April 2008

HONG KONG: South Asian women at work

CHINA: Migrant children at school

CHINA: Work, Song and Poem

HONG KONG: Five families on social welfare

CHINA: Safe and warm after the snowstorm

We hear their tired voices through

poetry and song, a tradition long used

in mainland China in the call for justice

and humanity.

We hear displacement in the voices

of South Asian women in Hong Kong,

who find it hard to get a job, despite

many efforts , and despite being

well-educated.

We hear the sombre reality of an

eleven-year-old girl, the daughter of

a single-parent migrant worker in

China’s northwest, a top student yet

at risk of not getting the nine years of

education entitled to her.

Yet, we hear optimism, too. A

museum to validate and celebrate

In Hong Kong, April marks the end

of one fiscal year and the beginning

of another, and this being the banking

and financial centre that it is, money is

omnipresent, seen or unseen.

Day after day, week after week,

year after year, we work and work.

Money comes and goes.

This edition of O.N.E features the

voices of some of the most overworked

and underpaid workers : migrant

workers.

migrant workers will soon open in

Beijing, three months before the

Olympics. A new website on the main-

land is in the making, and migrant

children are now going to government

school. And, last but not least, in our

cover story, South Asian women in Hong

Kong are making handicrafts to earn

some income, to release tension, and to

make a home away from home.

O.N.E asks, does there need to

be such a gap between ‘work’ and

‘home’?

Madeleine Marie Slavick

Editor, Oxfam News E-magazine

Oxfam Hong Kong

emagazine@oxfam.org.hk

This is a place the women call their

own. Other than their homes, perhaps

this is where they spend the most time.

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday,

twenty South Asian women, mostly

from Pakistan, come and work, and

talk, mostly in Urdu. It is personal and

it is professional: they share their sighs

from the day or the week, and they

discuss their handicrafts: should we add

more beads, more colour, should we use

traditional motifs, why not try selling

them at this shop?

On the day I met them, they were

discussing what to make for a big fair

held by the Kwai Tsing District Council.

In the past, the women only made

their handicrafts for their families;

now, the items are leading to cash, a

better way of living, and a sense of

empowerment in a community that

is not their own. One woman named

Fanyal, who has been a member of the

women’s group for about a year and

a half, says, “I like coming here a lot. I

can make some money by doing design

work, which I like very much, and I can

also talk about my ups and downs.”

Fanyal’s designs are integrated in the

embroidered and beaded accessories,

TALKINGANDWORKINGBy Tung Tsz-kwan

in Hong Kong

The women’s handicrafts project brings income, a sense of family and community, mutual support.

Fanyal (top, left) and three other handicrafts members-workers. Photos: Tsang Wing-kai

Text and photos by Tung Tsz-kwan

Xuelan (above) and other migrant children at school.

in China

jewellery, bags and clothes, items which

are then sold at Love Multi-culture, a

shop in Kwai Fong.

Fanyal, 25, moved to Hong Kong

with her husband four years ago. Des-

pite the need to look after their two

daughters, aged 3 and one and a half,

she has been looking for a full-time job

in order to support her family, as well as

her in-laws in Pakistan. Her efforts have

been in vain. “I have applied for jobs at

schools, offices and community centres,

but my inability to speak Cantonese

has always made me a less preferred

candidate in the eyes of employers,

even though I speak fluent English.”

Fanyal can go on and on about her

frustrating search for a job. “I am no

different in terms of being a resident

of Hong Kong. At least they should

give me a chance! I completed post-

secondary education, and I could have

been a medical practitioner in Pakistan

with just two more years of studies.

How come I end up not getting a job in

Hong Kong?” Before leaving Pakistan,

Fanyal tried to prepare herself for

the challenges ahead, but the reality

in Hong Kong has been harsher than

expected. “Sometimes I get so sad I

burst into tears, but then I share my

misfortunes with the members here

[and I feel better].”

