Light the Darkness: Story of the Hong Kong Red Cross, 1950–2000 9789622095298, 9622095291, 9789622095304, 9622095305

Citation preview

^CJ

^CJ

—

2000

••••

•

•

•

•

•

fai-lok Lui

Light the Darkness

A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people . . .

(Matthew 5: 14-16)

I

Light the Darkness: Story of the Hong Kong Red Cross, 1950-2000 Tai-lok Lui

# » * f tit tk tbfe. H O N G KONG U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S

Hong Kong University Press 14/F, Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong © Hong Kong University Press 2001 ISBN 962 209 529 1 (hardback) ISBN 962 209 530 5 (paperback) All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Publisher

Secure On-line Ordering http: //w ww.hkupress. org

Cover photo: Leung Sai-kit Cover design: Dick Yeung Printed and bound by United League Graphic & Printing Company Limited in Hong Kong, China

Contents Message from the Chief Executive of the HKSAR and Patron of the Hong Kong Red Cross, The Honourable Tung Chee Hwa

xi

Message from the President

xii

Acknowledgements

xiv

1.

A World with No Strangers

2

2.

Foundations: Beginning Trickle by Trickle

10

3.

Never Neglecting the Needs of the Poor and the Weak

18

4.

Change

32

5.

From Receiving Help to Self-Help and Helping Others

44

6.

Bearing Witness to an Era

56

7.

Building a Caring Society Together

78

Appendices 1.

Vision, Mission and the Fundamental Principles of the Hong Kong Red Cross

83

2.

Hong Kong Red Cross's 50 Years of Service

85

3.

Patrons and Council Members of the Hong Kong Red Cross in 2000-2001

88

4.

The Office-Bearers of the Hong Kong Red Cross from 1949 to 2000

90

iiSjtf'iW

Message from the Chief Executive of the HKSAR and Patron of the Hong Kong Red Cross, The Honourable Tung Chee Hwa

T

he Year 2000 is a very special year for the Hong Kong Red Cross. Not only does it herald the start of a new millennium, it also celebrates the Golden Jubilee year for the Hong Kong Red Cross. Established in 1950, the Hong Kong Red Cross has provided aid relief to the sick, the vulnerable and victims of natural disasters in Hong Kong, Mainland China and our neighbouring places with warmth and compassion. The Hong Kong Red Cross initially focused its services on disaster relief and the tracing of misplaced people. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength by introducing new community services including the Blood Transfusion Service, uniform youth groups, special schools for the sick and handicapped children, and assistance for our elderly social security recipients retiring in Guangdong Province. I commend the Hong Kong Red Cross for its contribution in motivating a community movement that involves thousands of volunteers who selflessly give their time to help others in need. Let us share in the Hong Kong Red Cross's vision to 'Build a Caring Society'.

s^f^h Tung Chee Hwa

Message from the President

T

O i

he Year 2000 marks the Golden Jubilee of the Hong Kong Red Cross. To celebrate this a u s p i c i o u s o c c a s i o n and to r e v i e w its w o r k throughout the past fifty years, the Hong Kong Red Cross has published this commemorative book. We hope that through this book, the public will be better informed of t h e Hong Kong Red Cross activities and, thus, empathize and identify with our humanitarian crusade. It is also our aim that the book be inspirational in urging people of all ages to volunteer to assist us in our work.

In t h e past fifty years, we have w o r k e d incessantly to render emergency assistance to the vulnerable, sick and suffering, regardless of race, religion and background, notably in four areas: blood transfusion service, provision of education for the disabled, development of volunteers and carrying out international and local disaster relief service. In spite of the diverse nature of our services, our m i s s i o n r e m a i n s t h e s a m e — to deliver impartial care to protect life and promote health. In this commemorative book, we can clearly understand that in the past fifty years the Hong Kong Red Cross, with the Hong Kong community, has grown and faced many challenges together. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hong Kong economy still looked gloomy and people lived from hand to m o u t h . Most of the relief items distributed to v i c t i m s suffering from natural disasters were mainly donated by the foreign Red Cross/Red Crescent societies. However, in the past five years, local people have gradually been motivated by our public appeals. Now, annual donation of relief items by local people to victims on the mainland and

worldwide are calculated in tens of thousands. Moreover, the number of volunteers has multiplied from a few hundred expatriate women to over 14 000 from all walks of life. The development of our services follows closely the fast pace of the Hong Kong society, reacting quickly to the needs of the community. The growth of our work has gone hand in hand with the transformation of Hong Kong itself from a 'refugee society' with little public spirit to a community which cares about others, and which is ready to lend a hand to those in need, including people outside of Hong Kong. All in all, the 50-year history of the Hong Kong Red Cross in promoting humanitarian work is a fitting testimony to the successful nurturing of the people of Hong Kong into loving and caring human beings. We hope that the citizens of Hong Kong would continue to support us to make the vision to 'Build a Caring Society' a reality. Lastly, on behalf of the Hong Kong Red Cross, I would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the author of this book, Professor Tai-lok Lui. With his immense enthusiasm and passion in writing this book, Professor Lui successfully depicts the changes of the Hong Kong Red Cross through the decades noting memorable historical moments since its establishment. We would also like to thank Hong Kong University Press for its editing and publishing work. Our gratitude goes also to our staff and volunteers as they have contributed invaluable information to help in the writing of it. The new millennium marks the golden jubilee of the Hong Kong Red Cross. I take this opportunity to thank all sectors of the Hong Kong community, 800 of our own staff and 14 000 volunteers for their ardent and unreserved support for the Hong Kong Red Cross in upholding its principle of humanitarianism. The Year 2000 marks a milestone, in which we will review our work of the past and reassess our identity and the path forward in taking on the challenges of the new millennium. With our endeavours in promoting our work to care for the sick and suffering, we hope that the vision to 'Build a Caring Society' be one that is not only confined within our community, but one that is disseminated to the world outside our borders.

Betty Tung

Acknowledgements

W

riting this book has been for me a most gratifying experience. Previous to this project, I knew little about the Red Cross and even less about its connection to the International Red Cross.

From its inception, however, I was fortunate to have had the generous input of innumerable number of people who were tireless in their effort to put m e through the paces. These included people I knew well as well as people I had just met but all of whom have in different capacities contributed and may still be contributing to the work of the Red Cross. At times, these same people have put me in touch with others who they felt could add more depth and scope to my project. In my role as a chronicler for the Red Cross, I was often included in reunions, home-comings and graduations. No matter what the occasion is and which age group the gathering may comprise, I invariably felt the overwhelming sense of warmth, camaraderie and commitment they all cherished as members of the Red Cross family. I once thought of drawing upon all the memories and reminiscences that were shared with me to form the framework of this book. Ultimately, I did not do so. Their stories moved me immensely, but I felt that the pith and core of the Red Cross must be stressed — its humanitarian ideals which have been crystallized by its unstinting and unrelenting hard work and commitment. This book would not have been possible were it not for the chance visit to Hong Kong of former staff and members of the Hong Kong and British Red Cross. Like the aforementioned, they too rallied to my support with their stories and memories. The list of people to whom I owe thanks is too long to include here. Suffice it to say, my gratitude goes to one and all. A note of thanks is due to Sophie Liu and Shirley Chen in their translation of the Chinese text into this English version. My special thanks goes to Thomas Sin for his support and guidance throughout this project. The lessons I have learned from him goes well beyond the boundaries of

XV the history of the Red Cross. I thank Christine Fang for giving me the opportunity to write this commemorative volume and the latitude I was allowed in my access to information and sources. My thanks for her trust and support. My gratitude goes also to Chairman T L. Yang who read the manuscript and offered his invaluable comments. And last but not the least, I would like to thank Mrs Betty Tung for her support and encouragement.

Tai-lok Lui April, 2001

A World with No Strangers

ng Kong in the 1950s.

V

iewed from a distance, this was a scene of early winter. The morning sun shone through a thin layer of fog and reflected a golden hue on the tiled roofs of village houses. On this day, sunlight splashed across the Lake Dongting region, emanating a deceptive feeling of warmth in the incipient chill that had descended with December. On the embankment by the river, villagers came and went. Children dashed past, laughing as they ran ahead in their play. Despite the constant dust and dirt raised by trucks plying among the nearby villages, the village by the side of the river seemed undisturbed and had typical quiet country air reminiscent of scenes in movies and novels. However, this scenery could only be enjoyed from a distance. When our car stopped at the entrance to the village, a closer look revealed that the summer floods had not completely receded. A large portion of the fields was still under water. Many of the village houses by the side of the road were merely temporary open brick structures, covered with two large plastic sheets that the owners had scavenged. One of the plastic sheets covered the windward wall, and the other stood for the roof — the house's only protection against

Victims of natural disaster: Jiangxi Province, 1998.

the wind and the rain. Some villagers who had lost their homes to the flood could only be housed temporarily in the classrooms of the local primary school. In theory, since the flood had receded, they could now go home. In reality, they were still homeless, and could be so indefinitely.

Delivery of relief food supplies.

The farmers who came to town to receive the relief rice said, 'We haven't had a harvest for two years/ When they spoke, they were e x p r e s s i o n l e s s and t h e i r voices subdued, but to the casual observer it spoke volumes of their pain and suffering. The relief supply of three bags of rice per family would have to sustain them for the entire winter. T h i s was t h e s i t u a t i o n in a village in the Hunan Floods disaster areas I visited in December 1999.

People made homeless by flooding: Jiangxi Province in 1995.

5 According to the locals, the floods were merely one aspect of their many problems; mountain communities suffered even harsher conditions and subjected to worse hardships than the communities in the regions around the lake. In China, communities that seriously need assistance due to natural disasters and poverty are not confined to the villages and towns in the Lake Dongting region in Hunan. In fact, human suffering caused by natural and man-made calamities are universal problems to which not one country has a monopoly. The following story happened in a very different part of our world — Rwanda. Among the crowd of refugees on their way to Zaire was Ingabire, a six-year-old girl. It was dark and chaotic. T h e refugees were r u n n i n g for their lives. Ingabire clung to her mother's skirt, for fear of being separated. Still, Ingabire lost her grip in the tide of refugees which swept t h e m apart, leaving her standing a l o n e in t h e m i d d l e of nowhere. Ingabire was subsequently brought to the orphanage at Ndosho where she stayed with other children who had suffered the same fate. She sat alone every day and hoped that she would find her mother. A representative from the International Red

Refugees of Rwanda: 1994.

Cross Delegation noticed the lonely Ingabire, found out what had happened and helped her get registered. Ingabire was given a plastic bracelet with her name and a registration number written on it. When her father searched for her and filled out a tracing request at one of

A World with No Strangers

the Red Cross refugees centre, they re-established contact via the computerized tracing service. Ingabire was sent to the centre where her mother was waiting for her. When they finally met, they could find no words to express their feelings.1 It is ironic and a constant source of wonder that in spite of the strides we have made in modern information technology, the world is powerless in eradicating war, poverty and natural disasters. Famines in North Korea, earthquakes in Iran, refugees in Rwanda and typhoons in Vietnam, just to name a few, are universal problems of the greatest gravity. Progress in living standards and technological innovations in some developed countries do not mean that other countries, particularly the developing ones, are able to prevent or deal with different kinds of natural and man-made disasters. Neither does the accumulation of global wealth mean that the world will therefore no longer be troubled by poverty and scarcity in resources. By holding out a helping hand towards people mired in hardships caused by natural disasters, war and poverty in mainland China or elsewhere, we have already suppressed all sorts of prejudices and risen above the differences in nationality, race, culture, and religion. We give from our hearts, show concern and care, and are willing to make contributions. Just as in the delivery of relief goods to the victims of the floods in the Lake Dongting region, the citizens of Hong Kong have responded both in supplying provisions and in the rebuilding of infrastructure whenever and wherever the need has arisen. Today, when the citizens of Hong Kong make donations to help others, it is based entirely on humanitarian and altruistic principles. What the flood victims in the lake region learnt about Hong Kong may only be limited to news reports that they had seen on television, first-hand experiences retold by young men and women who had been working in the south, or merely from the two words 'Hong Kong7 printed on the relief packages. Yet, the appreciation and gratitude which is reflected towards this far-away community is unquestionably heartfelt and genuine. That day, an old woman who had received rice in town grabbed my hands and expressed her gratitude. It is all I remember of the day

except for my urgent need to respond to the call of help from a stranger in a place I had hitherto never been. I ceased to be a bystander who could turn a blind eye to people whose lives had been ravaged by the floods. Today, to many Hong Kong citizens, disaster victims, refugees, or people living in poverty outside Hong Kong are all strangers. They may not know the name of the disaster area; yet based on the belief that everyone's life and dignity should be respected and protected, we are all glad to extend our help to the injured and the sick, those in hardship, and the weak, regardless of their race, nationality, religion, political beliefs, or social background. This spirit of h u m a n i t y is also the most important basic principle of the International Red C r o s s and Red Crescent Movement. Henry Dunant, founder of t h e I n t e r n a t i o n a l Red C r o s s Movement, wrote in A Memory of Solferino, a book with a tremendous and lasting impact: '. . . the women of Castiglione, seeing that I made no distinction between nationalities, followed my example, showing the same kindness to all these men whose origins were so different, and all of whom were foreigners to them "Tutti fratelli [all are brothers] 77 , they repeated feelingly. 72 Love and care for fellow men is based on the principles of humanity. That is what it means. Henry Dunant (1828-1910): Founder of the Red Cross Movement.

