CO

VER

: Wol

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ries

in G

ansu

, Chi

na /

Tan

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October 2008

STOP POVERTY! STOP CLIMATE CHANGE!

HONG KONG: One Change Leads to Another

CHINA: I Want More Rain

PHILIPPINES: Not for Granted

FOOD PRICES CRISIS: Every Fridge Tells a Story

When I led a group of Hong Kong

teenagers to the Philippines, I kept

thinking we were one – a unity of

people, substance, and poignancy. We

went to an island named San Miguel

to witness how people are becom-

ing poorer due to climate change;

we went to build up momentum for

Oxfam’s campaign against climate

poverty. It is all connected. We are

one, someone, everyone.

Even before the trip, these Hong

Kong youth already knew that cli-

mate change had something to do

with global warming + being green +

saving the next generation. Then they

attended Oxfam’s pre-trip training

which tried to instill more knowledge

and awareness to unlock more truth.

They came to see that climate change

is not only about the weather being

warmer than before. It is not only

about the lives of polar bears. Climate

change is not just an environmental

issue: it cannot be ignored even if

they do not want to follow the green

way of life. Now, through the expo-

sure trip to the Philippines, the youth

would have direct contact with people

who have to live with the problems

of climate change. The youth would

see, feel, and experience more of the

truths about climate change, and I, as

their group leader, witnessed some

remarkable moments. One teenager

named Bryen, after staying with a host

family, said, “Although I was in a very

poor place, the ones who smiled with

me are many. I really didn’t under-

stand why, even though they do not

have enough food each day, they feel

so happy…” I read from Bryen’s eyes

that he was starting to think whether

money was the most important thing

for well-being. Could something else

compensate? Do poor people only

need money and other resources?

Annie shared some sparkling

thoughts after a clean-up. “Before

the trip, I wondered how coast-

al clean-ups and tree planting are

related to climate change. Being here,

I have learned how the preservation of

the coastline helps preserve the live-

lihoods of people who fish, and that

tree planting prevents soil erosion. I

have learned that, to reduce poor peo-

ple’s vulnerability to climate poverty,

mitigation work must include preven-

tion, preparedness and adaptation

altogether.” Annie seemed very clear

about what livelihood is and what

sustainability is, and that both should

be equally treated. It’s easy to say, she

said, but not easy to achieve.

Yvon shared this during a debrief-

ing session. “Am I helping people

here? I am not sure. I have discovered

that in fact, I am someone who has

made their lives worse.” Yvon realised

the impact of such habits as over

consumption, over logging, mining,

and over air-conditioning. She saw

that climate change is not only about

warmer weather or more plastic bags.

It ruins people lives, let alone hopes.

We could understand this in the torn-

up roads, houses with leaking roofs,

and battered fishing boats. It takes

only 8,000 pesos (about HK$1,300) for

people to be able to relocate to higher

land – a good precaution when waves

and flooding come – but they can’t

afford it, and the government doesn’t

seem to do anything to help them.

Susan, after talking with a man

on the island, told us about his goal:

“to finish university and be a good

governor”. She said, “I was wrong

before. I used to think that poor

people have no aspirations.” The

islander told Susan that poor people

also have hopes and are willing to con-

tribute to the community. Frankly, we

witnessed a lot of poor people giv-

ing much of their lives to help others,

while some rich people do not.

Maybe these points by these four

teenagers seem slight and subtle, but

to me, they indicate substantial, mem-

orable changes in the values of young

people, bit by bit, over the whole trip.

Learning never ends. It is one unified

process.

Spencer Lou is a member of Oxfam’s develop-ment education team and manages the Oxfam Club, an experiential educational project. Every year, since 2007, a new group of youth is formed.

STOP POVERTY! STOP CLIMATE CHANGE!