Fanyal also translates for Urdu-

speaking patients at hospitals three

to five days a month. Her income is

very low from these two jobs, but she

tries to be positive. “It’s better than

nothing!” she laughs. “It’s giving my

family a bit of a lift in our living

standards.” Nevertheless, she still wants

a full-time job as soon as possible.

Fanyal is far from being alone. Many

of her friends have similar experiences,

and she always encourages them to

join the women’s group. She hopes that

through mutual support, everyone will

be happier and will be able to earn more

money to buy things for their kids.

The 20-member handicrafts group

Fanyal belongs to is at the HKSKH Lady

MacLehose Centre, which has been

running various projects with ethnic

minority groups since 2000. According

to a survey conducted by the Centre in

2004, the unemployment rate for Pakis-

tanis and Nepalese in Hong Kong is 24

per cent, which is 19 per cent higher than

the overall rate; they estimate that as

many as 90 per cent of the women are

out of work. The handicrafts project is

part of a larger programme aimed to

empower ethnic minority people, give

them a chance to be more connected

with the community, and to alert them

of their rights as Hong Kong residents.

Together, the women find ways around

the language barriers that can limit

access to public medical services, and

ways to assist students who often do not

receive adequate support at school.

Karen Yim, a project officer with

the HK SKH Lady MacLehose Centre,

says there is a certain demand for the

handicrafts. In the first year, the women

were able to make an average of HK$550

a month (about US$70), and they want

to increase this to at least HK$700, if

not $1,000 a month (about US$90 to

$130). “To our group members, mostly

recipients of the Comprehensive Social

Security Assistance Scheme [the main

welfare programme in Hong Kong],

this new source of income can make a

difference to their living standards.”

Yim assists the women in communi-

cations and other minor areas. It is the

women themselves who negotiate

with buyers, make production sche-

dules, determine the types of handi-

crafts to be produced, work out all cost-

related matters, and find a sustainable

path for their business. Besides selling

their goods at existing retail outlets,

the women are also thinking of work-

ing together with other associations

and government departments. They

want bigger orders, such as the one

they are working on now, for the

District Council.

Tung Tsz-kwan is the editor of Mokung magazine, where this article first appeared in Chinese, in a slightly different version. Oxfam Hong Kong has been supporting the HK SKH Lady MacLehose Centre since 2006 on various employment- and advocacy-related projects to ensure the rights of ethnic minority people in Hong Kong. To support this project, please contact Karen Yim (852) 2423 5062 / cwloveu@shkmaclehose.org.hk.

NOT RICH, NOT POOR

have never been to school, and are from

an ethnic minority and may not speak

much if any Chinese, some children

need time to adjust and some need

some tutoring. They all treasure the

opportunity to learn, and most have

done reasonably well.

“Ninety per cent of the parents are

illiterate, so they can not teach their

children very well… Some parents do not

know how to supervise their children or

check homework… Every month, we run

three activities with parents, teaching

things like child psychology, study

habits, and issues surrounding gender,

health, and labour law.” Teachers

regularly visit their students’ homes to

understand the situation better and to

offer suggestions and support.

With only 120 s tudent s , the

education point knows its limits. They

see themselves as serving an example

to society and to the government. They

believe that migrant children will only

be able to get an education when the

government assumes its responsibility.

Xie Xing Lin says, “We have to continue

with our advocacy work. When the

media has more coverage, there will

be more pressure on the government

to face the problem and take up the

challenge.”

Xuelan puts it this way, “I envy

people who can study at a government

school.” She told Oxfam that she does

not dare say this to her mother, that she

does not talk to her about wanting to

continue studying beyond the education

point. She knows her mother works so

hard, and the money just is not there.

After years of advocacy, media

outreach, and hard work, the Lanzhou

Muslim Culture and Education Associa-

tion can claim a victory: in September

2007, the Lanzhou City Government

accepted all of the students from the

education point into the public school

system, waiving all the miscellaneous

fees and textbook charges, which can

be about 800 to 1,000 Yuan a year, per

child. From now on, all migrant children

can enjoy the right they have deserved

all along.