Some people feel that this kind of love and care for our fellow h u m a n beings is innate, surfacing naturally when the occasion arises. In fact, this sort of love and concern towards strangers has to be nurtured. But if it were not for the driving force of organizations with similar beliefs and goals to bring to our awareness the need for such care and concern, I am certain the response of the people of Hong Kong would not equal to what it is today. The Hong Kong Red Cross is a voluntary organization dedicated to promoting humanitarian work in Hong Kong. Over the years, members and volunteers of the Hong Kong Red Cross have worked tirelessly to provide assistance to all kinds of people who are in need — appealing for donations in aid of victims, promoting blood drives as well as organizing volunteer activities. The development of the Red Cross's work in promoting humanitarian aid has gone hand in hand with the transformation of Hong Kong from a 'refugee society 7 with little public spirit, to a community that cares about others and is ready to lend a hand to those in need, including people outside of Hong Kong. These are two 'stories of Hong Kong 7 which have

In the battle of Solferino, Dunant saw the destructiveness of human aggression and the meaning of humanitarianism.

developed in tandem. Indeed, the 50-year history of the Hong Kong Red Cross in promoting humanitarian work is a fitting testimony to the successful nurturing of Hong Kong society and of Hong Kong citizens into loving and caring human beings.

1

2

See'Ingabire, lost and found', in Special Report: Red Cross Offers Hope in Hell (Hong Kong Red Cross, 1995). Henry Dunant, A Memory of Solferino (Geneva: The International Committee of the Red Cross, 1986), p. 72.

CHAPTER

2

Foundations: Beginning Trickle by Trickle

I \

The official office space was made available by the Anti-Tuberculosis Association at their headquarters in 1952.

Hong Kong: 1949 The population of Hong Kong rose rapidly from 900 000 in early 1946 to two million in early 1949. The majority of the population were immigrants which totalled over a million people. Of course, within this group of immigrants, some were returnees while some had lived in Hong Kong before World War II and had come back to live in Hong Kong again after the war. But many also came here to escape from the civil war in mainland China. In Hong Kong, the influx of immigrants was not a new social phenomenon. As a migrant society, the fluctuations in the population of Hong Kong had always been affected by the political, social and economic climates in China. The only difference about the situation in 1949 was that this time a significant change was taking place in the Chinese political scene. Although at that time many people held different attitudes and views on the further development of the situation, political uncertainty was definitely affecting the entire region of East Asia, and Hong Kong was in fact its focal point. An atmosphere of foreboding shrouded Hong Kong society, which had not yet recovered from the turmoil of war. In May 1949, the British Red Cross sent representatives to Hong Kong and on two separate occasions discussed directly with the governor on the possibility of establishing a branch organization here. At the second meeting, Governor Alexander Grantham agreed to set up a branch of the British Red Cross in Hong Kong. Its main task was to provide support and services in times of emergency, as well as to be responsible for what the Director of Medical and Health Services defined as 'international welfare work'. 1 International welfare work' at that time meant 'work among North China evacuees and other transients who could be linked up with the Red Cross in the countries to which they were going7.2 More concretely, 'the main function of the Committee was to provide a channel for inquiries from other National Red Cross societies, and also to organize relief work for refugees from China'.3 The work of the branch organization 'has been and will remain mainly welfare work'.

The Hong Kong Red Cross was formally established in 12 July 1950. The Director of Medical and Health Services was its chairman. The plan at the time was that the Hong Kong Red Cross would be a 'nucleus organization'. At times of emergency, its functions could be expanded quickly within a short period of time, in order to provide services to people according to the needs of the situation. 4 In t h e beginning, the Hong Kong Red Cross was a small operation. The official office space was made available by the AntiTuberculosis Association at their headquarters in 1952. But within a few years, the work of the Red Cross had quickly developed. Based on one simple concept — care and assistance for the sick, the injured, and the weak, as well as those who had become helpless due to the turmoil of war — the Hong Kong Red Cross provided a positive response to the immediate needs of citizens at the time (such as tracing service and disaster relief), or services which had not yet been noticed (like the educational needs of children in long-term hospital care). This simple belief became the powerful m o m e n t u m behind the development of the Hong Kong Red Cross. Interestingly, with hindsight, even though the early work done was constrained by the social environment and the scarcity in resources at the time, the beginning model for the later development of the Red Cross was apparent. The early work of the Hong Kong Red Cross included the f o l l o w i n g : First, i n t e r n a t i o n a l welfare s e r v i c e s . After i t s establishment, the early work of the Hong Kong Red Cross focused on assisting refugees in the region to return to their home countries. Tracing services were also provided to help those who had been separated from their relatives due to the war to find their family members and relatives or return home. Among those who sought assistance in tracing services, quite a large number were Chinese dislocated from their homes and families during wartime. Through the Hong Kong Red Cross, they had their family reunions in Hong Kong. In the peaceful times of today, we may easily underestimate this kind of social services which do not seem to have any connection to the lives of ordinary citizens. Nowadays, war and political turmoils all seem like things far, far away, which have no relationship to our lives. However, in postwar Hong Kong, the effects of the war on an individual's life and destiny were quite concrete. Among the many

13 people w h o passed through Hong Kong at that time, some had lost their homes, and some were still troubled by the need to be reunited with family m e m b e r s who had been separated during the war. Helping refugees to return h o m e and looking for their relatives through the international network of the Red Cross was a very meaningful task at the time. D u e to t h e o u t b r e a k of t h e Korean War in June 1950, starting from 1951 the Hong Kong Red Cross was responsible for preparing food and medical supply packages and sending t h e m to Japan. After s o m e w a r & prisoners had connected w i t h the representatives from their countries, these supplies were given to them. At t h e end of t h e Korean War, t h e A m e r i c a n Red Cross r e a c h e d an The Red Cross packages, a symbol of international a g r e e m e n t w i t h the C h i n e s e Red humanitarism, were supplied to detainees between 1955 and Cross in 1955, so that the former 1979. could send food and other everyday necessities to the foreigners detained in China on condition that these packages be delivered at the border by the staff of the Hong Kong Red Cross.

~^k

From May 1955, on the 15th and 30th day every month, the staff of the Hong Kong Red Cross would help to transport these supply packages to the border, and hand them over to the Red Cross Society of China for delivery to the foreigners who were detained. This international humanitarian aid was carried out in a low-key manner for years. During this time, Mr Sergei Czerney, a Russian man born in Shanghai in 1906 and who had lost contact with his family living in the United States since 1952, was connected to the outside world solely through the International Red Cross and the monthly packages delivered on time by the Hong Kong Red Cross. 5 Eventually, Mr Czerney received notification for his release just before Christmas, 1978. After his release, he first spent over two months recuperating Foundations

14

The arrival of a released detainee.

in Hong Kong, where he received the care of the staff and volunteers of the Hong Kong Red Cross, before his return to the United States. After the release of this last US citizen who had been detained, the international humanitarian work of delivering monthly packages officially came to an end in January 1979.

Relief work in the early days.

Secondly, t h e r e w a s t h e work of relief and disaster aid. Since 1953, the Hong Kong Red Cross had started working on categorizing and storing used clothing donated from abroad. Originally, the focus of this task was to assist the Social Welfare D e p a r t m e n t in t h e logistical work of preparing for disasters and d i s a s t e r relief. But in December of that year when the fire in Shek Kip Mei took place, the disaster relief work became extremely urgent. Members and volunteers of the Hong Kong Red Cross actively participated in c o l l e c t i n g and d i s t r i b u t i n g c l o t h i n g to t h e s q u a t t e r h u t

15 dwellers who had been affected by the fire. Between 26 December 1953 and 12 January 1954, 180 000 cotton quilts and clothing items were distributed by the Red Cross to about 44 000 people. After the fire, the Red Cross continued its work in classifying and managing the storage of disaster relief supplies five times a week, in order to meet the needs of disasters which might erupt suddenly. Thirdly, there were services in the caring of the injured and the sick. Because of the specification of services at the military hospitals, representatives from the British Red Cross were required to station at the hospitals and to provide services to their patients. So, right after its establishment, the Hong Kong Red Cross started to recruit volunteers, who first assisted the staff of the Social Welfare Department in looking after patients and providing for the needs of others who had been hospitalized at the military hospitals (such as organizing hospital libraries and preparing Christmas presents). Later, this volunteer service was quickly expanded to ordinary civilian hospitals. The volunteer services done by the Red Cross at these hospitals were aimed at providing a measure of warmth to the patients, so that they would not lose the opportunities of participating in social life and entertainment due to their hospitalization. For this purpose, the Red Cross contacted some local newspapers and publishers to obtain donations of their publications for the patients in the hospitals. Among the many services provided to the patients, they also showed movies in the hospitals for the patients' entertainment. Responding to the invitation by the Director of the Medical and Health Department, the Hong Kong Red Cross also organized working parties for women volunteers, who met three days weekly to help prepare hospital dressings for all government hospitals. Apart from relieving the work pressure on hospital nurses, this also helped provide adequate supplies in terms of relief materials in the

The Ladies' Working Groups, sewing gauze and bandages, contributed to the rear services in local hospitals for over 40 years.

hospitals to meet the needs of emergencies. After the ladies' working parties had launched the task of sewing gauzes and bandages, for decades afterwards, they contributed steadily to the rear services in local hospitals. In 1951, the Hong Kong Red Cross established diversional therapy working teams which taught patients to produce art and craft in two hospitals in Hong Kong and Kowloon. By 1952, the Hong Kong Red Cross also began to provide the same service to Tung Wah Eastern Hospital. For several years after that, the Red Cross continued to expand this service in different hospitals, and its volunteer teams helped to purchase the materials needed for producing art and craft as well as instructing the sick children to participate in the therapy activities. Fourthly, the Red Cross established blood donation services. Since 1951, the Red Cross had begun assisting the Medical and Health Department in registering everyone who had volunteered to donate blood in Hong Kong. Since Hong Kong citizens at the time were rather unfamiliar with volunteer blood donation, the Hong Kong Red Cross felt that this task should be handled by a full-time staff member. In 1952, the British Red Cross sent someone to Hong Kong to prepare for the establishment of the Blood Donation Services Department. At the beginning of its establishment, the Blood Donation Services Department had its office on the third floor of the General Post Office Building in Central. Every Wednesday evening (from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.), blood donors with prior appointments could have their blood drawn. In November of the same year, the same service was offered at the Kowloon Hospital for two evenings a week. The blood collected was then transported to the Kowloon Hospital and the Queen Mary Hospital for storage. Fifthly, the Red Cross set up its hospital schools. In March 1954, a volunteer team formed by a group of American women who had originally provided this service at the Lai Chi Kok H o s p i t a l terminated the service. This led the Red Cross to begin discussing with several organizations on how to arrange for fulfilling this service. As a result, the Red Cross decided to employ a teacher for the specific purpose of organizing a hospital school to take care of sick children at the Lai Chi Kok Hospital. In that year, the school had about 20 students ranging from 6 to 18 years old. They received instructions in subjects like Chinese, reading, writing, art and craft, and so on.

17 Since the instruction was carried out a c c o r d i n g to i n d i v i d u a l s t u d e n t ' s situation, the children who were h o s p i t a l i z e d did n o t lose t h e i r opportunities to study because of their hospitalization. Lastly, the Red Cross set up its y o u t h p r o g r a m m e . In 1956 it established the first Red Cross Junior Link at St Francis' Canossian College. This marked the beginning of the Red Cross's involvement in youth work in subsequent years.

Hospital school in the early days.