To see Oxfam Hong Kong's 30-second trailer against climate change, visit: www.oxfam.org.hk/climatechange

I Want More Rain

By Fiona Shek

People often say that Hong Kong

youth are too spoiled, uncaring, and

unwilling to assume a real sense of re-

sponsibility. Yet, when forty teenagers

and twenty-something’s stayed for six

days in a poor village in the Philippines,

they demonstrated maturity and took

nothing for granted.

Each youngster stayed with a local

family, who welcomed them as their

own, smiling readily, often hugging,

and serving their best food: sometimes

crab and lobster, even for breakfast. For

fishers, this is the everyday fare, though

not usually for the morning meal as

well! The youth wanted to return the

warmth and kindness; they wanted to

reduce the poverty gap; they wanted to

contribute to justice. Could

they? They felt real anxiety

about whether they could do

anything or not.

The 40 members of Oxfam

Youth Club and Oxfam Youth

Campaign Partners travelled

to the small non-touristic

island of San Miguel (no rela-

tion to the brewery!) as part

of Oxfam’s campaign against

climate change and the pov-

erty it brings. Residents of

San Miguel told the Hong

Kongers that typhoons are stronger

now, and more frequent, and the dam-

ages of the 2006 super typhoon are still

evident: roads remain torn up, trees up-

rooted, buildings stand in mud. With

San Miguel, Philippines - with climate change, there are more typhoons and smaller harvests of fish and crops.

What comes to mind when you

think of climate change?

A. Polar bears

B. Glaciers

C. Malnourished children

D. Rising sea level

E. Income loss

Most people think of ecology first:

receding glaciers, melting icebergs,

the endangered habitat of polar

bears, rising sea levels, disappearing

beaches, and so on. Actually, all five

answers are ‘correct’: climate change

is also linked to, and is leading to,

more malnutrition and less income.

Millions of farmers are losing huge

parts of their harvest due to strange,

unpredictable weather, such as ear-

ly floods and prolonged drought.

Millions of people by coastlines have

less fish because water temperatures

are higher and typhoons are disrupt-

ing animal life. The loss of people’s

harvests – on land or sea – means less

food and less money, so less school-

ing, less health care, and so forth.

These people are already some of

the poorest people in the world, and

climate change is making their pov-

erty even worse.

Who and what has caused climate

change? People in wealthy, industri-

alised societies are the major contrib-

utors to the historical as well as the

current greenhouse gas emissions that

have brought global warming and

other climatic changes. Meanwhile,

it is people in poorer countries who

have been the least responsible for

climate change, but who are the ones

paying the consequences. With few

financial resources, it is very difficult

for them to cope with and recover

from climate disasters. (Oxfam esti-

mates that, in total, poor people in

developing countries need at least

US$50 billion every year to be able to

adapt to the climate crisis.)

In Hong Kong, how many people

are aware of these links between

the climate and poverty? As part of

Oxfam’s new Stop Poverty! Stop

Climate Change! campaign, Oxfam

Hong Kong recently commissioned

a survey to find out. In August

2008, 515 people aged 16 or above

were interviewed, by telephone, in

Chinese, in a poll conducted by the

Public Opinion Programme of the

University of Hong Kong. The find-

ings of the Oxfam survey confirm

what we had suspected: Hong Kong

residents have a low awareness of

how climate change is affecting poor

people’s livelihoods. Oxfam has to

change that before we can reduce

climate change.

Only 38.8 per cent of respondents

see climate change and poverty as

being interrelated. However, when

asked whether or not climate change

is threatening the livelihoods of poor

people, 80 per cent said yes, but do

not necessarily understand how.

As for a sense of responsibility,

56.8 per cent of respondents agree

that the Hong Kong lifestyle has

contributed to global warming and

greenhouse gas emissions, and 40.8

per cent agree that we have helped

cause climate problems in mainland

China. Yet, only 36 per cent agree that

Hong Kong residents should be held

responsible for the problem.

When asked what the Hong Kong

SAR Government can do to tackle cli-

mate poverty, 71.2 per cent agree that

setting a mandatory emission target

would be helpful, and 25.5 per cent

see financial support to be helpful for

poor people to cope better.