This article is adapted from an article written by Tung Tsz-kwan for an upcoming Oxfam book on basic education and health care. She interviewed Ma Xuelan in June 2007, three months before the Lanzhou City government policy changed. Translated by Stephen Tsui.

aspirations are high. She wants the

education point to be a starting point

for her education and her career, “I want

to be a doctor when I grow up, then I

could help treat all the patients in this

country.”

Xuelan’s neighbourhood of Qi Li He

is home to many ethnic minority people

from different areas. Most people

sell mutton, drive vehicles, and clean

buildings for a living. The family monthly

income is typically under 500 Yuan

(about USD70), hardly enough to cover

a good standard of living, for health

care, and education for the children.

Even if children have been able to enroll

at government schools, the drop-out

rate has been high, as parents’ income

is typically too low and too irregular to

sustain the expense.

It was the Lanzhou Muslim Culture

and Education Association that did the

groundwork for the ‘school’ that Xuelan

has been attending. The community

group applied for project funding from

Oxfam Hong Kong, and in 2003, the

education point opened.

All along, the media has been

supportive of the cause for the city’s

migrant children education, as has the

general public. After all, China vows to

give all children the right to an education

with its Nine Years Free Education

Policy. Yet, for migrant children who

are quasi-legal residents and therefore

do not always have access to all that a

city can offer, this right has not been

secure: while studying at the ‘education

point’ is free, it only offers two years of

schooling, and is not classified the same

as a government-endorsed school.

To urge the government to imple-

ment its own policy, the Lanzhou

Muslim Culture and Education Associa-

tion began to do more publicity and

in 2005, ran an open recruitment for

students. This is when Xuelan’s family

heard about the school and got their

chance of an education.

The ‘school’ headmaster, Xie Xing

Lin, says, “When the classes started,

many parents came and asked many

questions. With only 120 places, we had

to set some admission criteria: we have

given priority to children from poor

families, from single-parent families,

orphans, and girls. Since many students

Lanzhou, the provincial capital of

Gansu in China’s northwest, a city with

many factories.

Qi Li He, the district where many of

the city’s 18,000 migrant workers live.

Jiaoxue Dian, a two-year ‘education

point’ for 120 students, about 70 boys

and 50 girls, aged about 5 to 15, mostly

from impoverished, illiterate, ethnic

minority, and migrant worker families.

Ma Xuelan, 11, is in Primary Two, the

final year of the school.

It is June 2007.

Tense and reserved, Xuelan rarely

smiles in conversation, even when

talking about something happy or about

things that she likes. Is this because of

her difficult childhood, with a share of

pain and bitterness?

Xuelan has three older sisters, one

younger one, a deceased father, and

an overworked mother. The family is

Dongxiang, the most impoverished

ethnic minority group in all of China.

Nine years ago, Xuelan’s father

died, so her mother has brought up the

five daughters on her own. The family

decided to move to Lanzhou a few years

ago, hoping to make a better life, yet

this is how Xuelan’s mother describes a

typical city day: “working from seven in

the morning till seven at night, I am so

tired when I get back home that I just

want to sleep.” She earns just enough to

pay for the day’s most basic expenses.

When the family learned about

the Jiaoxue Dian, the education point,

Xuelan and two of her sisters were

accepted. “When I had the opportunity

to study, I was terribly happy and

excited,” Xuelan told Oxfam, but still

not smiling. “An education will help

me find a job when I grow up, and I will

be able to treat my mother well, rent

an apartment for her, and let her enjoy

some good food.”

Xuelan says she enjoys learning

more than anything else, that every day

when she returns home, she studies as

much as she can, and reads a lot.

“I have to study hard to change my

fate, but I don’t want to be too rich,”

she explains. “Rich people are always

watched by others. Not rich, not poor,

that would be OK with me.” Xuelan is

always one of the top three students

in the school examinations, and her

in Hong Kong

Hong Kong: ALL’s RIGHT?

