Upload
oxfam-hong-kong
View
220
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
THE SHOPPING EDITION THINKING ABOUT THE FOOD WE BUY / ONE PERSON – JOHN SAYER Fair Trade, organic, eating locally, sustainability, food from Africa, ethical sourcing, carbon labels… These are things that Oxfam Hong Kong Director John Sayer thinks about when he chooses what to eat.
Citation preview
Oxfam
Unwrapped
December 2O1O
THE SHOPPING EDITIONTHINKING ABOUT THE FOOD WE BUY / ONE PERSON – JOHN SAYERFair Trade, organic, eating locally, sustainability, food from Africa, ethical sourcing, carbon labels… These are things that Oxfam Hong Kong Director John Sayer thinks about when he chooses what to eat.
FAMILY, POVERTY and SHOPPING in HONG KONGA new report by Oxfam reveals more poverty among families, despite at least one member being in the workforce. How do they stretch their money to buy enough groceries? Wong Shek Hung reports.
BUYING THE RIGHT STUFF FOR HAITIAs the one-year anniversary of the major earthquake in Haiti approaches, Oxfam Logistics Supply Manager Florent Mayolle talks about how Oxfam sourced the necessary supplies to help hundreds of thousands of people.
‘SHOPPING’ for CROPS TO GROW in BANGLADESHWith the climate changing, farmers may need to change the crops they grow. M.D. Ferdous Alam tells how, in northeast Bangladesh, people are trying out the potato and radish, and using elevated land.
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, CATTLE, FARMERS, YOU, MEConstruction workers in Hong Kong already deal with a 30 degrees Centigrade workspace. Farmers in Ethiopia are losing cattle and crops. Climate change affects us all. In the lead-up to the climate talks in Mexico in December, Hong Kong recently hosted the global alliance, C40; and Oxfam Hong Kong is doing all it can to stop climate change, and to protect people from further poverty and hardship.
CHINA VOICESTake a look at Oxfam Hong Kong's newest book, CHINA VOICES, on life in China for women, workers, children, elderly people, ethnic minorities and more.
ACTIONHong Kong youth visit workers in Indonesia and then take their action to the streets of Hong Kong, through conversation and song.
LITTLE BLACK PIGShop at Oxfam Unwrapped. A little black pig is a new gift this holiday season, or for any special day. In Nepal, a black pig is an asset. In Hong Kong, pigs are seen as kind creatures, even sweet. Yet also bittersweet. Read on…
O.N.E December 2O1O �
ONE PERSON JOHN SAYER
see this as a measure of the product’s
carbon footprint.
But the picture is not that simple.
The argument that local food has a lower
carbon footprint is open to challenge. A
study some time ago showed that some
fruit, flowers and vegetables flown from
Africa to the United Kingdom actually
used less energy than flowers from the
neighbouring country of Holland. The
reason for this apparent paradox is that
in Europe, the flowers for example were
a product of mechanised agriculture,
and machines use fuel. Moreover, they
were grown in fuel-guzzling heated
greenhouses in colder months . In
contrast, African growers are among the
most efficient in terms of energy use
per capita. They use fewer chemicals,
less equipment and no artificial heating.
So, despite the energy used to transport
African products to Europe, African
agricultural products may have a lower
carbon footprint.
And those fresh local products out of
season? In the UK, British apples sold in
the wintertime may have been in cold
storage for as long as ten months. Local,
yes! Sustainable, no.
A carbon labe l on food products
might be more valuable than simply a
statement of its place of origin.
There is a second case for thinking
twice when you turn away from African
foods on your supermarket shelves. For
developing countries, all exports are
important. As these countries are usually
not industrialised, they need to buy most
manufactured goods overseas, from
simple items like cloth and plastic buckets,
through to complex but essential items
like computers and vehicles. To earn
foreign exchange, developing countries
When you are buying food, do you look at where it came from? Many people like to know the origin of their food; and for a variety of reasons. Some worry about food additives, contamination and the effectiveness of regulation, some are concerned about whether the sale is helping producers in that country, and some worry about how far their food has travelled. How do we reconcile these different concerns?