When asked what an individual

can do, 83.2 per cent of the respon-

dents show a willingness to take

action, among which 30.5 per cent

see this being for the sake of the next

generation, 28.4 per cent for conser-

vation and sustainable development,

20.4 per cent for reducing the impact

of natural disasters on poor peo-

ple, and 20.3 per cent for stopping

climate change from undermining

the achievements of poverty reduc-

tion efforts.

“Climate change is undermining

Oxfam Hong Kong’s work against

poverty. It is deepening poverty,” says

Stanley So, a policy officer with Oxfam

Hong Kong. “As a poverty alleviation

and humanitarian agency, Oxfam is

helping at-risk people in develop-

ing countries to cope with climate

change through adaptation, sustain-

able development, and disaster risk

management.”

Now, with our Stop Poverty!

Stop Climate Change! campaign,

Oxfam calls on world leaders and

the United Nations to agree on a

climate deal that is fair to poor people

– the next UN meeting is in Poland in

December 2008. Oxfam calls on the

wealthier industrialised societies –

including Hong Kong – to financially

support adaptation projects in poor

countries: this is in line with the pol-

luter pays principle. Oxfam also calls

on the Hong Kong SAR Government

to adopt proactive measures to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On

average, each Hong Kong resident

consumes 5,700 units of electricity a

year and emits 5.5 tonnes of carbon

dioxide.

One Change Leads to Another

www.oxfam.org.hk/climatechange

CLIMATE CHANGE - CHINA

“I want more rain.” This is the wish

of a wheat farmer named Li Zhuang and

probably 20 million other people in the

very arid northwest province of Gansu,

all of whom are dependent on water for

their lives and their livelihood.

Li and his family live in Jingyuan, in

the centre of Gansu. The county, up-

stream on the Yellow River and perched

high on a sandy plateau, is officially

designated as ‘poor’ by the national

government. Residents here, a mix of

Han Chinese and ethnic minority, are

used to drought and sandstorms, and

the lack of trees and rain, but they say

the drought has intensified. Over the

past three decades, streams have been

drying up, and a trend is emerging for

those who can afford it: migration away

from the drought. Yet building a house

elsewhere and preparing other land for

farming is not an option poor people

can even begin to consider.

Li Zhuang, 41, has experienced two

severe droughts, the first one in 1983

when he and his parents had to rely on

food aid. “The second extremely dry

year is right now - 2008,” he said. “The

past five years have been very dry, with

no rain at all this year. The wind is so

strong that it drives away the rain clouds.

Without rain, farming is difficult.” Li‘s

family farms 7 mu (just over one acre) of

land which only brings in a little income,

so they receive a monthly allowance of

30 Yuan from the government.

“I don’t know much about climate

change,” Li says. “I guess it is main-

ly because evaporation is so intense

here that our land is particularly dry.”

In Gansu, the average rainfall is only

240 mm a year while the evaporation

rate is 1,775 mm.

Thanks to a Gansu-wide water

conservancy project carried out twen-

ty years ago, the farmland around Li’s

village is connected to an irrigation

system which draws from the Yellow

River. Yet, Li’s land is one of the plots

farthest from the pump, so he often has

less water than others. One way that

he and other farmers are adapting to

the drier climate is planting less wheat

and more potato, which is much more

drought-resistant.

The rainy season in the region is nor-

mally in August and September, and the

rain is for crops as well as for people’s use

in their homes: rain is the major source of

the domestic water supply in Gansu.

There is another season in Gansu:

the sandstorms. Unpredictable, they

strike anytime, though most frequently

between March and May, and without

rain and humidity, they are becoming

more and more common. Li’s family lost

a third of their wheat crop this year

because of the sand.

