The Macau Heritage Ambassadors Association (MHAA) has finished its latest recruitment of the 3rd Macau Heritage Ambassadors among students and teenagers.

Among 115 applicants, 54 candidates performed their second round of the interview on March 11, and 35 outstanding ones were selected as the latest troupe of the 3rd Macau Heritage Ambassadors. They will immediately undertake their 74 hours of theoretical training provided by the Macau Tourism Institute in the coming eight weeks, with the first lesson starting in late March.

President of MHAA Tam Chi Kong was very satisfied with the overall quality of the applicants. All selected ambassadors passed the face-to-face evaluation based on their presentation performance, their activeness in social activities, communication skills and basic knowledge of cultural relics, and they have all scored with satisfactory results according to their abilities in all these categories.

Cyrus Im, one of the selected ambassadors, expressed his excitement at being able to participate in this program. "I believe that this [heritage ambassador] can let me develop my own sense of mission," said Im. "I think this is a very essential portion of being a successful Macau teenager." He also added that he is expected to contribute his best to this position.

All the Heritage Ambassadors have to join a 74-hour training course, with a heritage site tour. There are different assignments and progress evaluations during the course. Course topics include Macau culture and history, introduction to the Macau Historic Center, introduction to Macau tour sites, and touring techniques. All attendants will receive a certificate awarded by the Macau Tourism Institute and the MHAA after they have finished the course with satisfactory results, and 10 best attendants throughout the entire course will have a chance to represent MHAA to visit the world heritage sites overseas.

The objective of MHAA is to educate Macau citizens about knowledge of protecting the cultural heritage, and enhance their belonging to their own culture. Through this Heritage Ambassador Recruitment program, the MHAA expects to heighten the quality of civil education among Macau teenagers, and hope to hand down the Macau cultural undertaking to the next generation. Up to now, MHAA has already trained nearly 60 professional Heritage Ambassadors successfully since 2004.

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