In Hong Kong, I try to purchase organic
vegetab le s when I can , knowing
that when I eat out, I often have no
knowledge or control over where the
food comes from and what chemicals
have been used in its production.
I also choose Fair Trade foods when I
can. These usually come from developing
countries by air and by sea. In many
developed places like Hong Kong, an
increasing proportion of food comes
from the developing world, whether it
is green beans from Kenya or avocados
from Peru.
There is a movement for ‘eat local’ food.
Its advocates argue that by purchasing
food locally, you are supporting your
local economy, getting fresher food, and
reducing the greenhouse gas emissions
used in transporting your food halfway
across the world. Proponents count the
‘food miles’ of imported products and
O.N.E December 2O1O �
export what they can, mostly from
primary industries: raw materials and
agricultural products. If we don’t purchase
agricultural products from Africa – in the
name of the environment, or in the name
of protecting our local farmers – we are
depriving developing countries of the
market for one of their few competitive
exports, one of their few chances to earn
precious foreign exchange.
The Fair Trade movement deliberately
focuses on producers in developing
countries, call ing on consumers to
support small-scale producers in less
developed countries. If food miles were
the only issue here, then nobody should
buy Fair Trade products!
Another argument that developing
countries exporting food will leave
people hungry is a fallacy. African
countries with healthy export markets
generally also do a better job at feeding
PHILIPPINES: Edrulfo Astilla (right) with John Sayer. Oxfam’s project with Kasanyangan Rural Development Foundation (KRDFI) in Mindanao is improving vegetable production and productivity. About 100 farms are adopting rubber-based farming systems and setting the ground work for a sustainable development programme, engaging with the local government and other stakeholders.
MALAWI: Bessie Nambwereko (centre), a facilitator with Societies Tackling AIDS through Rights, or STAR, with John Sayer (right). STAR is working to reduce gender-based violence and harmful sexual practices, such as FISI, where a man sleeps with several female partners as a ritual for the man’s sexual cleansing and as a girl’s rite of passage. John Sayer brought a small gift of a fish, which in China can be a symbol of abundance. / Photo: Navin Vasudev
their own people. It is not an either-or
question; it is more a question of how
effective a country’s agricultural and
economic systems is.
When we buy food or f lowers in
supermarkets, do they come from small
farms? Some do, and some don’t. Some
ethical sourcing supermarkets deliberately
purchase a proportion of their products
from smallholders. Where all the goods
come from large commercial operations,
does this benefit poor people? Well,
large farms create jobs, and, as I have
said, they earn foreign exchange for the
country where they are located, and they
pay tax to the government.
I will continue to purchase farm products
from Africa. At the same time, I will
continue to try and understand what
we can do to ensure more of the money
I pay goes back to Africa. I will support
groups pressing for good wages and
conditions for workers on export farms.
I will support initiatives that help farms
become good corporate citizens in their
community in terms of social programmes
and environmental protection.
If we are thinking about sustainability
of the food we eat, an important issue
is whether the producer is living a
sustainable lifestyle, and whether our
purchase helps support the livelihood
of someone who is living a modest,
sometimes precarious life on this planet.
Making consumer choices that help close
the gap between rich and poor people
is one important component of living a
truly sustainable lifestyle.
Written by John Sayer, Director General of Oxfam Hong Kong
O.N.E December 2O1O �
Ms. Ng, 55, supports herself and her
14-year-old son on HK$21 an hour
(US$2.7). She works six late nights
a week, from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am,
cleaning toilets and staircases at a luxury
shopping mall. She earns HK$3600
(US$465) a month.
Surviving on such a limited income, she
shops extremely carefully. Every other
day, she walks from her home in Shek Kip
Mei to the market in Mongkok. It takes
her an hour each way. She says the food
is the cheapest there, so it pays off. She
often buys potatoes and frozen chicken
wings and sausage, as they keep for a
long time and can be stretched out over
several meals.