After the Spring planting, Li had to

work in a coalmine for a month to support

the family. “I know it’s dangerous work,

but I had no choice. One day of work in

a mine brings in as much as 100 Yuan –

at other jobs, it’s only around 40.“

Another way to increase people’s

income has been introduced by a local

non-profit organisation, the Jingyuan

County Association for Science and

Technology: in 2006, JCAST trained

farmers in planting wolfberries (fea-

tured on the cover). Drought-resistant,

the small red berry is used in treatments

for the eye, kidney and liver. It is also

an ingredient in making soups and

wine, and the bush can function as a

sand barrier and fixer.

In 2007, Li’s family invested 750 Yuan

to plant wolfberries on 1.5 mu of their

land, and a year later, it is full of bushes.

Yet, there are no berries! “We just didn’t

Not for Granted

By Nicole Lee

CLIMATE CHANGE - PHILIPPINES

place even though it does not always

work very well, sometimes gets too

cold, and has to be sealed up to make

sure it closes completely. Ah Lin, who

receives welfare, says, “in case I fail to

make ends meet, at least I will still have

something to eat.”

Her fridge has food in different

packages and containers. A rule of

thumb for her is to buy food in bulk:

the unit price will be lower. If she buys

perishables, Ah Lin makes them last as

possible. For fish, she will sprinkle it

with salt, dry it in the sun, package it

up for the fridge, and eat a little at a

time. Ah Lin has also come up a ‘cook

and freeze’ method that saves her

some money. She makes dried duck

leg this way, cooking the whole leg,

drying it, slicing it and then freezing it.

For soups, she prepares a pot at a time,

makes it highly condensed, as a soup

base, and then stores it in the freezer.

For meals, she will shave a few slices of

the duck leg, scoop a small amount of

the soup base, add water, and bring it

all to a boil.

Another refrigerator in the exhibi-

tion belongs to a married couple who

rarely cooks at home. It has no ingre-

dient for making a homemade meal at

all. Much of the space is taken up by ice

cream, pastries, soda and other sweets.

There is one bowl of leftover soup.

Both the wife and the husband

work during the day and take courses

in the evenings, so they rarely eat

dinner at home on weekdays. They

eat most of their meals out, or they

bring take-away food home. Their fully

equipped kitchen is put into use only

on weekends and holidays, sometimes

to prepare soup.

“Life can be so hard – we’ve got

to have some sweet stuff to brighten

it up,” the couple says. After a busy

day, they long for some comfort, or

compensation, so they fill their fridge

with snacks, what they see as instant

life sweeteners. Price is not a con-

cern. They do not look for bargains

when they shop for food. “What we

care about is eating what we feel like

eating.”

In another home, there is beef

from the United States, fish from New

Zealand, carrots from Japan, chili from

Thailand, mint from Australia, most is

organic food… It is only through the

logos of high-end supermarkets and

prices marked in Hong Kong Dollars

that we know that this fridge is in

Hong Kong.

In fact, the fridge is in the Mid-lev-

els, a middle-class neighbourhood of

Hong Kong. It belongs to a Russian-

Korean couple who have lived in many

places around the world because of

their work. They say it always takes

time to adapt to a new place, and the

wife elaborates, “coming to a new

place, I don’t have any idea of the

local prices. So when I shop for food, I

don’t care about the price. I am more

interested in looking out for organic

products since they are healthier.” The

beef in their refrigerator costs HK$65

per 100 grams.

Earlier this year, Oxfam International

released a report, The Time is Now,

which made recommendations about

what governments and internation-

al agencies need to do to alleviate

the food prices crisis. Immediate aid

was needed to prevent hunger and

malnutrition, as well as more small-

scale agriculture. Since then, the Food

and Agricultural Organisation has

approved US$21 million to provide

assistance for farmers in 54 countries.

Oxfam will continue to support com-

munity projects with people affected

by the food crisis, and we will also con-

tinue to lobby world leaders to bring

about policy changes.

The ‘You are what you Freeze’ exhibition, supported by Oxfam, runs from 7-31 October at A-Link, 302-308 Hennessey Road, in Wanchai, Hong Kong. The exhibition is also online: www.hkcmp.org/fridgeproject.