In this way, the Hong Kong Red Cross started from scratch in the early days and developed its various services in Hong Kong, which had barely settled down after the turmoil of war. If comparison has to be made between the work of the Red Cross at the time and the scope of its services at present, there is certainly no comparison. However, in terms of the direction of its development, then the Hong Kong Red Cross more or less found its orientation in its exploratory period in the early days after its establishment. The outline for its future work was also roughly delineated. Its main focus was on work and services with a strong welfare emphasis. During this period of recovery from the ravages of war, the economy had not yet taken off; the entire society was confronted with the pressure created by the massive influx of refugees. The government's social welfare services had barely begun, and ordinary citizens had to lead a frugal life, struggling hard to eke out a living. The Hong Kong Red Cross provided various services to those in need. Many welfare services which may seem negligible today, or which are taken for granted, were once the results of huge amount of efforts, and were built up trickle by trickle, and bit by tiny bit. 1

2 3 4

5

See the archive kept in the London office of the British Red Cross Society: 'Report 4/ Visit to Hong Kong covering May 16th - June 4th by M. T. Spens, May 24th 1949'. Ibid. 'Notes on British Red Cross Society representation in Hong Kong' (no date). British Red Cross Society Committee, Hong Kong, Annual Report for the Year Ending October 1949, p. 1. See Michael Johnstone, Reunited!: Loved Ones Traced by the British Red Cross (Henley on Thames: Aidan Ellis, 1995), pp. 150-155.

Foundations

Never Neglecting the Needs of the Poor and the Weak

The epidemic quarantine centre on Chatham Road.

T

he title of the lead article in the Hong Kong Annual Report: 1956 is 'A Problem of People7. The article pointed out:

Looking back over this period, one can say that there is little that has been done that would not have been done differently if one problem had never existed. Finance, education, medical and health services, social welfare, prisons, police, industry, commerce, labour relations, land policy, housing, agriculture and fisheries, political relations — even the law itself — all bear the unmistakable surcharge (in a few cases an almost obliterating surcharge) of this single problem. It is a problem of a vast immigrant population; vast because for every resident of the Colony at the British reoccupation in 1945 there are now four residents.1

At the time, the drastic increase in population had a great impact on every aspect of Hong Kong society. The topic of 'A Problem of People7 succinctly summed up the problems and challenges confronted by Hong Kong society at the time. The various problems faced by postwar Hong Kong due to the massive influx of immigrants can be seen as an important test for the entire society. This flood of immigrants was different from the those before the war. Unlike the mobile population which had come for short-term jobs in Hong Kong or to avoid the turbulence of war in the mainland, this group of immigrants did not leave Hong Kong quickly and return to their homes when the situation in the mainland calmed down. By the early 1950s, the Hong Kong government also began to realize that among this group of immigrants, the majority would stay for a period of time. Even though in the 1950s7 Hong Kong, no one could be certain how long this period of time would last; everyone knew in their hearts that this flood of immigrants would not be a temporary, transitional phenomenon. The rapid growth in population created a tremendous pressure on Hong Kong society. In an economy which had barely recovered from the war, how to satisfy the basic social needs such as housing, medical care, and education within a short time, under the conditions of continuous increase in incoming and local populations, had become extremely pressing concerns. Since these immigrants — and their newborn or very young children — would not be leaving Hong Kong in a short time, their daily necessities and the problems they

faced would not automatically disappear with time and human mobility. On the contrary, all the problems were clearly displayed; it was impossible to ignore them anymore. The 1950s were an era of scarcity in material goods,- it was a time full of struggles for basic livelihood. For many poor families, going to religious organizations or social service organizations to receive assistance commodities or relief items was not an unfamiliar life experience. Many immigrants who had come to Hong Kong from the mainland had to adapt to the new environment in order to make a living. Just as the report, The Problem of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong, published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1955, points out, less than 16.2% among the various kinds of refugees arriving in Hong Kong could find jobs comparable to their original positions. Only a minority among them could improve their social status, while the majority had to experience the pain of downward social mobility.2 For an ordinary family, housing and all kinds of problems related to living arrangements were daily problems. According to census statistics, by 1961 nearly half of Hong Kong7s total population (47.1 %) lived in cubicles inside an apartment. More than 10% (11.9%) lived in rented bedspaces or verandahs. And those living in temporary structures (including rooftop huts and tin plate huts) made up more than 20% (21 %).3 In terms of public health, according to government information, in the early 1950s, 'almost 95 per cent of the population above the age of 14 years had already been infected by the disease [tuberculosis])7.4 By 1959, 14 000 cases of tuberculosis were discovered during the whole year. As for the situation of the education of children and youth in schools, according to the 1961 Census, over 110 000 children and youth from 6 to 14 years old were not at school.5 The flood of refugees from mainland China in the early 1960s made various pressures caused by the scarcity of resources even more acute. The statistics mentioned above provide a rough picture of the living conditions of Hong Kong residents in the 1950s and the early 1960s. With the shortages in resources and other hardships in the

1950s, much of the social welfare and relief work was provided by volunteer organizations. The period from the 1950s to the mid-1960s was described as t h e ' G o l d e n Age 7 for v o l u n t e e r welfare and social s e r v i c e organizations. 6 Not only did these organizations actively participate in disaster relief work and provide social service for those in need, they were also able to provide services beyond those offered by the social welfare system which was at its rudimentary stage at the time (only in 1958 did the government formally establish the Social Welfare Department, which had originally been a mere office under the Department of the Chief Secretary for Chinese Affairs). Moreover, they were able to expand their other services to take care of the people who had escaped the attention of the general public but who still needed assistance. In 1957, the Hong Kong Red Cross moved out from its former office borrowed from the Anti-Tuberculosis Association and formally moved into its headquarters in the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building in C e n t r a l . T h e opening of t h e h e a d q u a r t e r s aptly symbolized that the development of the Hong Kong Red Cross was now ready to move from its initial stage of exploration to a new stage. The work of the Hong Kong Red Cross from the 1950s to the mid-1960s was basically a continued consolidation and expansion on the foundation that had been established in the previous stage. Just as before, the Hong Kong Red Cross actively participated in various post-disaster relief work. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hong Kong was still a fragile society — many residents had to live in squatter huts along the hillsides or in other illegal housing areas. Their safety was often threatened by fire, typhoon and rain. There was even a shortage in water supply due to drought. When the local reservoirs could not meet the daily demands in water, rationing of water was put into effect. Epidemics (like cholera) were still a public health problem which caused headaches. Take 1962 as an example. Typhoon Wanda ravished Hong Kong, causing over 180 deaths or disappearances, and over 600 injuries. Several hundred houses were destroyed, and the number of victims

22 A glimpse of Hung Horn before a fire of 1961: Hong Kong was a vulnerable city.

Hung Horn after the 1961 fire.

Light the Darkness

reached more than 46 000 people. From the day after the typhoon, the relief work of distributing clothing and blankets went on for nine days on end. Since the volunteer teams had categorized relief clothing during ordinary times and the Red Cross Junior Links volunteers had actively participated in the post-disaster relief work, the distribution of clothing was carried out smoothly. In the week after Typhoon Wanda had hit Hong Kong, service was given to over 15 000 victims who were left homeless by the typhoon. During this disaster relief operation, there was at one point a shortage of relief supplies. Due to the large number of victims, the British Red Cross Headquarters airlifted 5000 blankets to Hong Kong, and also allocated money to purchase supplies in Hong Kong to meet the emergency demands. Now that it was aware of the need to increase its disaster preparations, the Hong Kong Red Cross began storing disaster relief supplies. The supplies used at the time mainly came from donations from the British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand Red Cross.

Delivery of relief supplies.

24

Volunteers' participation in local relief.

Storage and classification of relief supplies in readiness for disaster. Light the Darkness

Boat people collecting blankets after a typhoon.

/JjJ~£m

Relief supplies from Britain for the victims of Typhoon Wanda. Never Neglecting the Needs

Typhoon Wanda came to Hong Kong in September. Even before the typhoon, a cholera epidemic was discovered in July. The government reopened the epidemic quarantine centre on Chatham Road. The Hong Kong Red Cross was responsible for the clothing needs in the centre as well as the welfare of its residents. The last case of cholera discovered that year originated from a village in Yuen Long. After the six infected families had been taken into the epidemic quarantine centre on Chatham Road, the staff of the Red Cross discovered that they had been living in extreme poverty, so they decided to undertake an in-depth investigation of the conditions in that village and provide assistance. In June 1963, water shortage caused by severe drought led to a water rationing policy: water was supplied once in every four days. At the end of the same month, the first case of cholera was discovered. During the entire summer, more than a hundred cases of cholera were reported. Over 1600 people who had had contact with those infected by the disease had to be treated at the epidemic quarantine centre. The Hong Kong Red Cross also provided services to the temporary residents at the quarantine centre. At the same time, staff and volunteer paid daily visits to the centre to assist those who were in need, as well as organize recreational activities for the children residents.

1960: On behalf of the refugee committee of Oxford University, recording the contents of the daily supplies to refugees included 3 bean curd cakes, 1 pound of rice, 8 ounces of vegetable and 2 ounces of salt fish.

Nutritious meals for needy children.

Like other times, the relief work of the Hong Kong Red Cross was divided into the two categories of local and international work. We have already discussed the local relief work above. As for the international relief and humanitarian operations, these continued to be low-key but practical. In addition to tracing services, there were monthly transports of supply packages to the border; these packages provided the most basic care for the people who were detained in mainland China. As mentioned above, the supplies used in the relief work done by the Hong Kong Red Cross at the time came mainly from foreign donations. In terms of blood collection, the need to seek help from outside — or rather, it should be described as the relief and mutual aid needs that could not yet be met locally — was even more evident. In the early years, the sources of volunteer blood donations came mainly from the British forces stationed in Hong Kong and other foreign military personnel who were passing through Hong Kong. Table 1 shows the social backgrounds of blood donors from 1954 to 1970. In these 16 years, British forces stationed in Hong Kong or

Table 1: Social Backgrounds of Blood Donors

Classification of Social Background of Blood Donors/ Year

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

HM Services and Servicemen of Other Nationalities

67.3

65.7

78.2

80.3

76.7

76.1

81.3

80.9

Chinese Residents

7.3

4.9

3.5

2.8

6.2

7.7

5.8

8.9

25.4

29.4

18.3

16.9

17.1

16.2

12.9

10.2

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

2767

2556

3135

2994

3482

4527

6943

8328

Other Residents Total (pints)

Source: Hong Kong Red Cross, Annual Report, various years.

foreign military personnel passing through Hong Kong were always the main sources of volunteer blood donations (the highest point reached being 81.3%). The second group were foreigners residing in Hong Kong (taking up a ratio of over 10% to nearly 30%). As for local Chinese, these were always a minority (at the lowest point, they only took up 2.8% of the total sources of blood). It was not until after the 1960s that the number of Chinese blood donors superseded donors who were foreign residents. In the early years, the Red Cross had tried many times to expand the sources of blood donation through publicity and promotional activities (for example, printing publicity posters, publishing advertisements in local newspapers to call for blood donations, and performing plays promoting blood donations in the schools, etc.). But the effects were limited. Most people in the Chinese community still could not accept the idea of blood donation.7 To a certain extent, this situation reflected the character and features of Hong Kong society at the time. Apart from being under the influence of traditional ideas, as an immigrant society, most citizens still believed that they were only temporary residents in Hong Kong, and would be making other plans once the situation in mainland China became stabilized. In general, the citizens lacked a sense of belonging, and they held an attitude of 'everyone for himself/herself7, lacking

29

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

74.4

76.7

65.5

64.0

70.5

65.7

53.0

50.7

51.6

11.6

10.8

18.5

17.9

17.4

20.5

31.5

36.0

35.4

14.0

12.5

16.0

18.1

12.1

13.8

15.5

13.3

13.0

100.0 8042

100.0

100.0 11 604

100.0

100.0

100.0

20 435

19 243

100.0 25 562

100.0

13 946

100.0 23 157

8398

27 820

1960: The main source of blood came from non-Chinese donors.