Shopping in Mainland China is another
strategy. When she goes home once
a year to see her relatives, she gets as
many basic items – such as bedding, meat
and spices – as she can. “I half-cook the
meat to get around Hong Kong Customs’
rules against raw meat,” she says.
A few weeks ago, she and her son had
their first meal out in seven years. “I
have to have surgery soon, and I don’t
know whether I will be fine afterwards,
so I wanted to fulfill my son’s wish to try
sushi.” The meal cost HK$110, which is
what she normally spends for a full week
of meals, but she feels it was important
to do. “It’s a struggle to make ends
meet,” Ms. Ng sighs, “and I really hope
the government can help people like us.”
Ms. Ng’s family is one of the 192,500
families in Hong Kong who fall under
the poverty line despite the fact that a
family member is working. According to
“Employment and Poverty in Hong Kong
Families”, Oxfam Hong Kong’s most
recent report on poverty in Hong Kong,
poverty has worsened among families
of low-income workers: a 12 per cent
increase in the past five and a half years,
rising from 172,600 to 192,500 families.
To read the full report, go here: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/en/news_1301.aspx
A typical meal is sausage and vegetables
Ms. Ng shopping for low-priced vegetables
Text and photos by Wong Shek Hung
O.N.E December 2O1O �
Wong Shek Hung, Advocacy Officer (left) and Alfred Choy, Programme Officer, address the media at the launch of the Oxfam Poverty Report: Employment and Poverty in Hong Kong Families, published on 19 September 2010.
Ah-Yee spends about one-fourth of her approx. HK$4,500 monthly salary on transportation to work. She thinks the government should expand the existing transport support scheme to provide subsidies for wage earners.
O.N.E December 2O1O �
NO. OF EMPLOYED POOR HOUSEHOLD FROM �00� TO �010 (000')
No. of employed poor household
(000')
195
190
185
180
175
170
165
1602005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Year
192.5
189.7189.3190.8
186.9
172.6
An effective, responsible and credible
government must be committed to a
long-term policy aimed at slashing the
number of people living in poverty and
closing the income gap. The minimum
wage is a good start, but it alone cannot
lift families out of poverty. The statutory
minimum wage must take into account
a worker’s need to support his or her
family, as Oxfam’s report indicates
that every employed family member
has an average of at least two others
to support. The government must
also enlarge childcare and transport
allowance schemes, and in the long run,
tax credits should be explored as direct
income support and as a supplementary
provision to the minimum wage.
To read the full report, go here: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/en/news_1301.aspx
Wong Shek Hung is an Advocacy Officer with Oxfam Hong Kong. She and her colleague, Alfred Choy, worked on Oxfam Hong Kong’s employment and poverty report, which was launched on 19 September 2010. They have given many media interviews and have presented their findings to fellow NGOs, unions, government officials and to Oxfam Hong Kong supporters.
• Hong Kong has the highest income gap (Gini coefficient,
43.4) among developed economies (UNDP).
• The richest 10% families have 27 times more income than
Hong Kong’s poorest families.
• From 2005 to 2010, the monthly income of the poorest
families has stayed the same (HK$3,000) while the richest
families’ income increased from HK$70,000 to HK$80,900.
• One out of every 10 families (10.2%) with at least one
working member lives in poverty, an increase of 12% in
the past 5.5 years, from 172,600 to 192,500 families.
• 64.6% of these families (124,300 families) earn less than
the government social welfare payment each month
(CSSA).
• About 65% of the households have at least three family
members.
• Over 63% of the families have dependents aged below 15
or above 65.
• The ratio of workers to dependents in these families is 1:2,
compared to the overall ratio of 1:0.8.
Source: Oxfam Poverty Report: Employment and Poverty in Hong Kong Families (2010)
O.N.E December 2O1O �
O.N.E:W h a t a r e t h e g e n e r a l
principles when sourcing supplies in
an emergency?
Mayolle: Quantity and Quality .