Tung Tsz-kwan is the editor of Mokung, Oxfam's Chinese-language magazine, where this article first appeared.

Every fridge Tells a Story

By Tung Tsz-kwan

In July, Hong Kong’s food prices

reached a 27-year high. The price of

rice increased by a record 66.3 per cent,

and overall, food cost us 19.7 per cent

more than last July.

According to the Food and

Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations, more than 925 million poor

people - up 75 million from last year -

are struggling to feed themselves and

their families in the crisis, as the three

main staple grains – rice, wheat and

corn – all hit record highs. According

to The World Bank, rice was at a 19-

year high in early 2008 and wheat at

a 28-year high.

Poor people in developing coun-

tries – primarily farmers and fishers

– typically spend anywhere from 50 to

80 per cent of their income on food, so

the increase in prices means that they

are eating less and less. In Hong Kong,

too, poor people are being hit the

hardest. Their limited income, in one of

the most expensive cities in the world,

is being stretched even further in the

face of inflation. About 18 per cent of

Hong Kong’s population is poor, and

the gap between rich and poor people

is at its widest ever.

Do we see people’s poverty? Do we

see the inequity? One way to visually

communicate the reality and the

disparity in Hong Kong is through ‘You

Are What You Freeze’, an exhibition

(and future book) of people’s refrig-

erators, an appliance which reveals a

lot about a person’s taste, lifestyle and

income status.

Refrigerators in the Mid-levels

tend to store imported food. Fridges

of young middle-class couples may be

filled with ice cream and other things

sweet. Fridges in poorer homes are

usually filled with self-prepared food,

dried vegetables, herbal medicine, and

bulk items.

Ah Lin’s refrigerator is second-

hand, donated by a social service

organisation. She sees it as a wonderful

and how urban living habits can con-

tribute to global warming and other

changes in the climate.

The trip is over now – the youth are

home. Yet their determination, pas-

sion and commitment remain. The trip

members have set up a blog to

share what they have learned in the

Philippines, and will host a big pub-

lic education-awareness event soon in

Causeway Bay, one of Hong Kong’s busi-

est shopping areas. They are doing what

they can to change.

The passion has not yet died down

from an Oxfam trip held a full three years

ago, to Iloilo, also in the Philippines,

but focussing on issues of trade and

poverty. When the Youth Campaign

Partners 2005 heard that people in

Iloilo were hit hard by Typhoon Frank/

Fengshen in June 2008, they decided

to fundraise among themselves. They

raised HK$9,300 (about US$1,200) and

transferred the money directly to the

organisation that worked with Oxfam

to arrange the exposure trip. The

amount may not seem like a big sum of

money to some people, but it reveals

that the youth are more ready to give,

than to take.

To join Oxfam’s campaign against climate change: www.oxfam.org.hk/climatechange

To visit the youths’ blog about their San Miguel trip: (http://oxfam2008ycp.mysinablog.com/index.php) (only in Chinese).

For more about Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, an organisation that Oxfam has supported: www.prrm.org (only in English)

Nicole Lee is a campaigner with Oxfam Hong Kong and manages the annual Youth Campaign Partners project.

the warmer temperatures, of both air

and sea, the fish are fewer and smaller,

and people’s income less and less. San

Miguel is at severe risk of further prob-

lems because it is situated right at sea

level – much of Albay Province is.

Oxfam selected Albay for the expo-

sure trip for all of these reasons, as well

as for the fact that it is the first province

in the country to begin climate adapta-

tion work: the San Miguel community

alone has carried out needs assessments

for their plans, which include refores-

tation, waste management, and devel-

oping alternative ways of earning an

income that are not so dependent on

the climate. They have wanted to build

a sea wall for protection, and started

construction, but had to stop due to a

lack of funds.

