Hybrids and Humanitarian Organizations - Part 2

Security Guard trainees learn the ins-and-outs of using an industrial fire extinguisher.Last week I wrote that you'd be hard pressed to believe Hong Kong was ever host to tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees as new construction has now erased almost all evidence of  the camps.  Yet if you were to have told me back then that Christian Action would grow from being a purely local humanitarian organization into one Hong Kong's most cutting edge Training Bodies I would have laughed silly!

But reality is sometimes stranger than fiction and over the years Christian Action developed the kind of expertise that is invaluable when serving unemployed people.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees contracted Christian Action in the late 1980s to find gainful employment for over 10,000 Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong. We did this in record time. Shortly afterwards, UNHCR contracted us to provide vocational training to Vietnamese who would be returning to Vietnam. We did this in over 15 camps until 1995.

In the early 1990s Hong Kong began experiencing a dramatic rise in unemployment as factories relocated to China. Under the guidance and authority of the Employees Retraining Board of the Hong Kong government, Christian Action began offering retraining classes in 1993, and trained a total of 3,755 people in our first year.

Fast forward to today and Christian Action still plays a vital role in retraining the unemployed. We are one of Hong Kong’s largest government funded retraining organizations. From 1993 to September 2009 we have retrained 184,077 people. In addition we also provide customized training to the private sector and government institutions, including Hong Kong's prisons.

Over the last two weeks I have tried to provide you with some of Christian Action's history. One of my team members, my right-hand man, Mr Clarence Tsang, has been largely responsible for the excellent performance of the Training program. He is a highly intelligent person who I’ve been able to rely on totally in the planning and implementation of programs. In recognition of his reliability and stellar performance over the last 10 years Clarence was recently promoted to Deputy Director. Congratulations Clarence!