Walk the Refugee Road

To fulfill the requirements for a Girl Scout Bronze Award which would indicate that they want to make a difference in their community, six Girl Scouts and their mothers recently visited Christian Action. The goal was to learn what it's like to be an asylum seeker in Hong Kong. Their walk through the lives of several asylum seekers and our part in their lives was a revelation to the girls.

Please let me know if you too would like to 'Walk this Road'.

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Bring it on!

When should we start encouraging developmentally delayed teens to learn life skills?

In the case of two of our teenagers, their behaviour answered that question for us. As a result, we developed a mentoring programme which enhances our Bridging Programme. This helps mentor teenagers who must move from Xining Children's Home into an adult world.

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An Example of Slave Labour

Mia waits for her claim to be settled at the labour tribunal

No, this is not about someone carrying bricks all day for a pittance, it's about how more than one or two moderately wealthy businessmen in our city can force a woman to work 18 hours a day, and then have her thrown out on the street. This is something every loyal Hong Kong resident should be ashamed to see happening in our civilised society.

As International Labour Day comes up on May 1st, pray that employers the world over would realise that domestic help is not slave labour.

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My Name is Overcomer!

HSCN Mark Xiao Jin Niu at SWI

Many a childhood nickname is embarrassing to adults. Yuan Jun, or Xiao Jin Niu, as he was fondly known during his childhood was determined not to add yet another handicap to his life, so he chose an English name that fits this young man perfectly!

Yuan Jun chose to call himself Mark, after the apostle Mark in the bible. The Chinese phonetic translation is 'Ma Ke' which means 'overcomer'!

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Living A Poor Life

The famous Welsh poet W.H. Davies wrote: 'What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?' His last verse answers that question: 'A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.'

It really is a poor life for many of the single mothers in our programme for New Arrivals. The only thing they have in abundance is exhaustion.

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