During the trip, the youth met

with staff from the Philippine Rural

Reconstruction Movement. They did

physical work under the hot sun such

as planting jackfruit trees and clean-

ing up the beach, which is not just for

beautifying the scenery: when sand is

clear of rubbish, it can better absorb

the heavier rain and bigger waves of a

typhoon. They lived a low-carbon life,

with no mobile telephone signal, no

Internet access, and limited electricity -

the island just got it two years ago, and

not all homes are hooked up yet. Not all

of the homes had running water either.

Oxfam guided the youth to reflect on

their ‘normal’ lives back in Hong Kong,

Li Zhuang, a farmer in drought-stricken Gansu, is growing wolfberries - the drought-resistant fruit featured on the cover of O.N.E / photo: Tang Kong Fai

Ah Lin's refrigerator

Ah Lin’s fridge contains a lot of beans and other dried food, homemade soup stock, and herbal medicine she can take instead of paying to see a doctor / all photos courtesy of Hong Kong Community Museum Project

TEN THINGS that people in Hong Kong are

doing to save money on food

1. Eat two meals a day instead of three

2. Buy frozen meat, not fresh meat

3. Eat less meat

4. Freeze meat so that it can be easily, and thinly,

sliced for use at more meals

5. Eat less steamed rice, more congee and noodles

6. Buy more food from Mainland China, especially rice

7. Purchase rice at rice retailers, instead of at super-

markets, where the size of packages is fixed

8. Buy food in bulk together with neighbours

or friends

9. Buy canned food products in bulk from wholesalers

10. Buy soon-to-expire food at supermarkets

have money to buy a net to protect the

crop from birds,” Li sighed, but seemed

to take the setback in stride. “People

say that the first harvest of wolf berries

is usually unsatisfactory anyway. I will

work harder to make more money this

year so that I can buy a net. We will get

prepared for a big red harvest of wolf

berries next autumn.”

Oxfam Hong Kong is working along-

side JCAST on a series of anti-poverty

programmes in Gansu. Together, we

are providing emergency support to

endure the drought, introducing

drought-resistant crops, supporting

vocational training with farmers, and

promoting various eco-friendly tech-

nologies in rural communities, such as

biogas and solar energy. Farmers are

saving money as they do not have to

spend much on charcoal, which emits

carbon, and they do not need to cut

down as many trees, which contributes

to erosion, deforestation and thickening

sandstorms. Women, who are typically

responsible for cooking, benefit a lot, as

they save time and labour: the sun is free

for cooking and boiling water.

JCAST is totally reliant on support

from NGOs such as Oxfam Hong Kong,

foundations and the government.

JCAST President Zhang Keqin says, “the

local government here is burdened

with a deficit, so we receive little

funding from them for implementing

these adaptation programmes. It would

be good if funding came through from

other sources.” With more support,

JCAST and other groups can imple-

ment more anti-poverty projects across

Jingyuan and the region.

“I want more rain,” Li repeats, “and

a bigger rain storage tank.” During our

visit to Gansu, it rained for the first time

all year.

Fiona Shek is a member of the communications team of Oxfam Hong Kong. She visited Gansu with the artist , Lau Gukzik, as part of our campaign against climate poverty.

FOOD PRICES CRISIS

CO

VER

: Wol

fber

ries

in G

ansu

, Chi

na /

Tan

g Ko

ng F

ai

Hong Kong

VOICE

Itumeleng Lebajoa (left) of Operation Upgrade receives award from Koichiro Matsuuro, of UNESCO

NEwPartnerOrganisations

Tam Yuen-yan, a security guard who calls for the minimum wage

OXFAM HONG KONG WEBSITEwww.oxfam.org.hk

OXFAM BOOKSOxfam International recently published “Joining

the World Trade Organization: A non-government

perspective in the accession process” for least-

developed countries. The publication discusses the

membership process of the WTO, step by step, and

the lessons learned by five developing countries:

Cambodia, Nepal, Tonga, Vanuatu and Vietnam. (The

negotiations to become a member can take fifteen

years, as in China’s case.) Oxfam offers an assessment

on the technical assistance available to applicants,

and suggests ways that countries can negotiate beneficial entry conditions. The 59-page

publication was financially supported by Oxfam Hong Kong and Oxfam Australia.