These are always the most important
things. We have to provide items that
meet people’s needs and correspond fully
to international standards [such as the
International Standards for Humanitarian
Response, or SPHERE]. Availability is
next. This can be a big concern at the
beginning of an emergency; it may take
a good amount of work to be able to
find the quantities required. The obvious
local market might already be depleted,
or not functioning, due to the disaster.
Deliverytime. The speed of the delivery
depends on where we source the goods,
the means and availability of transport,
and the customs process. Price. We
always look for the best competitive
prices when we have to purchase goods/
materials. For the transport, we think
about both price in terms of cash and the
possible pollution and carbon emissions.
O.N.E:Can you speak specifically
about the response in Haiti? How and
where did Oxfam source supplies,
locally or from other countries? How
does Oxfam select suppliers?
Mayolle: In the very first 48 hours, we
managed to organize two emergency
air shipments, thanks to prepositioned
emergency stocks we had in Barcelona
and Panama. In the first week or so,
we established a supply platform in the
Dominican Republic, since transport
infrastructure (airport and port) in
Haiti were not operating at that time.
Our priority during the first weeks was
availability, so most of the supplies came
from the Dominican Republic market,
the regional one (Panama, USA) and
the international one. Little by little, we
purchased more and more from the local
market right in Haiti, which benefits the
people the most because it stimulates the
local economy.
Before the emergency, we also had
a contingency plan in place in the
Dominican Republic. Market studies had
been conducted to identify suppliers, so a
database of suppliers was prepared. This
enabled us to find and select suppliers
quickly.
We had an infrastructure in place (people,
vehicles, networking, buildings..) which
allowed us to be operational from the
Dominican Republic in 24 hours.
To finish, in our supply strategy for Haiti,
we put in place a pipeline including
several warehouses situated between
Santo Domingo and Port Au Prince, in
which we stored materials/equipment
which we knew could be in short supply
in the local market. This was the case
with fuel, for example, of which large
quantities were stored in the first few
hours after the earthquake. This fuel
allowed the teams from Oxfam to work
from the first day, while other teams
were stopped by lack of fuel for cars and
motor pumps.
To choose between a local purchase and
a regional or international one, and to
choose whether to send by sea or by
air freight, we look at the quantity of
goods required, then the availability
in the market. Then we balance in the
delivery time required and the global
pr ice of goods and transport . For
example, according to the activity project
schedule, we might be able to split an
international order, sending one part by
air to be available for the project (and
the people!) in a short time and the
remaining part by sea in order to reduce
transport costs. For the same freight,
transport can cost 5000 euros by sea and
100,000 euros or more by air. That is
why it is really important to have good
communication and coordination with
project managers and officers to identify
the delivery times required.
To ensure that the supplies can be
safely delivered, road transport from
the Dominican Republic border to Haiti
THe rIGHT STUff fOr HaITIInTervIew wITH flOrenT mayOlle It is almost one year since the devastating earthquake in Haiti. O.N.E. talks
with a humanitarian logistics specialist about how Oxfam made sure that the
right supplies were sourced and delivered for survivors.
O.N.E December 2O1O �
was secured by the United Nations,
while the World Food Programme
ensured secure storage facilities in Port
au Prince. Internally, we put in place
communication channels that allowed
us to always be in contact with the teams
in Port Au Prince; we could evaluate
the security situation between Santo
Domingo and Port Au Prince.
O.N.E:Can you give a breakdown
of supplies in the first few months?
Mayolle: I can give you an overview
of the volume of activities in the first
month from the supply platform in
Santo Domingo. We received 437 metric
tonnes of relief supplies there, which
we then sent on to Port au Prince. This
included 20 planeloads of supplies sent
from Europe. To supplement this, we
purchased 75 metric tonnes of materials,
or 630,000 items, in the Dominican
Republic.
In the first six months, these supplies
helped provide clean drinking water
and sanitation facilities for over 317,000
people, hygiene kits (soap, shampoo,
toothbrushes, toothpaste, sanitary pads,
towels) for about 120,000 people, and
tarpaulins and tents for 98,000 people.