Director King Wai Cheung speaks about his newest film,

All’s Right with the World, which follows five families in Hong

Kong during a Lunar New Year holiday. Each has different

reasons for needing to rely on social welfare, and their stories

lead in intriguingly different directions, yet they all five

families seem almost accustomed and adapted to poverty.

Beijing in 2008 is more than the

Olympics. More than the shiny infra-

structure surrounding that international

event.

Several new projects are underway

with the thousands of migrant workers

in the capital city, and in cities all

around the country: a cultural website is

being developed with the workers, the

newspaper Worker Poet is publishing

their writing, and a museum is opening

soon to display their art and cultures.

Oxfam Hong Kong is supporting each of

these projects.

It is the Internet that is probably

the liveliest place in Chinese society,

with millions of sites and blogs, and

billions of emailed and msn messages

every day. The world of the web is also a

wide place for the country’s 200 million

migrant workers, and a new site, Worker

Cultural Web (www.zgdgwh.com),

featuring workers’ music, photography

and literature, is under construction. The

organisers see the site as a platform for

the workers to articulate their culture,

as migrant workers are often lost and

forgotten in the contemporary chic of

city life. The website will also be a space

for workers to assert their rights, and

practical information on labour law and

regulations will be posted.

The newspaper, Worker Poet, is the

product of 13 migrant workers who

talked on-line about the idea, swapped

their own poems with each other, and

started publishing in 2001. Seven years

and many editions later, the newspaper

now has over 80 active contributors who

live and work in over 30 provinces/regions

across the country. Here, poem is history,

personal, political, total.

The new Migrant Workers’ Culture

and Arts Museum, in the outskirts of

Beijing, is the brainchild of The New Labor

Art Troupe, an arts collective that has

been working alongside workers for many

years. In 2002, they started giving free

performances at construction

sites, city squares, office

buildings that migrants clean

or guard, inexpensive hotels

and restaurants – anywhere

where workers typically

gather. Their concerts have entertained

thousands of people after a long day of

underpaid and undervalued work.

The lyrics soothe and do not soothe.

They speak of injustice in the workplace

and in society, so performing at places

such as construction sites, for instance,

always requires a lot of negotiation with

the management beforehand. Maybe

this is the magic of music: it crosses the

usual divides. While talks and meetings

about labour rights may not always be

welcomed in workplaces around China

and around the world, the Troupe

manage to gain the trust, understanding

and permission to communicate the exact

same messages through song.

Their music, song and drama have

been inspirational, for themselves (they

have maintained the troupe for six

years, and counting), for the workers

(performances are uplifting, and often

standing room only) and for the general

public (the troupe has been featured on

state television, their CDs are popular,

and they have won many awards for their

creativity and perseverance).

The Troupe’s museum has already

run several exhibitions and workshops

although formally the doors

only open to the public in May

2008. They also help run a free

library, a second-hand shop, a

school for migrant children,

activities on labour law and

workers rights, and computer lessons so

that workers are comfortable with today’s

on-line world.

The 200 million rural people who now

work in urban China, mostly live and

work in the capital city of Beijing, and in

the cities near two powerful rivers: the

Yangtze (which serves as a natural divide

between north and south China) and the

Pearl (which runs through many of the

economic zones in the south).

These workers are mostly women,

mostly under the age of thirty. They

are people on assembly lines, people

at construction sites, babysitters and

housecleaners, and a range of other

workers. It can be said they form the

backbone of China’s workforce.

Oxfam wants to amplify the voices

of these people. We want to recognise

their worth more publicly. We want to

alert more people to the problems faced

by the workers, because, more likely

than not, they suffer discrimination and

exploitation every day by their employers.

In the construction industry, for instance,

where many of the men migrant workers

are employed, it is common practice that

workers are only paid after the project is

completed, after the building is standing.

But by then, the employer may have left,

and not a cent is paid.

the poor have apparently improved.