To order books: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/list

OXFAM in the NEWS OXFAM INDIA On the first of September, Oxfam India was founded. Straight

away, the huge floods in Bihar present a massive amount of work to do! The new

agency brings together resources from several existing Oxfam members: Oxfam Hong

Kong, Oxfam Australia, Oxfam Great Britain, Intermon Oxfam (Spain), Oxfam Novib (in

the Netherlands) and Oxfam Trust.

Please see www.oxfamindia.org for more.

UNESCO AwARD On 8 September, Inter-

national Literacy Day, the UNESCO Confucius Prize for

Literacy 2008 was awarded to Operation Upgrade,

an Oxfam-supported NGO which works with adult

learners, mostly women, in KwaZulu-Natal, South

Africa. UNESCO Director General Koichiro Matsuuro

said, “Operation Upgrade’s KwaNibela Project in

South Africa offers an innovative approach to inte-

grating knowledge about HIV and AIDS into literacy

programmes.” Many residents in KwaZulu-Natal have little water and food (the area

is sand veldt), little money, little education and only basic infrastructure. Operation

Upgrade runs 28 adult literacy classes alongside food projects, seedling nurseries, HIV

and AIDS and human rights education, and crafts projects.

For more about Operation Upgrade and the award: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/

ev.php-URL_ID=57417&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

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 latest edition,

in a new format, looks at food and inflation in Hong Kong.

To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/?lang=big5

Mokung is online at www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/cate

gory?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

17th Floor, 28 Marble Road, Northpoint, Hong Kong

O.N.E is also on-line: www.oxfam.org.hk/one

Editor: Madeleine Marie Slavick (emagazine@oxfam.org.hk)

HONG KONG CLIMATESix action groups call for carbon dioxide emissions to be capped in the Air Pollution

Control Ordinance: right now, the Hong Kong SAR Government does not regulate

CO2 emissions of its two power companies, which account for about 70% of all CO2

emissions. Please add your voice to this campaign (http://write-a-letter.greenpeace.

org/407) – if action is not taken soon, now, Hong Kong winters may disappear within

just 20 years, according to The Hong Kong Observatory.

Oxfam Hong Kong is also calling to stop climate change, to stop the poverty

it is bringing around the world : http: / /www.oxfam.org.hk /public /contents /

category?cid=53988&lang=iso-8859-1.

For more than a year, Oxfam has

been running a campaign to institute

a minimum wage for all workers in

Hong Kong. Currently, we are giving

many interviews to the press, setting

up educational booths on the street,

securing space in newspapers, placing

large posters in the subway stations,

printing pamphlets and postcards – all

to gather support.

Stephen To and Rush Cheung are

students from Hong Kong Polytechnic

University Department of Applied

Social Sciences who have been working

as interns on the campaign for the past

four months. These are their reflections

on the experience.

“Working on the campaign has re-

ally broadened our thinking about

employment poverty. Deciding how to

convey the advocacy message to the

public has been a particular challenge.

One way to attract attention to Oxfam’s

campaign was through inviting 10 well-

known public figures including Lee Kin-

wo (football player), Li Pang-fei (policy

analyst), Chong Chan-yau (anti-poverty

activist), Cheung Chuiyung (journalist)

and Anthony Wong (actor) to support

the cause and join a media blitz. When

HUMANITY AND

ECONOMY: The Minimum

Wage in Hong Kong

we interviewed them about their vision

of Hong Kong as a fair society, each of

them reflected that one basic prerequi-

site is that people should be able to sup-

port themselves and their family with a

decent salary. Hearing them share their

ideas invigorated us to keep striving to

legislate the minimum wage.