Never Neglecting the Needs

identification with other citizens who were also living in Hong Kong. These people seldom paid any attention to the events happening around them, whether big or small. To try to promote volunteer blood donations under these circumstances, the level of difficulties was imaginable. However, even in the most difficult period, the Hong Kong Red Cross did not abandon its principle on volunteer blood donations. It held firmly to blood collection through the practice of volunteer assistance. 8 In fact, after many years of struggling for publicity and expansion, by the early 1960s, this had begun to bring concrete results (See Table 1). And the number of local Chinese giving blood had evidently gone up. As for the care for the sick, the Hong Kong Red Cross had c o n t i n u e d to work at it doggedly and quietly. T h e Red Cross continued to organize volunteer teams to assist local hospitals in rear services such as cutting and sewing gauzes and bandages, and preparing cotton balls. At the same time, it also continued to provide diversional therapy in the hospitals, as well as looking for sales avenues for the art-and-craft works made by patients. As for visits to

The mobile eye clinic was established in 1959.

the sick and providing recreational activities for patients, these volunteer services were gradually shouldered by the Junior Links. Also, the mobile eye clinic was established in 1959. This was a further expansion of the services of the Red Cross. Between 1957 and 1965, the hospital school service provided by the Hong Kong Red Cross expanded its scope from four to seven schools. Some students only needed temporary service during their hospitalization. Others (like children who were physically challenged) required long-term schooling inside the hospital. For the Red Cross, whether these were short-term or long-term needs, its motivation was always based on the consideration that everyone — including those who were injured or sick — had the right to receive education, and it took care of the various needs of sick children in hospitals. In 1962, the Hong Kong Red Cross opened the Princess Alexandra Red Cross Children's Home to take care of 60 children with health problems or physical disabilities. It can be said that by the early 1960s, the work of the Hong Kong Red Cross in hospital school service and caring for the physically handicapped children had gradually taken shape. Material shortages have never blinded the Red Cross to its priorities and based on its principle of always caring for the sick and the injured, it has never sacrificed the less fortunate in the face of what some might consider of more importance. 1

2

3

4 5 6

7

8

Hong Kong Government, 'A problem of people', Hong Kong Annual Report: 1956 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1957), p. 2. Edvard Hambro, The Problem of Chinese Refugees in Hong Kong (Leyden: A. W. Sijthoff, 1955), pp. 45-47. Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Population and Housing Census: 1971 Main Report (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1972), p. 80 (in Chinese). Hambro, 1955, p. 62. Census and Statistic Department, 1972, p. 37. Nelson W. S. Chou, Social Welfare in Hong Kong: Development and Policy (Hong Kong: University Publisher and Printer, 1980), p. 19 (in Chinese). The Chinese are very reluctant to part with their blood and even when a relation receives a transfusion and they are asked to replace the blood for the Bank, they almost invariably pay someone hard up to do so!' Quoted from 'Lady Limerick's and Miss Bark's Visit to Far East — Autumn 1955', p. 44. There were discussions, including reviews of suggestions made about granting blood donors some incentives and privileges for their contributions, about how to mobilize the Chinese population to give blood. See 'Report from Mrs M Strathie, January and February 1955'. The idea of voluntary blood donation was firmly held by the Hong Kong Red Cross.

CHAPTER

Change

ALEXANDRA 5 RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL

m

. sA M

Graduates of the Princess Alexandra Red Cross Residential School (1968).

The Arrival of the Younger Generation The mid-1960s was the watershed in the social development of Hong Kong society. It unveiled a new scene in contemporary Hong Kong. 1966: According to census statistics, slightly over half (53.8%) of Hong Kong's residents were native born.1 By the mid-1960s, due to changes in the demographic structure — especially the growth of the generation born after the war — the so-called 'native born and bred' became a phrase that had concrete meaning. For a migrant society, this simple social statistical information had quite a specific and significant meaning. A native sentiment — of being 'native born and bred' — gradually replaced the former feelings of being a sojourner in the attitudes towards various issues in Hong Kong society. However, many young people at the time had yet to develop such strong feelings towards the collective experience of 'growing up in Hong Kong'. In fact, the mid-1960s was merely a transitional period in which Hong Kong transformed from a refugee society to a community with a local consciousness. Most ordinary citizens would have to develop their attachment and their sense of belonging to Hong Kong society at much later stages. Having said that, the mid-1960s saw the beginning of this social transformation. And the growth of a native-born-and-bred, postwar generation also expedited changes in the society. In the meantime, during the mid-1960s, Hong Kong society felt the impact of two large-scale social conflicts (that is, the Kowloon riots in 1966 and the riots of 1967). These two large-scale social conflicts revealed the many contradictions long-hidden in the colony, and brought tremendous shock to the entire society. Their aftermath also brought about many social reforms. All at once, there were expectations for something new and every strata of the entire Hong Kong society had to be reoriented. After the shake-up, there was a feeling of expectancy for change in society. This was a period preparing for more dramatic changes in the following years. The Hong Kong Red Cross educated the younger

34 generation and spread the seeds for more thorough changes. At the same time, the Hong Kong Red Cross continued to work intensively, though often unassumingly, in the areas of welfare services for the vulnerable groups (for example, disabled children). It was not merely a provision of services, but also a recognition of the needs of the needy and of equal opportunities for people regardless of their mental and physical conditions.

Education: A Pioneering Role The mid-1960s was also an important stage for the Hong Kong Red Cross. In the education of sick and disabled children in hospitals, the Hong Kong Red Cross also played a pioneering role. Apart from continuing to provide hospital school services to take care of the educational needs of sick children in the hospitals, the Red Cross also paid attention to the needs of the physically handicapped children. The Princess Alexandra Red Cross Residential School, which was opened in 1962 as a children's home, took care of disabled primary school students, mostly polio patients. The school had places for students who attended by commuting, but the majority of students were boarding The John F Kennedy Centre was opened in 1967. students. These students with families went home on weekends and holidays to be with their families. In 1966, the Tsz Wan Shan Red Cross School, established in Block 47 of the Tsz Wan Shan Resettlement Estate, was a governmentsubsidized, whole-day primary school, set up especially for physically handicapped children. The children attending the Tsz Wan Shan Red Cross School were taken to and from

school daily by school buses. Besides receiving primary school education according to their age and level of intellectual functioning, they also had the opportunity to receive physical therapy and to participate in extracurricular activities. In 1971, among the graduates from primary 6, some went on to attend ordinary secondary schools,some transferred to primary 6 in neighbouring ordinary primary schools to prepare for the Secondary School Entrance Examination, while some received job training. In 1967, another Red Cross school, the John F Kennedy Centre, was opened in Sandy Bay on Hong Kong Island, providing schooling and boarding for physically handicapped (such as 'spastic') children and youth aged between four and twenty. Through the use of 'transdisciplinary approach', the professional staff in the school plan and organize appropriate integrated educational and training programmes for each student. All students receive preschool and general education up to junior secondary level; those with better learning and academic abilities may proceed to senior secondary level and sit for the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination. The school curriculum basically follows that of the mainstream schools. For those students with learning difficulties, special functional programmes will be designed and tailor-made for them to match their needs. Those with severe disabilities will be given individualized education programmes The John F Kennedy Centre: Integrated educational and training programmes.

36 and the assistance of technical aids to maximize the effects of their learning. Such programmes are usually designed collectively by teachers, occupational therapists, social workers and the educational psychologist, based on the level and educational needs of the students. In respect to therapy work, the school places a lot of emphasis on integrating the functions of various therapy programmes with t h e aim of helping s t u d e n t s Bedside teaching in the Princess Margaret apply all they have learnt to Hospital Red Cross School. their daily life and activities. In view of the need for more comprehensive caring, the Hong Kong Red Cross established the Block 21 Hostel at the Tsz Wan Shan R e s e t t l e m e n t Estate in 1968. It was set up for graduates of the Princess Alexandra Red Cross Residential School who were under 18 and who did not have the care of a family. It was hoped that the services provided by the hostel could assist these students to integrate with the wider community.

Patient Concern Library Service in hospitals. Light the Darkness

Moreover, t h e M a r g a r e t T r e n c h Red Cross School, a w h o l e - d a y school w i t h four p r i m a r y c l a s s e s and t w o secondary classes especially for severely handicapped children located in Sandy Bay, began operations in 1973. At the early stages of its development, the M a r g a r e t T r e n c h Red Cross School recruited students with physical disabilities. Advances in m e d i c a l s e r v i c e s h a d significantly improved the s u r v i v a l o p p o r t u n i t i e s for

37 children with severe disabilities. As a result, the school gradually broadened its scope of service and began to recruit more students with multiple and severe disabilities. By the early 1970s, with the establishment of these special schools, the Hong Kong Red Cross had become a key organization in the areas of hospital schools and special education. As usual, the work of the Hong Kong Red Cross is practical and unassuming. Its services forcefully illustrate its commitment to humanitarian values.

A Quiet Revolution T h e solid a n d low-profile development of hospital schools and special education seemed a bit out of step with the rhythm of Hong Kong during the mid1960s and the early 1970s in which the atmosphere was one of new changes propelled by the younger generation. However, when we turn our attention to other areas of work by the Red Cross, the effects brought by the changing pace of the society will be clearly evident.

CROSS HEADQUARTERS

As for how to positively face t h e emerging changes in t h e society at the time, maybe we The opening of the Anne Black Hong Kong Red Cross Headquarters. can use, as a starting point of our discussion, the official opening of the Anne Black Hong Kong Red Cross Headquarters on Harcourt Road in October 1965. The completion of the headquarters building provided the Red Cross with better conditions to develop its programmes. The most immediate effect could be seen in the collection of blood. The Junior Links and other administrative work all showed more positive progress because of the increased work space and the overall administration being focused at the headquarters. Change

As I have already mentioned above, at the beginning of the 1960s, blood donation from local Chinese residents had a tendency to rise gradually. By 1964, for the first time, the percentage of donations from local Chinese residents rose above that from foreigners living in Hong Kong. In 1968, the blood donated by the Chinese residents comprised 31.5% of total volunteer blood donation. Since moving into the headquarters, the department in charge of blood collection services greatly expanded its operations, and took the initiative to publicize, promote and develop new sources of blood. The mobile teams for blood collection services had never ceased their hard work; they visited all sorts of organizations — from local army barracks to naval ships visiting Hong Kong — to recruit volunteer blood donors. By the mid-1960s, blood collection services gradually turned local, and more promotions were done in government departments (especially the law-enforcement forces), community organizations and schools, which helped to gradually turn the sources of blood away from a disproportionate dependence on foreign military personnel.

Young students constituted the main source of blood supply in the 1970s. This photograph shows the blood donation campaign at the University of Hong Kong in 1971.

39 With hindsight, we can see that this shift in the work of blood collection successfully changed the concept of blood donation for the younger generation who were native born and bred. Most importantly, during this process of transformation, not only did the Hong Kong Red Cross change the former attitude of fear towards blood donation among Hong Kong citizens, it also allowed them to understand the concept of volunteer blood donation and saving lives through blood donation. This transformation can be described as a 'quiet revolution7. In its annual report for 1971-72, the Hong Kong Red Cross reported on the progress for blood collection for that year: 'Although we are increasing our blood collection, we are the first to realize that the supply falls short of the demand. The total number of donations for the year rose to 30 416, of which 59.83% was given by local residents, 26.3% HM Forces, and 13.9% by the US, French and Merchant Navies/ 2 On the surface, this paragraph did not have anything unusual. Following past practices, the annual report listed the total figures for blood donation and some background information on the donors. However, anyone who is familiar with the Red Cross's past blood donation statistics will be able to discover two interesting aspects. One, although military units were still an important source of blood, its significance had slightly decreased as compared to before. The ratio of local residents had already exceeded more than 50% of all blood donors. Two, when categorizing the social backgrounds of the donors, local Chinese and foreigners were no longer handled separately. This change in categorization does not mean that the Red Cross was deliberately trying to conceal certain data. In fact, for a long time, due to the lack of enthusiasm on the part of local residents to the blood drive, the Red Cross had especially highlighted this problem for discussion in its annual reports. The reality was, with the efforts made by the Red Cross, along with the maturation of a younger generation that had gradually developed a sense of belonging for Hong Kong, the sources for collecting volunteer blood donation had quickly become localized. For a number of years after 1972, the main reason for the large-scale increase in the amount of blood collected was that many more local residents were actively responding to the calls for blood donation. During this process of rapid growth in the figures for local blood

donors, under the tremendous push by the Hong Kong Red Cross, young students quickly replaced the British army and law enforcement forces and became the chief source for volunteer blood donation. Starting from 1970, in order to cope with this increased acceptance of blood donation among the general public, the Hong Kong Red Cross took the initiative to strengthen its publicity campaigns, and hired consulting firms to be in charge of related projects. The goal is to instil in the community the idea of blood donation to save lives. Between 1974 and 1975, the age limit for blood donation was lowered to 16 years old, which also helped to absorb more young people to become volunteer blood donors.

Energy of the Youths Among the many different programmes carried out during this period, the development of the 'Red Cross Youth' could be considered as one that was closer to the pulse of society. The Red Cross has always paid attention to the importance of promoting its mission and work among young people. In fact, early as 1952, there were already plan to promote educational activities related to the work of the Red Cross among children and young people. But due to the urgent need of many other operations (such as disaster relief and hospital schools), along with tight resources and limited staff, the first team of the Junior Links was not established until 1956.