Yet, this is just on the surface.

Perhaps it is true, because on the

outside, the clothes of poor people are

no longer in tatters, yet on the inside

– the lives lived in these gorgeous public

housing estates, the real scenes behind

this ‘All's Right with the World’ attitude

– are overshadowed by a constant men-

tal state of anxiety and scarcity. Not only

poverty, but also a series of mishaps seem

to pursue them. Is it just coincidence, or

social inequality, or personal weakness?

Why are their fates so miserable? And

why are they unable to escape from their

unfortunate destinies?

A Chinese sage said, ‘Heaven and

Earth are ruthless.’

One of the families in King’s documentary is featured in CSSA-nization, a book published by CSSA Alliance and Oxfam Hong Kong about ten people who receive social welfare (called CSSA for short). All’s Right is screening at film festivals around the world, from Hong Kong to Rotterdam, and the Oxfam-supported book (in Chinese) is available from www.oxfam.org.hk. King’s next film will discuss CSSA policy, and second edition of CSSA-nization is underway.

CHINA: Work, Song and Poem

As a child, when I looked out of my

apartment, I saw a squatter village. Every

day on my way to school, I passed it and

witnessed the horrible living conditions:

tiny spaces with no toilet and as hot as a

steamer during summer.

The poverty at that time was easily

seen.

Times change. The squatter village

has been demolished, the same space

has become a residential complex with

By Madeleine Marie Slavick

LOOKING BACK, LOOKING AHEAD?Time

Stealthily harnesses me

I was in the youthful procession

Now I am middle aged

Looking back

Six years of working life passed

Life of a machine

Programmed and controlled from the

Beginning

By the boss

Going to work, coming home

Eat, sleep,

Trees and lamps along the road

Is the only landscape

Little by little

Old dreams

Shedding

Along with fatigue and helplessness

Now buried deep in the soul

The chord I dare not strike

What’s left is an empty corpse

Turing with the factory machine

BROTHER BILLWhen I know you, you have been working for thirteen hours.

All the guys call you Brother Bill,

The warmest way to name you.

When you are drunk, you can say you are homesick,

How you miss your wife and children,

How you work harder and harder for them every day,

How you wake early in the morning,

Work late into the night,

How tired you are, but harder and harder,

Every day.

You hate the guys who do nothing, but gain the most.

They wear beautiful clothes, but look down on you.

‘Who supports who,’ you ask.

They can never understand you.

They can never understand you.

Day by day, year by year, the days have passed.

What you keep: a pair of empty hands.

You always say there may be a change tomorrow,

But the day after, you wake, work, harder, endless.

When I know you, you have been working for thirteen hours.

Lyrics: Sun Heng of New Labor Art Troupe Translation adapted by Madeleine Marie Slavick

Listlessness

Has long become as usual

All of a sudden

Amidst cling-clangs of the machines

In the spectral stuffy heat

In the flood of drowning sweat

Amidst endless curses

from the manager

A voice seems to ring in my ears:

This lonely boat will drift until when?

Where is your bay?

I lift my head

And find only

An endless sky

Blinding fog

Dangerous waves

So I have to

Dip my head low

To bury that voice

Time and time again

With the hammer’s hammering noise

Poem: Lai Julin, a migrant worker Translation: Yuen Che-hung, a poet based in Hong Kong

an air-conditioned department store,

and the buildings are much taller than

the one I have been living in.

The poor have gone; no poverty is

‘seen’ in Hong Kong any more.

Sure enough, the overall living

standards in Hong Kong have drastically

improved over the decades. Public

housing estates 30-storeys high and

advanced facilities have replaced squat-

ter villages. The residential conditions of

April 2008

OXFAM HONG KONG WEBSITEwww.oxfam.org.hk

OXFAM BOOKSOxfam Hong Kong has created

more than 30 books, some in Hong

Kong, some in Taiwan, some on the

Mainland, some in Chinese, some in

English, some bilingual, and some

mostly with images, which cross all

languages. Through publishing the

voices of poor people around the

world, we want to change the way

people think about poverty. We

want justice.

