different from Hong Kong. In Hong Kong the people live in urban flats. When we arrive in the UK, we have gardens with lawns and need to learn how to keep a lawn. Some Hongkongers dream of building a fancy garden, but it is not possible in Hong Kong." 

Pandora was inspired by her lived experiences; she hoped more Hongkongers could connect with local people and nature. She liaised with Food4Families and BBOWT through some networks, and arranged gardening classes for the Reading Hongkongers. 

BBOWT community officers Clare Hegarty and Jone Ayres provided two classes for about 10 Reading Hongkongers participants. Pandora and another member of the group also came along to the 2024 BBOWT Community Network Leadership workshop day in Thatcham. 

She said, “it was useful for learning safety and was a good chance to chat with other local people”. The Reading Hongkongers also reached out to Reading University for support. The university and the British Science Association joined with the Reading Hongkongers to develop a research project exploring the feasibility of growing culture-based crops and the impacts of social integration of new immigrants. 

Research focused on growing pak choi and other Hong Kong native crops. Many failed, some succeeded – it involved a lot of trial and error. 

The group is currently planning to apply for funding for the creation of a community garden for Reading Hongkongers CIC. They have identified some abandoned land in the Southcote area of Reading. However, there have been problems getting the land-owning council to engage in conversations about the land. 

Pandora is determined and will not give up. She says the group’s vision is to “work together with local people, growing alongside them. We are contributing to the society here. More and more Hong Kong people are willing to join the team and everyone is very welcome. For me as an immigrant the aim is to tell a positive story. We are humankind and united as one.”