A film show as a kind of social service organized by the Junior Links members.

41 At the beginning of the 1960s, participation in the Junior Links was clearly on the rise. The number of members had gone up from 57 when it first began to 1110 in 1963. Activities of the Junior Links also developed rapidly. Its volunteer services included organizing classes and summer sessions for poor children,- visiting the sick in hospitals, children with disabilities, seniors, the visually impaired, orphans, families temporarily staying in cholera quarantine centres, and organizing recreational Recreational activities for children organized activities for them. At the same Junior Links members. time, members also participated in health education programmes and assisted various public institutions to promote public health and promotional activities on health. Junior Links members also took part in training related to first aid, nursing care, public health, and fire prevention.

by the

I have already mentioned at the beginning of this chapter that the mid-1960s was a time of social upheaval. After the 1966 and 1967 riots, the British government in Hong Kong was particularly anxious about how to increase the sense of belonging for the young generation towards Hong Kong society. Under such circumstances, different social organizations were developing their youth programmes. The Hong Kong Red Cross was no exception. In fact, with the continual growth of the Junior Links, the Red Cross also needed to mobilize more staff and resources to consolidate and further encourage youth participation in the Red Cross's humanitarian work. In 1967, the Hong Kong Red Cross carried out a reorganization of its youth programmes. To begin with, Youth and Junior Executive Committee was established. It was chaired by an Assistant Branch Director, who was responsible for designing and carrying out policies. Secondly, some of the Junior Links attached to the secondary schools were reorganized into the uniformed Cadet Units. Thirdly, its Change

administration was divided into divisions (Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories respectively). Each division had its own office and staff, who led the work of the units within the division. The establishment and the later reorganization of the Youth and Junior Executive Committee helped to strengthen the Red Cross's work in the area of youth affairs. For instance, starting from 1968 (the year marked the beginning of the Annual Parade), the training and basic drills that had to be undertaken before joining a unit were standardized. At the same time, there was a strengthening of members' knowledge of the history of the Red Cross Movement, the organizational structure of the Hong Kong Red Cross, and basic first aid. In 1964, for the first time, the Hong Kong Red Cross sent a delegation of 10 youth members to participate in an International Red Cross Youth Programme — the Tokyo Olympic Youth Camp. Through their participation in such international exchanges and activities, the young members had the opportunity to learn more about the practice of humanitarian services in different national and cultural contexts. More importantly, they had the chance of widening their international horizon so as to better understanding the changing world. It could be said that even though the Red Cross Youth had been developing steadily since t h e mid-1950s, t h e expansion and formalization of the units only started to take off from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s. The rapid growth of the units gave many young people who joined the work of the units around this time the opportunity to nurture their leadership skills and spirit of cooperation through active participation. In addition to their learning of all kinds of knowledge and skills, their self-awareness and social skills all took place around the events of the units. Rapid growth in youth activities under the Red Cross opened doors for active members. As long as they were willing to take part in various activities, young people would be given the opportunity of becoming active members and of playing important roles in strengthening the youth programme. For many members, the Red Cross Youth was the core activity in their formative years. Participating in the Red Cross Youth activities has become one of their most cherished adolescent experiences, as their teenage years evolved around the Red Cross.

T h e Red Cross itself also received n e w i m p e t u s from t h e development of the units and their members. In 1973, the Youth and Junior Department drafted its first Five-Year Plan. In 1974, it carried o u t a full-scale e v a l u a t i o n of its o r g a n i z a t i o n a l s t r u c t u r e , administration and activities. The special committee responsible for the evaluation recommended developing more channels to allow m e m b e r s at all levels to participate in designing policies that regulated activities of the units. Therefore, starting from 1975, the Executive Committee added members who were representatives chosen from general elections and leaders of all youth groups. The reorganization of its structure significantly enhanced the opportunity for youth members to participate in the work of the committee on different levels. It also promoted the spirit that youth members were the core members of the Red Cross's youth work. Every year, new members joined the Red Cross Youth and older members helped them to integrate with this growing community. The youth members played a very important role in continuing the work of the Red Cross. In t e r m s of a c t i v i t i e s , t h e Red Cross Youth had always participated actively in all social services. These included playing a supporting role in the disaster relief work during the 6.18 rain disaster of 1972, with a general mobilization at disaster relief centres and temporary shelters. This amply demonstrated the team spirit and spirit of service of the steadily growing Red Cross Youth.

A Decade-Long Transformation Within the ten years between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s, Hong Kong transformed from a 'refugee society' permeated with the mentality of sojourners to a local society which was gradually developing a sense of belonging and social concern. In these ten years, a Hong Kong Red Cross with a local character was also being solidly established.

1

2

Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Statistics: 1947-1967 (Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1969), p. 22. Hong Kong Red Cross, Hong Kong Red Cross Annual Report: 1971-72, p. 4.

From Receiving Help to Self-Help and Helping Others

Tracing service for Vietnamese refugees.

I

f the 1960s was the transitional period ushering in drastic changes in Hong Kong society, then the 1970s can be described as an era with marked changes in the mentality of Hong Kong people. Many of the social changes that had been in the process of formation during the 1960s were concretely displayed around the mid- and late 1970s. The unrest and riots in the mid-1960s stimulated the young, native-born-and-bred generation to consider seriously their relationship with the society. This was a period for the young to search for their roots and to reflect on their identity. While the voices and actions of the young expressed dissatisfaction, they also showed that their generation was very different from their predecessors. They had concerns for and demands from their society. While raising questions and voicing criticisms, they were consciously or unconsciously affirming their identities as Hong Kong citizens. Unlike the generations before them, they were no longer merely sojourners in transit who cared little about what happened in society. Due to this sense of belonging and a sense of participation, they were able to respond to and raise comments and suggestions about society and issues concerning them. The so-called 'MacLehose Era7 of the 1970s — generally referring to the Ten-Year Housing Programme, nine-year free education, the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, and other policy initiatives which shaped a new state-society relationship — was indeed constructed on the social foundation of a sense of belonging that had already been formed in society as a whole. Perhaps, by putting it differently, the reason why the 1970s hold such a special place in the hearts of many people is that during that time, Hong Kong society began its step on the track of selfimprovement. The social conflicts and struggles in the 1960s and 1970s had made the government respond more sensitively to its many social problems, and became more aware of the importance of accountability to local demands.

46 During the 1970s, more and more of the children born in the 1940s and 1950s, the so-called postwar baby-boomers, had graduated and s t a r t e d to develop t h e i r careers in a v i b r a n t e c o n o m i c environment, and as a result, helped reduce the former burden on their families. Indeed, their contributions to their families (from buying all kinds of electrical appliances to paying for their younger siblings 7 education) had a significant impact on improving their families' quality of living. 1 More importantly, whether these young people went to university or started to work, the opportunities for development that they received attested to the fact that Hong Kong was an open society in which the younger generation could obtain personal achievement through hard work. After the economic recession ignited by the Oil Crisis in the early 1970s had receded, Hong Kong people were even more confident about their future, and believed that Hong Kong was gradually transforming into an affluent society. It was during this process of social change that the people of Hong Kong developed their feelings for Hong Kong. For the majority of Hong Kong people, it was only in the 1970s — particularly after the mid-1970s — that a genuine recognition of Hong Kong as their permanent home was more clearly revealed. This feeling of native attachment has two aspects. On the one hand, it is a force promoting social unity,- on the other hand, it has a tendency to discriminate against outsiders. Hong Kong people of the 1970s learnt about each other's commonality through the process of social change. It was also through an external stimulus — refugees from Vietnam and new immigrants from mainland China who had entered Hong Kong illegally — that, with a sense of 'we' vs. 'they', they were even more self-conscious of their identity as Hong Kong people. In the mid-1970s, t h e Hong Kong Red Cross had similar experiences. For quite a long time, the Hong Kong Red Cross had been putting its efforts in local projects and services. It had always played a pioneering role in special education and in hospital schools, recruiting more local people to participate in blood donation through education and promotion, and developing youth and adult volunteer teams. All of these were results of the continuous hard work done

47 by the Hong Kong Red Cross. It was not until the mid-1970s, through its activities in Vietnamese refugees relief, that the Hong Kong Red Cross expanded its vision from a local focus to a broader humanitarian and relief work. As one could have expected, the question of what role to play in Vietnamese refugees relief was not without controversies. T h e situation was similar to the hesitation and doubts that Hong Kong society exhibited in its response to the Vietnamese refugees and illegal immigrants from mainland China. Apart from failing to reach a consensus on this issue, many people were actually concerned about the negative effects that these problems would bring to Hong Kong. By comparison, the situation with the Hong Kong Red Cross was quite straightforward. Based on its principle of providing support and relief in times of emergencies and crises, the Hong Kong Red Cross did not hesitate to lend a helping hand to the Vietnamese refugees who were left homeless and in dire need of assistance.

The Vietnamese Boat People Services provided for Vietnamese refugees were major tasks handled by the Hong Kong Red Cross in the mid-1970s. In 1975, w h e n t h e Vietnamese regime changed ^^^^^ hands, the Hong Kong Red C r o s s i m m e d i a t e l y purchased large q u a n t i t i e s of food, medical supplies and o t h e r relief i t e m s for t h e British Red Cross and shipped them to D a n a n g and Haiphong. At the same time, responding to a request by the I n t e r n a t i o n a l Red Cross, a shipping company in Hong Kong was commissioned to deliver various shipments of medical supplies and relief In May 1975, the Danish freighter Clara Maersk carried over commodities to Saigon, which 3700 Vietnamese refugees to Hong Kong.

MAERS Help to Self-Help

had been donated by the People's Republic of China, England, and Canada. The political changes in Vietnam ignited a massive flood of refugees. In May 1975, the Danish freighter Clara Maersk carried over 3700 Vietnamese refugees to Hong Kong. The Red Cross organized a team of 50 people to prepare all kinds of relief items for them, and carried out an all-night distribution of relief commodities at the Princess Margaret Hospital. Later, it also provided different services (such as organizing recreational activities) for Vietnamese refugees who were temporarily housed in army barracks. When refugees began to flood in, the Hong Kong Red Cross received countless cases seeking assistance in tracing relatives, with the hope that the Red Cross could help the applicants to reunite with their family and friends. In December 1978, the freighter HueyFong, which was carrying over 3000 Vietnamese refugees and had at first been denied entry into the Hong Kong territory, was stalled in the ocean about a mile and a half south of Po Toi Island. It was not until January 1979 that the Hong Kong government allowed the Huey Fong to enter Hong Kong on humanitarian grounds. Arrangements were also made for the refugees on board to disembark in groups, and to stay at the former base camp of the Royal Air Force at Kai Tak Airport. After the HueyFong, there were more ships carrying Vietnamese refugees who were seeking asylum. The number of Vietnamese refugees continued to rise. Along with the increase in the number of refugees stuck in Hong Kong, the question of how to take care of their lives inside the detention centres became a rather urgent problem. In May 1979, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) invited the Hong Kong Red Cross to take over control of the North Kai Tak Temporary Transit Centre, which was still a government detention centre at the time. The Red Cross appointed Lieutenant Colonel Peter Scott to organize a management committee and took official control over the temporary transit centre on 1 August of that year. After taking over the North Kai Tak Temporary Transit Centre, the Hong Kong Red Cross arranged for it to transform from a detention centre into an

49 open camp, which allowed the refugees the freedom and opportunity to go out and work. Later, the UNHCR also invited the Red Cross to expand the North Kai Tak Clinic into a medical centre. In addition to general out-patient services, this medical centre also provided hospitalization services. The funding for this temporary transit centre came mainly from the UNHCR. As the services needed by the refugees were no longer limited to emergency relief, the Red Cross — in collaboration with other volunteer organizations — provided the refugees with more comprehensive welfare and services. These included the New Horizon School (a full-day programme and job training for primary and secondary school children), organized by the Hong Kong Christian Service inside the shelter in February 1983, and the Child Care Centre organized by the Norwegian Missionary Society. Other services included library facilities, an unaccompanied women's home, elderly centre, psychiatric centre, etc. However, with the passing of time, the pace of refugees in Hong Kong emigrating abroad began to relax,- the nature of services needed by the refugees therefore no longer belonged to emergency relief operations. Under such circumstances, the Hong Kong Red Cross

North Kai Tak Centre for Vietnamese refugees, in which medical service was provided.

