No room in the new

Of the 18 districts in Hong Kong, the ancient city of Kwun Tong has the third highest population. It is fast growing into a thriving CBD, but according to Phoebe, a young woman who was part of the Rotary Club's Child Development Programme, there seems to be no room for the old in the new Kwun Tong.

Members of Rotary have invested a considerable amount of money in the Child Development Fund, so I was very pleased to meet Phoebe and hear her speak about what she had learnt when she addressed a Rotary lunch.

As a child Phoebe was shy and intimidated by her classmates.  She believed no one wanted to be her friend because she’d gained a lot of weight. She said, "I didn’t believe I had any strengths, or that there were any advantages to knowing me."

This is the camera that Phoebe built.

When she first joined Christian Action, she wanted to enter the finance industry.  But as our staff supported her through our programme, Phoebe began to realize that she did have strengths and they did not lie in the finance industry.

Her transformation began when she participated in volunteer activities, such as visiting lonely old people who no longer had families.  Perhaps because she has a better understanding of suffering than most teens Phoebe is sensitive to the needs of others and says, “I know that people need help, especially when they are facing a lot of difficulties.  Coming to Christian Action gave me the opportunity to get over my own loneliness, get involved in different activities and improve my communication skills.  My social worker didn’t care about the shape of my body, or my personality. She just wanted to help me.”

Phoebe says, “My true achievements have been through the volunteer programme. I have learnt a lot more about Kwun Tong – it’s growing into a CBD, but there are many old people there, collecting rubbish for recycling, scraping together just enough money to survive. There’s no room in the new for the old.”

Phoebe wanted to capture the contrast she was witnessing on film, so she built herself a camera! She feels that the development of the new CBD, while neglecting the needs of old people is a mockery.

She is now keen to use her personal experiences to also help other teenagers who suffer as she once suffered.  She plans to be a social worker, and is presently studying social science at her local community college.

I look forward to seeing where this talented young lady’s deep insights are going to take her in the future!