Oxfam al so developed partnerships with
over 30 local and national organisations
in the country – these partnerships are
Oxfam supplies arriving / Photo: Kenny Rae, Oxfam America
FlOrENtMAyOllE
Logistics Supply Manager
Humanitarian Department
Intermon Oxfam
Tel : +34 93 48 20 855
Fax : +34 93 34 35 076
setting the groundwork for continued
work in many communities across the
country.
O.N.E:W h a t w e r e t h e m a i n
difficulties encountered in sourcing
supplies? How were they different
from other emergencies? How did
Oxfam cope?
Mayolle:The main constraint was the
availability of the goods and materials.
The supply available within Haiti itself
was exhausted very quickly because
of the huge needs and the number of
NGOs involved in the emergency. The
solution was to extend our usual areas
of sourcing, looking for new suppliers at
the regional and international level. We
also collaborated with other NGOs such
as ACH (Accion Contre el Hambre) to
borrow supplies from their stock.
As previously mentioned, another
big constraint was that the transport
infrastructure was not working. We
solved this problem by working through
our supply platform in the Dominican
Republic, stocking, purchasing goods,
ensuring transit for goods arriving by
ship and air, and organising all the
transportation of goods and people to
Haiti.
F lorent Mayol le i s Log i s t i c s Supply Manager of the Humanitarian Department of Intermon Oxfam in Barcelona, Spain. A special thanks to Angel Ng, from the humanitarian team of Oxfam Hong Kong, who coordinated correspondence and helped source photographs.
Aid flight arrives in Santo Domingo / Photo: Kenny Rae, Oxfam America
Materials for water storage / Photo: Ivan Munoz, Intermon
O.N.E December 2O1O �
Farmer Sefya Fungie Hussene,
39, says rain used to come regularly in
Ethiopia, and farmers could easily plan
their planting and harvest times. “But
the change in the climate is completely
crazy, and there are huge losses for
people like me. I used to have 54 cattle,
but due to changes in the climate, they
couldn’t find enough grass to eat. Since
the lake has receded, there is little or no
grazing land by the shore. Because of
the lack of food and water, most of my
cattle have died. The few that survived
had to be sold so we could buy food to
live on. That’s how I lost all my cattle.
“The change in climate has ruined our
livelihood in many ways. Right now, we
make ends meet by selling our land to
those who have money and then end
up working as day labourers on our
own land for the new owners. People
are also cutting trees down to sell the
wood.
and technology. Supporting the action
was (from left to right) Legislative
Councilor Audrey Eu, Ethiopian farmer
and activist Sefya Fungie Hussene,
construction worker Wong Wai Man,
Legislative Councilor Gary Chan, and
Oxfam Economic Justice Campaign
Manager Stanley So. At the event,
Oxfam also screened two documentary
videos on how the climate is making
the l ives of outdoor workers and
of cubicle-dwellers in Hong Kong
even more difficult. The videos were
produced by Oxfam Youth Campaign
Partners.
B i l l ions of people , in deve loped
and developing societies, are being
affected by climate change. In early
November, Oxfam Hong Kong rang
an alarm loud and clear to point out
that poor people, from construction
workers in Hong Kong to farmers in
Ethiopia, are the most vulnerable to
the impacts of climate change. This
action was heard by policymakers in
Hong Kong and around the world, as
it was conducted during the meeting
of the C40, an alliance of leaders from
40 cities to address climate change,
mostly through low-carbon emissions
O.N.E December 2O1O �
Stanley So ( r ight) , manager of
Oxfam Hong Kong’s Economic Justice
Campaign, added, “We want to remind
Hong Kong officials and C40 leaders
that, apart from talking about reducing
carbon emissions, they must take
care of vulnerable groups.” Oxfam
Hong Kong urges the Hong Kong SAR
Government to formulate heat wave
emergency plans and other concrete
policies; legislation is also needed to
require employers in Hong Kong to
provide protective measures for outdoor
workers in extreme weather conditions.