50 decided in 1985, and formally notified the Hong Kong government in October 1986, that once all the refugees from the Jubilee Centre had moved into the North Kai Tak Centre, and after all the transfer procedures had been completed with the organization that was taking over, the Red Cross would withdraw from the refugee shelter. On 1 March 1987, the Hong Kong Red Cross officially relinquished the responsibility for the North Kai Tak Refugee Shelter, which was taken over by the Hong Kong Christian Aid to Refugees Limited.

Producing identity cards for the refugees living in temporary transit centres.

Conditions of accommodation at the temporary transit centres.

Light the Darkness

51 Apart from the management of the North Kai Tak Refugee Shelter, the services provided to the Vietnamese refugees by the Hong Kong Red Cross also included tracing and mailing services. Due to the large number of refugees, the Red Cross expanded its tracing operations in 1979. In this process of expansion, Ms Sandra Singer, Director of International Welfare of the British Red Cross Society, provided guidance and assistance. Later, the International Committee of the Red Cross also sent Mr M. Pachtimaldjian to Hong Kong to take up the position of Tracing Adviser for three months. With the assistance of large numbers of members and volunteers, the Red Cross quickly completed hundreds of thousands of refugee data cards. At the same time, based on information provided by the refugees, their relatives and friends in Hong Kong Tracing service. were contacted. The staff of the tracing service also provided free stationery and stamps for refugees in the temporary transit centre or on board the freighters (like the Tien Wan), as well as sent out mail and packages on their behalf. In the many services provided to the Vietnamese refugees, members of the Youth and Welfare Department of the Hong Kong Red Cross also actively participated. After the Hong Kong Red Cross had taken up the management of the North Kai Tak Temporary Transit Centre, a team responsible for organizing the educational and welfare activities inside the centre was formed by the Youth and Welfare Department. Large numbers of young volunteers also assisted in the setting up of a tracing service within a very short time. Based on limited data (for instance, incomplete addresses), they helped the refugees in need to search for their relatives in Hong Kong.

Regular Services In addition to developing new services for the Vietnamese refugees, the Hong Kong Red Cross continued to expand its many existing social services. In fact, since the 1970s, every aspect of the work of the Hong Kong Red Cross had been firmly established. Frameworks Help to Self-Help

and standards regarding the provisions of various kinds of services had been nicely set up. Fitting in w i t h t h e i n s t i t u t i o n a l and organizational requirements prescribed by funding bodies and related government policies, the organizational structure, management as well as the supervision of service provisions had been systematized. By the mid-1970s, the Hong Kong Red Cross had reached a certain level of organizational maturity. The emphasis of its work was placed upon looking after those who were neglected and in need of attention and care. Among its many initiatives and services, there were new developments in the hospital school service, in response to the changing circumstances and needs of the sick children. The most significant was the opening of two new classes in 1977-78 to provide educational services to children w i t h e m o t i o n a l and behavioural problems (such as autism). At the time, one of the classes was set up in the University Child and Family Day Psychiatric Unit at Queen Mary Hospital and another was set up at the Yaumatei Child Psychiatric Centre. In 1982-83, a junior secondary school class was also set up in the psychiatric ward of the United Christian Hospital. This new project was not merely an expansion of the hospital school services. Its significance lay in the fact that certain

Children learning to become self-reliant at the Margaret Trench Red Cross School.

53 long-neglected needs were now addressed within the scope of its services, which would also give young patients in psychiatric wards the opportunity to receive education.

1976: Volunteers participating in a cleaning community campaign in Chai Wan.

The annual parade has been one of the most important activities for the Red Cross Youth since 1968.

£*•• -

CSi:•''•'-^-ro^-a** id>4 •*•

'flLjT

Help to Self-Help

As a result of years of continued efforts in promotion and education by the Red Cross, by 1981, Chinese residents constituted 90% of all blood donors. The message of helping others by donating blood has been deeply ingrained among the general public. And in the supply of blood, Hong Kong has been turning from receiving help to self-help. Youth and volunteer services have always been an important realm of the many operations of the Hong Kong Red Cross. In order to cope better with the internal needs of the organization (like retaining members of the Cadet Units who had become adults), the Red Cross put the Welfare Section and the Ladies7 Working Groups under the Youth and Junior Department, which was formally reorganized as the Youth and Welfare Department in April 1976. In November of the same year, the Members' Groups of the Red Cross were reconvened. After this reorganization, all operations concerning organizing, training and developing volunteer workers were placed under the Youth and Welfare Department. The organizational restructure mentioned above reflects an important feature of the work of the Hong Kong Red Cross on youth and volunteer services. Many youth members have been very active and committed to the Hong Kong Red Cross. Furthermore, many continue to play an active role after leaving their secondary schools. This sense of commitment best shows how the youth members have internalized the values of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and have taken them as their personal goals and orientations. This is part of the reasons why the Hong Kong Red Cross can continue to promote humanitarian values successfully in one generation after another. In its early days, the work of the Hong Kong Red Cross had never been involved with first aid and rescue services. This was a direction that had been determined as the scope of its operations when the Red Cross was first established. Over the years, the Hong Kong Red Cross has shown definite performance in providing services in different areas, so the authorities concerned invited the Red Cross to participate when they were promoting industrial rescue operations. The Training Section of the Youth and Welfare Department offered the First Aid Course for workers in various factories. An Industrial First Aid Manual7 was also compiled for use in the training courses.

Moreover, the Training Section held regular first aid seminars in youth organizations and schools, as well as promoted and popularized knowledge of first aid through the local mass media.

A Will to Help For over a decade since 1975, the Hong Kong Red Cross has played an important role in the work of caring for the needy. From the perspective of the development of the Hong Kong Red Cross, this was not only an important task during the 1970s and 1980s, but also during the course of providing services, there was a full realization of the gradual transformation of Hong Kong society from receiving help to self-help,- and there was also the emergence of a society that helps others.

1

On the mobilization of family members to taking up paid jobs and thus enhancing the level of household incomes, see Janet W. Salaff, Working Daughters of Hong Kong (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981); Po King Choi, Every Evening at Six Thirty (Hong Kong: Step Forward Multi-Media Publications, 1998) [in Chinese].

CHAPTER

6

Bearing Witness to an Era

Discipline and participation

The Era Hong Kong society of the 1980s had a dual character. On the one hand, having inherited various self-improvements and social reforms from the 1970s, Hong Kong society continued to further improve and upgrade itself based on changes in the environment and in the needs of society. In this respect, there is continuity in the development and progress of Hong Kong society. But on the other hand, soon after the 1980s began, Hong Kong society had to face the question of the political future of the entire society. The beginning of negotiations on the future of Hong Kong had tremendous impact on people from different social strata. Since then, all social issues, big or small, were inevitably linked with the 1997 question. All the different political, economic and cultural arrangements and discussions concerning Hong Kong society could not be separated from macroscopic and microscopic topics brought about by the changes in Hong Kong's political status in 1997. Changes in the larger environment created an additional, externally motivated and unpredictable characteristic to the development of many issues in society. The development of these issues often did not have any continuity and this is not always a bad thing. Seen from another perspective, changes in the larger environment provided new impetus for leaping changes and accelerated the pace of social change. As a non-governmental organization advocating and practising humanitarianism, the Hong Kong Red Cross, in response to Hong Kong's new social and political agendas in the 1980s, did not have the same complex emotions of the ordinary citizen when he or she faced a murky political prospect. The mission and goal of the Hong Kong Red Cross is to promote humanitarianism, to care for and assist the injured, the sick, and the weak, and to advocate volunteer social services. These predetermined operations and overall directions for the development of the organization were definitely not changed in any way by the political transition brought by the 1997 Handover. But since Hong Kong's political status were to be altered in 1997,

58 the status of the Hong Kong Red Cross also had to be changed from being a branch of the British Red Cross to a highly independent regional branch of the Red Cross Society of China. Within the entire era that involved changes in the political future of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Red Cross also participated in this important historical change. Changes in Hong Kong society in the 1980s and 1990s were manifold. In a world of speedy changes, one of the major challenges encountered by the Hong Kong Red Cross during this period was, on the basis of established directions and practices of various services, to mobilize social resources for the further promotion and development of its humanitarian work. In addition to the need of continuous self-improvement and enhancement of quality services, the Hong Kong Red Cross had to meet the rising demands for quality services and to deploy its resources more efficiently and effectively. In short, the Hong Kong Red Cross had to catch up with the pace of social and economic progress and to ensure that it could develop its own mechanism for continuous self-improvement. Learning through activities at hospital school.

Continuing to Play the Pioneering Role: Special Education and Hospital Schools 'We provide sick and disabled youth with the equal opportunity for education, to develop their potentials and enhance their capacities to live a dignified life and to become contributing members of the society.' This passage explains the mission of the Hong Kong Red Cross in special education and hospital schools. Over the years, the Hong Kong Red Cross has continued

to play a pioneering and important role in the areas of special education and hospital schools, which is evident to all. More importantly, the Hong Kong Red Cross has not slackened its pace in these areas but has continued to improve the quality of its services in response to the needs of the times. In pedagogy, 'conductive education' and 'individual integrated programmes' have been adopted to integrate teaching, therapy and daily care. These programmes are conducted by an integrated work team. And, based on the training needed for the students' writing and motor skills, the teacher and physical, speech and occupational therapists from the team will collectively provide assistance to each individual student. During the same period, different Red Cross schools also gradually introduced computer technology, and promoted computerassisted instructions in order to stimulate students' interests in learning. This also raised their ability in using computers as a learning and communication tool, and helped improve the quality of teaching and learning. To meet the needs of the rapidly changing environment, the Hong Kong Red Cross has made great efforts to secure additional resources for improving the facilities and the quality of services of its special schools. Firstly, the Princess Alexandra Red Cross Residential School and the Tsz Wan Shan Red Cross School were merged into one school with the provision of primary and secondary schooling and boarding services. Secondly, the curriculum of hospital schools and that of Margaret Trench Red Cross School was extended to lower secondary level. Furthermore, with the generous support from a number of charity organizations, the John F Kennedy Centre was extended to improve the learning and living environment for the children. The project was finally completed in 1998. In hospital schools, the innovative method of home-based teaching was introduced. In response to the changing needs of young patients, in September 1994, hospital schools started a 'home-based teaching programme' service to provide educational service for sick children who had long-term (at least 3 months') recuperation at home. This service was conducted by a team of mobile teachers in the schools, who would go to the sick children's homes to carry out instruction.

Mobilization Recruiting volunteers to participate in various social services and to take care of the injured, the sick and the weak has always been one of the key operations of the Hong Kong Red Cross. Mobilizing young members and volunteers is also a task which has continued nonstop over the years. However, the Hong Kong Red Cross's work in this area has never been confined to youth alone. For example, the Ladies' Working Groups, established since the beginning of the organization, were renamed Red Cross Volunteers Groups in 1991. T h e goal was to d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t t h e targets for v o l u n t e e r recruitment had been diversified and was no longer limited to women. In addition, the Hong Kong Red Cross established the Elderly Volunteers Detachment in October 1992 and recruited people over 50 years old to participate in volunteer services. Hence, people from 8 to 80 could also participate in the volunteer services of the Hong Kong Red Cross.

The annual parade.

An important development in youth work is further progress in strengthening the organization of training and quality assurance. As for the development of the Red Cross Youth, in addition to the regular social services and members' training, the pattern of the members' activities is mapped out in a Progressive Programme Scheme that started in September 1996. This scheme is built around the five goals

61 of the Red Cross (they are protection of life and health, service to the community, promotion of friendship and mutual understanding, and dissemination of the Red Cross spirit and personality development). It divides the process of the members' learning and practice into several stages and implements them systematically. Through learning and participation in activities, members will be able to acquire a deeper understanding of the five main activity goals of the Red Cross Youth. The launching of the Progressive Programme Scheme reflects the fact that the Red Cross Youth development has already reached a certain level which requires increased systematization of their activities. At the same time, the scheme also demonstrates that the Hong Kong Red Cross is requiring more from its youth members, hoping that they do not only participate in activities enthusiastically, but also have a deeper understanding of the spirit and principles of the Red Cross. To coordinate with the localization of services and activities, the Youth and Welfare Department officially opened its Hong Kong headquarters in Wan Chai in November 1989. The East Kowloon Division Headquarters for uniform group service was also opened at the beginning of 1995. In September 1996, the health training centre located in the Bradbury Shatin Centre of the Hong Kong Red

Members of the Red Cross Youth visiting singleton elderly.

Social service by members of the Elderly Volunteers Detachment. Bearing Witness to an En

62

Japanese ladies preparing bandages for local hospitals.

