Given that Macao has developed into an international city, to encourage the expatriates in Macao to participate in community activities, which is part of the effort to reflect the spirit of a harmonious community, the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), in recent years, has taken active moves to meet and conduct talks with foreign community groups to help the expatriates gain a better understanding of the current conditions in Macao. In addition, through hosting different types of activities related to environmental hygiene, IACM also hopes to encourage the involvement of expatriates in keeping the city clean.
When the expatriates leave their hometown and work in other countries, they not only need to find their spiritual sustenance, but also to adapt to the new life in the local community, to understand about local laws and regulations and to comply with them. Ah-Dan, a Filipina, said when she first arrived at Macao many years ago, she felt she was a stranger to the city even though she knew there were many ethnic groups here and Macao was a city where Chinese and Western culture met. At first, as she spent most of the time staying with her employer’s family and people from her country, she only had a small circle of life and rarely participated in the events held by the Macao Government and community groups.
In recent years, IACM has strengthened its contact and ties with foreign community groups by hosting various activities related to environmental hygiene to encourage more participation from the expatriates, like Ah-Dan. These activities include large-scale outdoor publicity, community cleaning, walls beautification, and guided tours to facilities affiliated to IACM, such as the Mong Ha Environment Information Centre, eco-green roofs and natural ecological protection trails, etc. Through these activities, people from different countries become not only more united, but also more ready to collaborate with local communities and hence helping themselves to adapt more quickly to this city and feel the passion of Macao residents, as well as being aware of their civic responsibilities, including keeping the city clean and protecting the environment, as they are also the residents of this city.
To help the expatriates to have a better understanding of the General Regulations Governing Public Places, as well as other related regulations regarding environmental hygiene, IACM has produced leaflets in various languages and distributed to expatriates with the help of their community groups to call for their compliance with the rules and collaboration with local residents to build a nice and clean city.
A happy life, which entails a good environment as well as inner peace, depends on the patience and combined efforts of everyone living in the same community. With mutual understanding, all people, regardless of their nationality, language and skin color, can play a part in creating a better living environment.