The Hong Kong Government has yet to
adequately address the needs of elderly
people, the chronically ill, people living
in substandard accommodations, and
outdoor workers such as construction
workers.
Hong Kong construction workers are
also at risk. Wong Wai-man, 55,
says the only way to continue working
outdoors in Hong Kong’s heat, which
often exceeds 30 degrees Centigrade,
is to drink about five litres of water
per day, which is about twice what
he needed to drink two decades ago.
Wong has been a construction worker
for 33 years, and about three years ago,
he started to take part in the labour
movement. Recently, he has taken up
the issue of climate change and its
impacts on workers, and he is now
fighting for regular rest breaks.
The Hong Kong Labour Department
has guidelines to protect construction
workers against heat stroke, such as
adequate rest breaks and a cool, shaded
rest area, but Mr. Wong asserts that
many employers ignore the guidelines
and that workers have to continue to
work without protection, because they
need the pay. His workday is difficult,
he says. “There is a saying among
construction workers: ‘If you work, only
one person will die. If you don’t, the
whole family will starve to death.”
“As I no longer have the means to
support all my children, only three of my
eight kids are still with me. It’s been five
or six years since we’ve been separated.
The fact that they live somewhere else
is very hard for me. No one gives up a
child voluntarily. Losing our assets was
bad, but the fact that our family is now
scattered is devastating. What makes
me sad is that life, rather than death, is
what separated our family.”
Sefya is more than a farmer; she is also
a community activist, advocating tree
planting, and speaking out at meetings
on climate change.
A video of Sefya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZK-0Lg157M
O.N.E December 2O1O 10
The haor is a large, bowl-shaped tectonic
depression in northeast Bangladesh
that receives surface runoff water from
many rivers and khals (streams), and
consequently, becomes an extensive
body of water during the monsoon
season. Flooded for six or seven months
of the year, the area is a wetland
ecosystem from about May to October
or November. Then it dries up almost
completely, transforming into a land-
based ecosystem for the rest of the year.
Life in the haor, then, changes and its
resources change too.
Yet, the people living in the haor are
some of the most impoverished in the
county. Their livelihoods depend on
fishing and on boro rice, which grows
in winter. People from all social classes
cultivate the rice, with landless and
marginal farmers tending to grow it on
‘shared-in land’, which belongs to people
who do not farm and so give permission
for others to use their land.
A recent phenomenon is flashfloods,
which pose a major threat to people’s
already precarious livelihood. With
climate change, the floods have been
coming earlier than usual, damaging the
crop just before harvest. Being a mono-
crop zone, the loss of a crop means loss
of income, loss of food security, and
more hunger. In 2009, most farmers
could not harvest their sole crop due to
flashfloods. If this continues, more than
20 million people will be at great risk.
Given this context, crop diversification
is imperative, and huge tracts of fallow
land in the haor present an opportunity.
The Rel iant Women Development
Organization, with support from Oxfam
Hong Kong and the Center for Natural
Studies, has taken the initiative to assist
farmers to ‘shop’ for a broader and
suitable range of crops to grow, as a
way to diversify, and as a way to protect
themselves against hunger and climate
change.
The steps of this crop ‘shopping’ and
diversification work follow this sequence:
1) participatory study and crop/variety
selection; 2) capacity building activities
w i th se lec ted fa rmer s , inc lud ing
technological ski l ls in agriculture;
3) establishing demonstration plots
with farmers and the community;
4) knowledge sharing about farming in
the haor; 5) extension to the community,
including learning sharing days; and
6) developing market linkages.
RWDO formed groups of 10 to 15 farmer-
members as a way to build cohesion and
support for the work at hand: shopping
around for suitable crops, learning and
using new methods, and then cultivating
and harvesting the new crops. These
members all attended training sessions
to build their technical, agricultural
and financial skills, and have started
cultivating different robi crops (winter
crops) other than boro rice, such as
potatoes and radishes, which are sown
in the winter and harvested in spring or
summer. Another change is that farmers
are now using kanda (elevated land)
which for the last twenty or thirty years
had remained uncultivated as necessary
technology was not available and the
land was not considered arable.