Cross as well as the New Territories East Activities Centre especially set up for uniform members also began their services. At the same time, the hospital library service, which had operated for years without a budget, finally received support from the Hospital Authority in 1994. Not only could the service be expanded to more hospitals, it was also able to develop more comprehensively, and provided books and care for patients. As a result of the volunteers' active participation, this service was extended to cover hospital wards of mental patients. Also, with funding from local donors and business organizations, the first mini-theatre in hospital (for institutionalized mental patients) was established in 1998 in Kwai Chung Hospital. This serves the purpose of providing

63 more diversified recreational activities to the patients. Also, it encourages the patients to participate more actively in social activities. Indeed, the success of the entire caring project for hospital patients depends significantly on the active involvement of the volunteers and youth members. The volunteers see their participation as a way to show their caring for the patients rather than just carrying out another volunteer service. Their concern for the patients becomes the best means for motivating volunteers to give their best to attend to the needs of the patients. The Medical Equipment Loan Service, another service which had met with numerous difficulties in its development due to budget constraints and limited resources, received affirmation from the Red Cross for its achievement in realizing the mission of the organization. It also received outside support and made remarkable progress in 1996-97. This service was renamed the Mobility Equipment Loan Service, and a management committee responsible for matters related to management and development was established. The Mobility Equipment Loan Service Pauline Chan Centre was officially opened in April 1997 to further expand and strengthen related services.

The success of the patient concern library service in hospitals depends on the contributions by members of the Red Cross Youth and volunteers.

.V^C^Iadl

5E2333EE1

64

The Mobility Equipment Service.

First aid competition. Light the Darkness

Loan

In 1993, after years of struggle, the Industrial First Aid Training unit also began to receive funding from the Health Department to support its regular expenses for first aid training activities. In fact, in the previous year, the Hong Kong Red Cross had already expanded its first aid training service to educational institutions, social service agencies, public utility organizations and individual citizens who had the need or interest. In view of this, starting from November 1993, the entire project was renamed First Aid Training Centre and different types of first aid training programmes were also set up. The '1993-98 Development Project' drawn up by the Youth and Welfare Department was able to link together all the aforementioned services, activities, and even the development of organizational structures and scopes, and decided upon a theme for them. The project also highlighted 'caring for people in crisis' as the mission of the Youth and Welfare Department. This did not only help unify and further propel various services, it also helped realize the spirit and care of the Red Cross more amply when providing services and mobilizing volunteers.

65

Moving towards More Professional Service: Blood Transfusion As early as the 1970s, in order to meet the changing needs of the growing population and to cope with developments in society and in medical services, the Hong Kong Red Cross had already conducted research on the collection, testing and distribution of blood and had decided upon the direction for long-term development. Based on the information gathered, the Blood Transfusion Service Department carried out corresponding reforms. One of the important projects was the construction of the Blood Transfusion Service Bradbury Centre in King's Park Rise, Kowloon. The centre was completed and opened in 1984, and was an important first step in developing a modernized, centralized and professionally managed blood transfusion service which also answered the needs of the people of Hong Kong. At the beginning of the 1990s, in order to cope with the reforms in the administration of local medical services, the Blood Transfusion Service Centre was included in the structure of the Hospital Authority. And in December 1991, the Blood Transfusion Service Governing Committee was formed to replace the original Blood Transfusion Service Management Board and the Blood Transfusion Service Executive Committee. One of the huge challenges faced by the blood transfusion service in the 1980s and 1990s was to raise the safety standards of blood. In addition to continuously carrying out stringent

Professional approach to the blood transfusion service. Bearing Witness to an Era

66

Vk can't get Moodfroma stone

Please give us a little of yours •WSupport the Red Cross THE CREATIVE HOT SHOP

Publicity for blood donation. Jght the Darkness

67 Blood donor's cards.

screening tests to assure that blood donors were not infected by viruses (for example, by introducing more tests), a Quality Management Department, which drafted a quality control handbook and guide, was established. At the same time, training was strengthened to improve the staff's quality management skills. In 1997-98, a new computer system was installed to improve date management and to introduce a new safety procedure as well as a double inspection system, which greatly reduced the chances for errors. For the reforms of daily organizational operational procedures, the Blood Transfusion Centre received recognition from the ISO9002 Excellent Quality Management Certification in March 1999. The various reforms in the area of management were aimed at raising the safety standards of blood and the quality of services, in order to provide a highly professionalized blood transfusion service.

A New Perspective beyond Hong Kong: International and Disaster Relief Services To furnish aid to the people in need in times of armed conflicts, disasters and other emergencies7 is one of the missions of the Hong Kong Red Cross. Over the years, the Hong Kong Red Cross's work in assisting victims of disasters had never been interrupted, although in the early years, disaster relief was mainly focused on victims of local disasters. Starting from the 1980s, along with the changes in Hong Kong society and in economic conditions, the scope was gradually expanded. More attention was given to natural disasters

68 or wars and disturbances in other places, and assistance was provided.

Disaster preparatory work for households in the northern part of the New Territories.

The first delegation, led by the President, Sir Run Run Shaw, visited the Chinese Red Cross in 1980. Light the Darkness

To describe the changes in disaster relief work in the 1980s and 1990s as turning from a local to an international involvement may sound like oversimplification. It could be said that the work of the Red Cross has always started from humanitarianism and the Red Cross has always treated victims from different backgrounds and geographical location in the same way. So long as there is a need, staff and volunteers will immediately join in the disaster relief and assistance work. The Hong Kong Red Cross has never ignored victims of local natural disasters. For instance, the Hong Kong Red Cross visited the communities which had repeatedly been affected by flooding in the northern part of the New Territories. After learning their conditions, an application for funding to distribute survival packs and information kits for coping with flooding to 80 households concerned was submitted to the Provisional North District Board in the following year. Such services aimed at enhancing the consciousness of the local communities in the preparation for and the coping with natural disasters. Yet, in reviewing the development of disaster relief

operations of the Hong Kong Red Cross during the 1980s and 1990s, the geographical area covered by its humanitarian work was indeed expanded significantly. Therefore, apart from certain continuity in the development of disaster relief operations, the pace of change was also accelerated to correspond with changes in the circumstances. Following the open door policy and reforms launched in the mainland in 1978, contacts between Hong Kong and the mainland were further increased. Communication between the two was no longer limited to the economic sphere. Take the Hong Kong Red Cross as an example: starting from September 1980, the Chinese Red Cross and the Hong Kong Red Cross both sent delegations for visits and exchanges. In June 1983, the Red Cross in Guangdong Province donated over HK$170 000 to the Hong Kong Red Cross for disaster relief. In May 1984, the Hong Kong Red Cross invited a 7member delegation from the Guangdong Red Cross to visit Hong Kong in order to strengthen the understanding and connection between the two places. There were further contact and connection between Hong Kong and the mainland through concrete collaboration in humanitarian operations. Among these, the disaster relief operations and assistance to disaster areas best demonstrated Hong Kong citizens7 concern for the mainland. During the Heilongjiang Fire of May 1987, in additon to the dead and the injured, over 50 000 people were left homeless. The Hong Kong Red Cross started a donation campaign and organized an '888 Charity Concert7 with Commercial Radio II and Yiu Wing Entertainment Company. The money collected was used for disaster relief. In June of the same year, severe floods took place in Guangdong Province and 350 000 people were affected. The Hong Kong Red Cross called upon the public to make donations and turned over the money and commodities collected within the shortest time to the Guangdong Red Cross for disaster relief. Faced with various natural disasters in the mainland — for example, floods in eastern and central China (1991), floods in southern China (1994), floods which affected 11 provinces in the southeast and northeast (1995), earthquake in Lijiang, Yunnan Province (1996), earthquake in Hebei Province (1998) and floods along the Yangtze and Song Hua River Crescent, etc. — the Hong Kong Red Cross has always actively launched donation campaigns and delivered relief

commodities to the disaster areas as soon as possible to help the victims. In view of the various short-term and long-term problems caused by natural disasters, the Hong Kong Red Cross's relief operations in the mainland was no longer confined to passive post-disaster donations and emergency relief. It had collaborated with the Red Cross Societies in the mainland and other units concerned to assist in post-disaster community rebuilding (such as helping to rebuild village or town clinics), reinforcing capacities for disaster preparations and abilities to handle unexpected crises (such as helping to build disaster preparation centres) — all basic operations for long-term disaster prevention, preparation and relief. Disaster relief in the mainland was only one part of the many disaster relief work done by the Hong Kong Red Cross. Starting from the 1980s, the Hong Kong Red Cross has become more and more active in international relief activities. For instance, in 1985-86, the Hong Kong Red Cross made public appeals and collected donations for 6.4 million famine victims in Ethiopia, 250 000 typhoon victims in Bangladesh, over 50 000 victims of the volcanic eruption in Columbia and over 100 000 victims of the earthquake in Mexico. Later, as a member of the International Red Cross, the Hong Kong Red Cross participated in all the relief work that helped earthquake victims in Turkey and India, famine sufferers in North Fund-raising activities for international relief.

Victims of an earthquake in Iran.

Korea, refugees in Rwanda, flood victims in Bangladesh and earthquake survivors in Iran. With the rapid development of disaster relief work in the mainland and worldwide, the Red Cross reorganized the International and Relief Service, which was previously under the Secretariat, into an independent department in 1996, and established the International and Relief Service Management Committee. Operations within the scope of international and relief services also included tracing service, cross-border elderly service, winter aid for vulnerable people campaign, and cross-territory international welfare service (there are services using the international network of the Red Cross to transport patients, forward mail, and collect donations). Among these, the tracing service had been available since the beginning of the Hong Kong Red Cross, and was expanded in 1979 to better cope with the development of services provided for the Vietnamese refugees at the time. In 1984-85, in addition to the regular requests by mainland residents to search for their lost relatives, the tracing service also received about 40 cases from mainland residents searching for relatives in Taiwan. These cases were all transferred to the Tracing Service Headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. In October 1987, the International Committee of the Red Cross established an office for its representative in the East Asia region. As a neutral agent, this office handled the tracing and mail

72 forwarding services between the mainland and Taiwan in Hong Kong. In 1996, the Hong Kong Red Cross provided assistance to the Red Cross Society of China and the International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Delegation for East Asia in preparing a tracing manual. A tracing hotline service was also established to help people locate their missing friends and relatives immediately after the occurrence of natural disasters, such as the Kobe and Taiwan earthquakes. Cross-border elderly service began in April 1997. The Hong Kong Red Cross was commissioned by the Social Welfare Department to be the intermediary organization for its Portable Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme. Apart from reviewing and examining cases in order to ensure that senior citizens living outside the territory can receive their Comprehensive Social Security Assistance money, the Hong Kong Red Cross also provides assistance to them when necessary. In fact, the role played by the Hong Kong Red Cross is not limited to being an intermediary organization. In order to strengthen the care and services for senior citizens who were in need, the Red Cross also set up a contact station in Guangzhou under an experimental project format, and sent social workers as case managers to solve the many problems that the elderly and their families ran into. Local communities were contacted and local resources utilized (for example, contacting and arranging for local volunteers to visit those who were participating in the programme) to provide services to the seniors. Cross-border elderly service.

Light the Darkness

The development of these many services demonstrates above all the growth of the Hong Kong Red Cross itself. During the 1980s and 1990s, it had not only turned from receiving help to self-help, but had also played an important role in helping others. In respect to disaster relief work, we can see that the perspective of the Hong Kong Red Cross has gone beyond its

geographical barriers and has extended its humanitarian spirit and operations to places and communities outside of Hong Kong.

