Back in June 2019, long before the phrase ‘Covid-19’ had even been invented, out of the blue I sent Aileen a slightly cryptic message:
‘I have an idea for creating a website that I think you might be the perfect person to get involved in!’
Slightly puzzled, but equally intrigued, Aileen agreed to meet up to further discuss. That meeting took place on 24th June 2019 – one year to the day today – we met up on Lamma Island (our home in HK). Little did we know at the time, but that meeting marked the start of a crazy 12-month journey that was to change the course of our lives forever.
So, I pitched the idea:
‘I’m thinking of a social platform for migrant and domestic workers, a kind of centralized, free-to-use community hub, which focuses on all aspects of daily life in Hong Kong’
Aileen immediately saw the benefit; as a long-time radio presenter on RTHK’s Pinoy Life, she knew first-hand the challenges of finding reliable and comprehensive information online. An enthusiastic exchange of ideas followed, as we started to visualize how the platform might work. It was clear I’d approached the right person. Aileen was on board.
We didn’t waste any time. Over the coming days, thoughts and ideas came thick and fast (and haven’t really stopped since!), as we began to realize the potential of the project and the directions we could take it in. Plans started to take shape, and things started to feel more real. But one thing proved more difficult to lock down – the platform name.
Several brainstorming sessions later, we were still coming up empty handed; there were plenty of ideas, but none quite seemed to fit our vision of an inclusive, multi-cultural community. That was until one morning, I received a message from Aileen:
‘I’ve had one more idea. It’s a Cantonese word but it’s also quite well known in the migrant community. It means “Friend”’.
The rest is history. PANGYAO was born.
In the weeks ahead, PANGYAO became all consuming. It’s fair to say that we both massively underestimated the work involved in getting things up and running! Each time we completed a task, it seemed to be replaced by three more. Nevertheless, we knew this was a rare moment.
Given most of us spend the better part of our lives in employed, it’s inevitable that all of us will face ups, downs, joys, and challenges during our long working careers. But every once in a while, if you’re lucky enough, you strike on something that fills your days with positive energy and motivation, where the fruits of your labour far outweigh the hard work involved. This was it. The project clicked. Our working styles clicked. The train had left the station, and we both knew there was only one direction of travel.
Fast forward to November 2019. The months of relentless researching, data gathering, designing, developing, and testing had paid off, and we were finally ready to launch. But still, we couldn’t help but feel a little nervous; despite the positive feedback about the idea we’d received from friends, family and the NGOs and community groups we’d met along the way, the next step was a leap into the unknown. Would users sign up to the platform? Could we generate sufficient interest? Would all that hard work ultimately be worth it?
There were some tough days. Sending out numerous introductory emails, sometimes without the hint of a reply, it was easy to feel disheartened. But driven by our personal belief in the project, we pushed on. In a community where exploitation is sadly all too common, at first, we were understandably treated with caution; ‘Who are these guys? Why should I believe them?’. We knew that building trust was our Number 1 priority, and with this always in mind, we slowly but surely started to gain traction.
24th June, 2020. So where are we now? Well, blink and you might have missed it, but somewhere amongst the chaos of the past 6 months, between the political challenges in Hong Kong and an unprecedented global pandemic, that snowflake of an idea from one year ago has grown into an ever-increasing snowball. What started as 2 friends has grown to a community following of 10,000 Pangyaos (OK, nine and a half, but close enough! J ), and we’re forever grateful to the migrant community for welcoming us with open arms.
PANGYAO has barely finished the introduction in what we hope will be a long and inspiring story, so I know I speak for Aileen as well when I say thank you so much to all of you for your support of our little project! We can’t wait to get started on the next chapter…
Blogs by