In the last dry season, farmers cultivated
new crops such as wheat, mustard,
ground nuts, potatoes and more; they
harvested satisfactory yields from all
these crops, and RWDO helped to link
them with buyers so they would get
good prices for their crops. Farmers were
not familiar with these crops before this
initiative, but are now very confident.
Their confidence, and the proven
benefits, are inspiring more people to
shop for the ‘right’ crops: to diversify
their crops, their food sources, and their
income.
M.D. Ferdous Alam is the Field Coordinator of the Reliant Women Development Organization, a partner organisation of Oxfam Hong Kong since 2007. The NGO is based in Sylhet, Bangladesh.
Photos courtesy of Reliant Women Development Organization
O.N.E December 2O1O 11
Hello everyone! In October, a group of us
took to the streets of Mongkok in Hong
Kong to raise awareness about the life of
workers. We are members of the Trade
Group which was set up to focus on the
problems of trade and poverty. I would
like to take this chance to reflect on how
I feel about that action.
It all started a few months ago, in July,
when we went to Indonesia and stayed
with home-based workers, met farmers,
and talked with NGO workers for 11 days.
My host family makes badminton rackets
for a living. They work day and night but
earn a very low income. The experience
of living with them taught me that even
though people are hard-working, they
may not be able to escape from poverty.
This ran against the mainstream belief in
Hong Kong that good, honest work can
solve any problem – it might be seen as
the 'Hong Kong Spirit' or ‘the American
dream’. If work cannot save them from
being poor, then what can they do? I
want to do something to change this, so
I chose to join the trade group.
At first, our group had no idea about
which part of trade we should be
concerned about. As time went on,
and we read more and more about the
issue, we found that the unfairly treated
workers in garment factories touched us
the most, so we decided to take action
for them. These workers often have bad
working conditions, like working long
hours with low pay, and sometimes they
may be exploited, abused or physically
injured or mistreated. Yet, it seems that
too few people in Hong Kong know that
some of the products we use are made
under these conditions. The objective of
our action is to tell people they have the
right to know about workers’ conditions
and that they have the responsibility
to do what they can to improve the
situation.
The form of act ion was song and
conversation. We simply talked with
people passing by and sang them songs.
It seemed that people reacted best to
song, especially to ‘Consumption Behind’,
which is about workers and their rights.
We also placed some posters around the
area so people could learn more about
work conditions. I'm very glad that many
people stopped and talked. They listened.
They read. Some people said, “Good job
girls!” while some said, “I don't agree
with you.” Some responses were kind,
some were unkind, but overall, we felt
good about being able to communicate
with a wide range of people.
Several people asked the same question:
“What can I do for the workers?” Here
comes my own answer. Before joining
Oxfam Club, I wasn't a person who was
concerned about workers even though I
had read about some of the issues in my
Liberal Studies class. But now, I keep my
eyes on the news. I email companies to
tell them that I want ethical products.
Everyone can have a different solution,
and I choose these that suit me most.
In the journey of planning our action,
searching for information, and practicing
it, it was not an easy job for us. We went
through many hard times. The thing that
encouraged us to keep taking action is
that we do want to make some changes
against the injustice in the world. Before,
I was a teenage girl who did not care
much about what happened around her.
Now, through this action, I have been
inspired. I know that there are many
things that deserve our care, once we
use our heart to feel them. The world
is so big, so wide, and knowing what
is happening in it is important. I have
learned a good lesson from this action,
and I hope that you can get something
from reading this too. Thank you for
hearing me.
Bowie Chan, 16, is a member of Oxfam Club, an annual youth education programme set up by Oxfam Hong Kong in 1997.