To order books: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/list?lang=iso-8859-1

OXFAM in the NEWS HONG KONG / SINGAPORE: “36 actions to change

the world”, a publication created by members of the

Oxfam Club in Hong Kong to urge people to do a little

something every day to make a better, fairer world, will

be published for 36 consecutive weeks in Singapore by

Sin Sin Weekly. The magazine (in Chinese) reaches

primary school students: http://www.sinchew-i.com/intro/

index.phtml?file=sinaransinchew.html.

For more about Oxfam Club,

http://cyberschool.oxfam.org.hk/eng/minisites/oxfamclub/eng/index.htm

MOKUNGOxfam Hong Kong publishes this quarterly

magazine in Traditional Chinese. Mokung,

which means both “no poverty” and “infinity”,

highlights a different aspect of development

in each issue. The Editor is Tung Tsz-kwan. The

March 2008 edition looks at the poverty news

poll in Hong Kong.

To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore

/?lang=big5

Mokung is online at www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/category?cid=1017&lang=big5

ONEO.N.E – Oxfam News E-magazine – is uploaded

monthly at www.oxfam.org.hk/one.

To receive a copy in your inbox, please

subscribe – it is free.

To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/one/subscribe.html

CO

VER

: Tsa

ng W

ing-

kai

17th Floor, 28 Marble Road, Northpoint, Hong KongO.N.E is also on-line:

www.oxfam.org.hk/one//

Hong Kong

What can people do about

Climate Change and Poverty?

Please tell us at:

http://forum.oxfam.org.hk/?c_lang=eng

China’s worst winter in 50 years:

blizzards, ice, sub-zero temperatures…

killing people, livestock, trees, crops…

collapsing homes, schools, offices…

and stopping transportation, electricity,

and more…

The crisis could have been far worse

for people in Kangle in the northwest

province of Gansu. The Civil Affairs

Department there worked quickly, alone

and with collaboration with Oxfam

Hong Kong. They facilitated meetings

with residents who voiced that it was

good-quality quilts and overcoats they

most needed, so these items were

sourced to their specifications. Oxfam

joined in, prioritising single-parent

families, elderly people, as well as

households with a disabled person, and

since there had been a recent census in

Kangle, there was good access to the

information needed.

When Lourdes Lasap of Oxfam

Hong Kong’s Humanitarian and Dis-

aster Risk Management Team visited

Kangle in February, she sensed a good

rapport between the residents and the

Department staff. “Everyone felt so

familiar with each other,” she said, “and

the relief projects were implemented

quickly and with a lot of community

input. The residents also played a role

in quality control, and made certain

that the coats and quilts met their

standards.” Oxfam staff members

based in Gansu are now discussing reha-

bilitation projects with the residents

and government departments, and are

advocating that disaster preparedness

be integrated into the design for all

community development projects. A

thorough assessment of just how much

was lost is also underway.

Bottom three photos by Sha Lei / Oxfam Hong Kong

Sometimes a crisis brings opportunity. The living conditions of people are made shockingly

clear, and community response can be comprehensive. Li Yinggui, 70, has been taking care of

6 people in her extended family for years, including 3 people with a disability. They all

received quilts and coats for the immediate snowstorm, and will also soon have a new home,

health insurance and social welfare. Photo: Ma Miaofeng

Most people in China’s northwest live off their livestock, which provides food, drink, clothing, and cash. Official figures report that at least 129 people have died in the snow- storm across China, but it is not known how many animals perished – probably in the tens of thousands. In Gansu, Oxfam will be working to replenish farmers’ livestock.

Getting to remote places can be a test, as it was for Oxfam in this part of Qinghai.

Surrounded by warm quilts, an older woman from Gansu smiles with Lourdes Lasap of Oxfam Hong Kong.

SAFE AND WARM IN THE SNOW