What’s your name and the group you represent?
My name is Melody Nadal aka Ody Munson. The group that I'm representing was HORIZONS: Home for Talented Migrant Workers in Hong Kong.
Tell us a bit more about yourself and your group’s purpose.
I'm 40 years old, my 2 kids from my first marriage are in the Philippines, my American husband is in USA..I've been a migrant worker for 13 years in Hong Kong. I have travelled places with my employers before. I graduated from college here in Hong Kong, I became a working student.
I love literature especially writing and poetry. I was trained since I was 4 years old, as I'm surrounded by teachers my mom, my aunts and my dad spare lots of time to teach me too.
Our group's purpose:
To give a home to talented migrant workers and their talents.
To help migrant workers develop their hidden talents so that they can say, "this is me, I wrote this and got an achievement."
To give migrant workers space and an outlet for what they feel through the form of writing, at the same time enhancing their talents.
A home, a chill hub that no one is being forced to write or to perform their talents.
A home where everyone gets a warm welcome.
And everyone has their own space to find without being criticised.
Everyone is loved equally.
A home where there is inspiration and motivation.
How do you become a member?
I am the founder of Horizons. I founded this talent home sweet home last April 18, 2020.
When I was studying in Uplifters we made a dream board, it includes me going to my husband in the USA and to write my own book. Then one of the team leaders encouraged me to write in Migrant Writers for Singapore. I already wrote a lot of poems, they were scattered everywhere on the internet, so I was given advice to create my own page, so my poems have a home.
I said to myself don't be selfish Ody, give a home to your fellow talented migrants too. This was the time that coronavirus hit us all badly, helpers can't go out, I was looking at the blue horizons outside my window and I wrote a poem about Horizon so I said to myself I will name our talented page Horizons because it's vast endless, a good home for everybody, there's a space for everyone just claim it by showing your talent. Everyone has its own space to shine.
So timely that even if there's coronavirus pandemic, we all can still be productive, and instead of focusing on its negative effects, we can still all be productive by focusing on our talents.
What improvements in Migrant lives would you like to see?
I want to see an empowered migrant worker. We're not just domestic workers, we can also contribute to society, through our talents. I do believe all of us were born with talents, some are hidden, that's what Horizons is here to help you discover it through proper motivation and inspiration. I want to see migrants accomplishing something and being proud of themselves so someday they have a very good story to tell their grandkids.
Advice for budding poets/writers?
My advice for budding poets is to believe in their abilities, keep on writing the more you write the more you will be better. Write to inspire not get hundreds of likes when you post it.
Write with all your heart, send your love through poetry, don't let negative feedbacks make them stop from writing, find something good on bashers, don't be dragged down just keep on writing keep on inspiring.
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