“We did not only seek support

from celebrities. We recruited people

from all walks of life, including our

own friends and classmates. Some of

them were reluctant at the beginning:

they saw the minimum wage as a con-

troversial issue, worrying that it might

weaken the competitive advantage of

some lower-income groups. We replied

to their concerns with evidence from

other countries which have benefited

from instituting the minimum wage.

We provided Oxfam’s statistics and re-

search on the issue. Such solid informa-

tion was effective: many people in our

circles agreed to support the cause and

join Oxfam’s campaign.

“The minimum wage is not just

about the economy, but humanity.”

For more information on Oxfam’s campaign for the minimum wage: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/article?ha=&wc=0&hb=&hc=&revision%5fid=86266&item%5fid=86103)

With the help of June Tsoi and Ken

Wong, two interns from Hong Kong

Design Institute, Oxfam has created two

new online games about poverty in the

face of climate change.

The first game is an animated

quiz. The second, inspired by a popu-

lar Japanese game called Taiko Drum

Master that has two large drums at its

five-foot-high console, goes through

the steps that farmers are taking

to adapt to the different weather

patterns.

The games are for all ages, but

Oxfam is especially targeting youth and

have duly uploaded the games onto

facebook and other sites.

Here is what the two designers have

to say about creating the games with

Oxfam:

JUNE TSOI, Oxfam game illustrator:

When I do design work, I often

rely on my personal interests and feel-

ings to develop it. When making these

climate change games for the public,

I had to think from several different

angles during the creative process. What

kinds of games do people like? Should

I draw some cute characters to attract

people to play? What outfits are suit-

able for the characters to wear? After

one month of working – discussions,

research and designing on the computer

– I understood more about my strengths

and weaknesses, I should learn to

express my opinions to the fullest, and

explore different drawing styles. It was

a valuable working experience.

KEN WONG, Oxfam game programmer:

I have heard a lot of people talking

about climate change, but I had not

realised the seriousness of the problem.

During the time I worked with Oxfam,

the weather was so bad and that made

me feel even more uncomfortable. I do

love Hong Kong, and I’m afraid that

I will lose this beautiful city, if life as we

know it comes to the end because of cli-

mate change.

TWO INTERNS, TWO GAMES

Every day, Oxfam Hong Kong works

alongside hundreds of groups around

the world, from small NGOs to inter-

national bodies, from government

departments of developing countries

to community groups based in Hong

Kong. Here are 3 ‘partner organisa-

tions’ that we are supporting for the

first time.

CHINA•Coral Development Education Workshop •Beijing Siruijiyuan Social Economy Counseling•Indie Film Workshop

Coral Development Education workshop

This organisation is so new that

its name is still being processed. They

will certainly use the word ‘coral’: the

sea animal relies on interdependence

to survive, and the concepts of ‘living

side by side’ and ‘space for growth’

are what this organisation values. They

believe that all people, of whatever

race, sex, age, religion, education,

nationality, income level, are strongly

interconnected, and as an organisation,

Coral expects to make room for all of its

partner groups to grow through train-

ing and networking on development

education – and Coral itself will grow

as well. For the past few years, three of

the Coral founders had been working

with other educational organisations

that Oxfam Hong Kong had partnered

with in the past.

In the metropolises of China, there

is a wide disparity between the middle

class and migrant workers, between

rich and poor people. Some academ-

ics regard development education

(DE) as a key tool for reaching urban

youth, teaching the youngsters more

about poverty, urban development and

globalisation, and encouraging them to

take action as they can.

Currently, however, there is not

enough training on DE for educators

in urban China: materials are limited.

As Oxfam Hong Kong is one of a few

organisations supporting DE in China,

Coral proposed a project to create more

teaching materials, run three intensive

workshops with educators, develop a

core team of facilitators, mainstream

DE concepts and approaches, work

with youth on social development,

create a website and publications,

and overall, build a stronger DE net-

work for a stronger civil society. Coral’s

application was successful: the Oxfam-

supported project started in Beijing in

September 2008.