Oxfam Club members with workers in Indonesia / Photo: Law Fong Chun
O.N.E December 2O1O 11
Street theatre in which Oxfam Club members acted as workers and consumers / Photo: Shi Dongming
Oxfam Club members 2010 / Photo: Law Fong Chun
9N E WPartnerOrganisations
O.N.EOxfam News E-magazine is published every two months, at
www.oxfam.org.hk/ONE.
To receive a copy in your inbox, please subscribe – it is FREE.
www.oxfam.org.hk/one/subscribe.html
O.N.E (Oxfam News E-magazine) is published every two months by
Oxfam Hong Kong, 17th Floor, China United Centre, 28 Marble Road,
North Point, Hong Kong. The publisher does not necessarily endorse
views expressed by contributors. For permission to reprint articles, please
contact us; normally, we grant permission provided the source is clearly
acknowledged. O.N.E is available free to all, in both an HTML and PDF
version, and in Chinese and English.
A NEW GIFT FROM OXFAM:LITTLE BLACK PIGS
BEIJING • Global Environmental Institution
GANSU • Tianshui Wushan District Education Sport Bureau
• Consultancy team affiliated with Hezhou Renmin Hospital
GUANGDONG • Dongguan Hengli Youwei Legal Consultation Service
GUANGXI • Loving Heart Association of Chinese People's Consultative Conference, Baise city
• Poverty Alleviation Office of Lingyun County, Guangxi Province
SHANDONG • You and Me (A social service centre in Qingdao)
SICHUAN • Poverty Alleviation Office of Beichuan County
YUNNAN • Animal Husbandry and Veterinary station of Luquan Yi and Miao Autonomous County
In this edition of O.N.E, we highlight the Poverty Alleviation Office of Beichuan
CountyinSichuan.
The new project with Oxfam Hong Kong is based in the village of Taihong, which is located
in Beichuan, the county hardest hit by the earthquake of 12 May 2008. Infrastructure was
destroyed, and farmland ruined.
The plan is to rebuild transportation and agricultural systems with the residents, including
a road measuring 0.5 km, a reservoir and pigsties. The planting of walnut trees and other crops
will also be initiated. The project is expected to last months, and already, the government unit
is working actively and enthusiastically.
CHINA VOICES Speak Out Against Poverty in Mainland China
Oxfam Hong Kong
has launched a book of
stories and photographs
that features the views
and accounts of people
whom oxfam has met in 23
years of anti-poverty work
in Mainland China. The
publication depicts the
lives of farmers, women,
migrantworkers, ethnic
minorities and community workers in China’s impoverished rural areas.
Available at Swindon Books, Kubrick Book Stores, Relay, Dymocks,
CUHK Press, Times Publishing, Hong Kong Readers, MCCM Creations, Xiyao
Book Store and Oxfam’s online shop at www.oxfam.org.hk
Every day, Oxfam Hong Kong works alongside
hundreds of groups around the world, from
small NGOs to international bodies, from
government departments of developing countries
to community groups based in Hong Kong.
Here are 9 ‘partner organisations’ that we are
supporting for the first time, all in China.
“With the help of Oxfam,
I have more pigs on my farm. I would
like to build a small house
for my family with the income.”
-Hastamaya Thada, farmer, Nepal
The little black pig is new at www.oxfamunwrapped.org.hk, and it looks like it will be a bestseller.
The animal holds sweet memories, or maybe bittersweet.
Do you remember your days at kindergarten when teachers would stamp a little pig on your
homework if you were a bit sloppy and a rabbit if you were neat? Yet, it is the pig that represents a
livelihood for millions of farmers around the world. And in Nepal, it is the black pig.
At Oxfam Unwrapped, the real pig goes to a poor community that needs it, while you get the
satisfaction of giving, and the person in whose name you have made the donation also shares the
joy. Oxfam provides a card with a personalised message for weddings, birthdays, anniversaries,
graduations, Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Lunar New Year or any other special day. Do we need
a reason to give, to share?
Since 2006, Oxfam Unwrapped has offered a collection of extraordinary gift ideas – 37 to date.
You can choose from a school, a goat, seeds, a little black pig and many more.