GBA Lifestyle News
External relations officer, Enrich
Victoria Ahn is the external relations officer at NGO Enrich, which promotes economic empowerment of migrant domestic workers.
The seed was planted when she worked as a teaching assistant on art programs for underprivileged children in New York. “There was an 11-year-old boy from Senegal who didn’t speak a word of English, but managed to keep up with all the work because everyone was rooting for him,” she said. “By the end of the year, he wrote me a thank you letter in English. Nothing beats watching someone achieve something like that.”
After moving to Hong Kong, Ahn continued her career in education teaching art at a primary school while also volunteering at the Nesbitt Centre, which provides programs for adults with special needs — before joining Enrich in 2015.
At Enrich, Ahn is responsible for collecting and relaying the stories of migrant domestic workers who have taken the tools they’ve learned from Enrich’s program to overcome challenges and achieve their goals. “Their stories show what financial and empowerment education can achieve. It’s a complex issue that doesn’t get wide support,” she points out.
One of Ahn’s proudest achievements is having managed the pilot of Enrich’s six-month mentoring program, which matched nine domestic workers with volunteers to work on achieving financial goals. “It was amazing what they were able to achieve with that mentorship: Most became debt-free, and they changed how they and their families handled money, and they started saving.”
Her very first job? The aforementioned role, as a teaching assistant.
