Grounded in Faith

Celebrating an anniversary always means looking back – so after 35 years of serving others, we invite you to look back with us on the outstanding milestones.

Opening of first Qinghai
Children’s Home.Xining,1998

In 1985, Hong Kong Christian Aid to Refugees (former name of Christian Action) was set up to manage the Kai Tak Open Camp. That expanded to closed camps and detention centres. To prepare refugees for a better future we ran various vocational training workshops for over a decade. In 1993, we joined the Employees Retraining Programme and set up our Migrant Domestic Helpers Programme.  The following year It was renamed Christian Action in line with our new vision.

For the last 35 years, I have served CA under God’s divine guidance. There were many hardships. In 1993 a vivid dream  led me to establish our China Programme in 1997. The upsurge in new arrivals led us to  serve new immigrants in 1996. In 2003, the highlighted racism towards ethnic minorities and displaced asylum seekers inspired us to set up our first Service Centre for Ethnic Minorities and our Centre for Refugees (CFR). In 2003, we also began our Social Enterprise Division to promote environmental sustainability. Since 2008 we have been running the Child Development Fund projects to help alleviate intergenerational poverty in HK.

Our community sales outlet promotes
environmental sustainability

This year, all our essential services have been negatively affected by restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19. At times, our training services came to a halt and our food aid programme was challenged by infrequent deliveries. To make matters worse, parts of our CFR caught fire, further limiting our services to refugees.

These tough times have brought us closer as a family. Within a month, we received over $1 million in donations which enabled us to open our Emergency Food Station in Mongkok in September. Then you gave us another $2 million to help us rebuild our CFR!

Here are some comments from our staff:

“I am grateful for our company’s strong growth and a diverse range of services for the public.” – Teresa Tong, Training Services “The walk with the Lord in the past 35 years overflowed with His Grace.” – Lydia Chiu, Social Services Division, Ministry Coordination Team “We love going beyond boundaries; despite the relentless challenges we face, we will continue to go above and beyond to serve those without a voice.” – Jeffrey Andrews, Centre for Refugees “Thank God for leading me to serve Him at CA and for including me in the amazing work we do here.” – Nicki Lau, Partnership & Resource Development

Although we are living in challenging times, I believe God will continue to show us the way and protect our CA family.  Grounded in faith, the mustard seed of CA has withstood years of sunshine and of storm, and has grown into a tall, strong tree. I believe It will remain a nurturing presence in our community for years to come.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” – (Matthew 13:31-32)