A Global Presence Since its very beginning, the Hong Kong Red Cross has been a part of the International Red Cross Movement. Its various humanitarian operations — from the earliest care for the refugees arriving in Hong Kong to the more recent international disaster relief activities — have always been services with an international perspective. But as far as the concrete development of the organization's affairs are concerned, we must admit that the early operations were focused on meeting local needs. The development of a genuinely egalitarian, international humanitarianism still took time to nurture. In 1984, the Hong Kong Red Cross responded to the call by the International Red Cross and helped publicize the international humanitarian law and the Red Cross principles. A training course on 'Red Cross Principles and Humanitarian Law7 was also organized. This is not only a response to the call by the International Red Cross, but also one that corresponds to the organizational building work needed for reinforcing intrinsic values, mission and solidarity, after the development of an organization has achieved a certain level of maturity. Since the 1990s, the Hong Kong Red Cross has significantly increased its participation in international humanitarian work. Although its major work is still firmly buttressed in Hong Kong, its scope of concern and service has long moved beyond its geographical boundaries. Increasingly, the Hong Kong Red Cross is assuming its role in global humanitarian concerns. To begin with, the Hong Kong Red Cross has strengthened linkages and cooperation with China. I have mentioned in an earlier section that the involvement of the Hong Kong Red Cross in China is more than disaster relief; it has also involved in proactive disaster preparations and constructive projects to enhance preparedness for disasters (including both constructive work and basic training and skill improvements). The Hong Kong Red Cross worked closely with the Provincial Red Cross in Yunnan and Hunan in establishing training centre to strengthen the capacity for preparedness for

74

Frequent exchanges between the Hong Kong Red Cross and various local branches of the Red Cross on the mainland.

disasters. In 1999, a workshop on disaster relief carried out by the Chinese Red Cross in seventeen provinces was held in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Red Cross also supported the establishment of a Non-Remunerated Blood Donation and Education Centre in Beijing to promote voluntary blood donations. Quite a number of exchanges and interflows between the Hong Kong Red Cross and various local branches of the Red Cross in the mainland were carried out in the form of visits and training programmes. The Hong Kong Red Cross has also strengthened its regional and international linkages. For instance, the Blood Transfusion Service hosted the Second Regional Congress of the International Society of Blood Transfusion in 1991; the Youth and Welfare Department hosted the very first Asia-Pacific First Aid Contest and Workshop in Hong Kong in 1995; and the Hong Kong Red Cross also co-hosted an Asia Regional Blood Transfusion Service Workshop with the Regional Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 1996. In 1998, a regional training course was co-organized with the International Committee of the Red Cross on the management of health emergencies in large populations and, in the same year, a Communications Forum Meeting and a workshop on the establishment of the Asia-Pacific Regional Red Cross website

75 were also held in Hong Kong. A series of international seminars on quality and risk management in blood transfusion, strategies for Red Cross youth development, education for children with disabilities, and the dissemination of international humanitarian law were held in 2000. Thirdly, the Hong Kong Red Cross assumes an active role in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. For example, the Hong Kong Red Cross contributed to the campaign 'People on War' conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions by organizing a programme entitled Teople on War — A Field Trip to War-Ruined Land7. Nineteen participants were selected to join the programme, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia and the Philippines to experience the hardships and destructions brought about by wars. Fourthly, the Hong Kong Red Cross assumes a new status in its participation in the international activities of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. In 1998, the Chairman of the Hong Kong Red Cross, the Honorable T. L. Yang, participated in the 5th Asia-Pacific Regional Red Cross Red Crescent Conference in his capacity as a member of the delegation of the Red Cross Society of China. Also, in their capacity as members of the Chinese delegation, Mrs Betty Tung, the ^ ^ ^ ^ President of the Hong Kong Red Cross, and the Honorable T. L. Yang, the Chairman, participated in the 27th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. It is evident that starting from the 1990s, the Hong Kong Red Cross has become more involved in the activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement at an international level. The

'People on War': Field trip to war-ravaged Vietnam, the Philippines and Cambodia. Bearing Witness to an Era

1997 Handover has not disrupted the Hong Kong Red Cross's participation in international activities. In fact, one can say that it has played a more active part in international linkages. Now, as a member or as a designated representative of the Red Cross Society of China, the Hong Kong Red Cross finds a new status and a new role in its participation in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Organization in Transition The changes in the organizational structure of the Hong Kong Red Cross has begun its operations in Hong Kong as a branch of the British Red Cross, with staff sent from England to inspect organizational affairs, assist in management and the development of services. The Hong Kong Red Cross gradually became more localized in the 1960s, due to the absorption of more people to participate in its management. In 1976, the Hong Kong Red Cross was incorporated as a branch under the British Red Cross Society (Hong Kong Branch) Ordinance. This could be seen as a slightly delayed confirmation of the localization of this organization. In 1990, the Hong Kong Red Cross was also upgraded from being an overseas affiliate branch of the British Red Cross to a branch of equal status with Scotland and Northern Ireland, which enjoys a high level of autonomy. In 1993, as a response to the transitions in the various political and social arrangements brought about by the 1997 Handover, the Hong Kong Red Cross discussed with the British and Chinese Red Cross Societies respectively about its identity and future development after 1997 and reached consensus regarding the following: (1) When Hong Kong becomes a Special Administrative Region of China on 1 July 1997, the Hong Kong Red Cross will become a branch of the Red Cross Society of China,- (2) at that time, the Hong Kong Red Cross will maintain financial independence and autonomy in administration,- (3) the Hong Kong Red Cross and the Red Cross Society of China will develop their mutual relationship according to Clause 148 of the Basic Law, 'based upon the principles of nonsubordination, non-interference and mutual respect'. In concrete arrangements for the transition, the British Red Cross accepted, in December 1996, the application by the Hong Kong Red

77 Cross, and released the latter from their mutual affiliation after 30 June 1997. In April 1997, the Hong Kong Red Cross was invited to participate in the National Assembly meeting of the Red Cross Society of China held in Xiamen. At the meeting, it was unanimously agreed that the Hong Kong Red Cross would become a highly autonomous regional branch of the Red Cross Society of China starting from 1 July. The Assembly affirmed the autonomous status of the Hong Kong Red Cross and its administrative independence, and made a public announcement to the International Red Cross and all Red Cross branches in the different provinces on the mainland. The revised statutes of the Hong Kong Red Cross have been in effect since 1 July 1997. At the same time, the Chinese Red Cross also carried out statutes rectification, stipulating that the Hong Kong Red Cross can draft its own statutes and administer its internal affairs according to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China and the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. In this 1997 Handover process, the affiliation and identity of the Hong Kong Red Cross were transformed. But nevertheless, as a non-governmental organization which has achieved maturity and scope, all of the Hong Kong Red Cross's operations before and after 1997 have had a high degree of continuity. Basically, its organizational development is marching forward on an established route and the overall direction of this development is still determined by the values, ideals and mission of the Hong Kong Red Cross and the International Red Cross Movement.

CHAI

Building a Caring Society Together

The moral sense of the importance of human life; the humane desire to lighten a little the torments of all these poor wretches, or restore their shattered courage; the furious and relentless activity which a man summons up at such moments: all these combine to create a kind of energy which gives one a positive craving to relieve as many as one can. There is no more grieving at the multiple scenes of this fearful and solemn tragedy. There is indifference as one passes even before the most frightfully disfigured corpses. There is something akin to cold calculation, in the face of horrors yet more ghastly than those here described, and which the pen absolutely declines to set down. But then you feel sometimes that your heart is suddenly breaking — it is as if you were stricken all at once with a sense of bitter and irresistible sadness, because of some simple incident, some isolated happening, some small unexpected detail which strikes closer to the soul, seizing on our sympathies and shaking all the most sensitive fibres of our being. Dunant, p. 73

A

s Henry Dunant has said, 'But then you feel . sometimes that your heart is suddenly breaking — it is as if you were stricken all at once with a sense of bitter and irresistible sadness, because of some simple incident, some isolated happening, some small unexpected detail which strikes closer to the soul, seizing on our sympathies and shaking all the most sensitive fibres of our being' — what provokes people's genuine feelings do not necessarily have to be horrendous disasters and tragedies. We all possess a heart capable of expressing sympathies. The question is: How do we turn this sympathy into concrete and sustained humanitarian activities? Since its inception in 1950, the Hong Kong Red Cross has continued to carry out its work doggedly, engaging in various operations which promote humanitarianism. Its role is to promote the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in Hong Kong. The Red Cross Society concretely fulfils the spirit and mission of the movement through a wide range of services. In mobilizing volunteers to participate in its various operations, the meaning of

its services is no longer limited to assisting the injured, the sick, victims of disasters, and the weak, but also in allowing volunteers to understand the social significance of helping and caring for others through participating in volunteer work. More directly, the Hong Kong Red Cross promotes the spirit and values of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in society through concrete projects and different forms of practice. Educational promotion and social service are united as one, and through its many projects, the Hong Kong Red Cross has put the humanitarian principles into practice. With hindsight, the path taken by the Hong Kong Red Cross over the last fifty years is exactly the communal spirit of mutual care and concern that it has built together with the continuously growing and developing Hong Kong society. Reviewing the Hong Kong Red Cross's work over the last fifty years, we shall well understand that it was by no means easy to establish a spirit of community in a migrant society. From relying on foreign sailors and expatriates living in Hong Kong to donate blood to eventually having local Chinese as the major blood donors, a lot of effort had to be made. Not only did local people need to change their erroneous ideas about volunteer blood donation, they also had to be persuaded to care about strangers and be willing to donate blood to people they did not know but who were in need. What I would like to emphasize is that this transformation is not a necessary stage in the process of development of every society. In fact, to be able to successfully mobilize local citizens to participate actively in volunteer blood donations within such a short time, and under such difficult circumstances (especially with the immigrant background of the postwar Hong Kong population), this achievement must be affirmed. Whether or not a citizen has directly benefited from blood donation services, he or she would understand that this kind of blood donation activity, built upon the spirit of helping others without rewards, best testifies the power derived from the mutual care among people. Volunteer blood donation outperforms other methods in effectively solving the problem of shortages in blood supplies. In fact, mobilizing the public to participate in volunteer blood donation is only one among the many programmes organized by the Hong Kong Red Cross. Other projects which are equally representative of the humanitarian work of the Red Cross Movement include international and local relief operations, special education

and hospital school services. Two commonalities could be found among these programmes. The first is the provision of direct assistance and services to those in need. The second is the motivation from a basic humanitarian principle that it is each person's birthright to receive respect and care regardless of his or her race, religion, gender, social standing or physical condition. Based on humanitarian considerations, the Hong Kong Red Cross has never ignored the needs of children and youth with physical disabilities and of sick children with long-term hospitalization even during times of scarce resources. When it comes to disaster relief operations in Hong Kong and elsewhere, the Hong Kong Red Cross has always been the first to offer help. When promoting humanitarian and welfare work, the Hong Kong Red Cross has always emphasized the significance of volunteer work. The Ladies' Working Groups, which had been established since the beginning of the organization, were set up to assist in preparing surgical dressings for local hospitals. In 1956, the establishment of the Red Cross Youth offered a brilliant prospect for the development of youth programmes in later years. As mentioned above, apart from helping to promote the organization's affairs, the volunteers' participation is itself an educational process, which allows volunteers to learn the valuable lesson of humanitarianism and care for others through practical application. The development of the International Red Cross Movement responds to one question posed by Henry Dunant, 'Would it not be possible, in time of peace and quiet, to form relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers?'1 Again, in Dunant's words, 'Spontaneous devotion of this kind is more easily to be found than one is inclined to think. There are plenty of people who, once they were sure they could be useful and convinced that they could do real good, with the encouragement and facilities given by the administrative authorities, would certainly be prepared to go, even at their own expense, and undertake for a limited time such an eminently philanthropic task. In this age, which is often called selfish and cold, what an attraction it would be for noble and compassionate hearts and for chivalrous spirits, to confront the same dangers as the warrior, of their free will, in a spirit of peace, for a purpose of comfort, from a motive of sacrifice!'2

The development of volunteer and youth groups by the Hong Kong Red Cross is based on the belief proposed by Henry Dunant. We could even say that this emphasis on volunteer work threads through all the operations of the Red Cross. To concretely evaluate the achievements of these volunteer operations is indeed rather difficult. In fact, it is not necessary for us to use some simple measurements to evaluate the contribution of volunteer operations. The volunteer service of preparing surgical dressings for hospitals has continued for 40 years without interruption. It has only recently b e e n s t o p p e d d u e to c h a n g e s in t h e h o s p i t a l s ' s c h e d u l i n g arrangements. The contribution by these volunteer groups certainly could not be demonstrated by the quantities of medical materials produced. Like a tiny but continuous trickle, this was an internally inspired volunteer operation which had continued for a long time without rewards. Its value and significance is not usually exhibited in sensational scenes but is found in the regular volunteer work done day after day which demonstrates the spirit of the Red Cross. Over the last fifty years, the Hong Kong Red Cross has always upheld the spirit of humanitarianism, and has never abandoned the injured, the sick, and those who are weak. It emphasizes t h e significance and contribution of volunteer work, and raises the awareness of Hong Kong citizens to care for others and participate in the creation of a caring community in Hong Kong. At the dawn of the new millennium, the work of the Red Cross definitely must change to cope with changes in the environment. The history of the Hong Kong Red Cross has demonstrated that not only does it respond sensitively and timely to changes in t h e environment, it has never lacked in new concepts and innovative power. Therefore, many of the future changes will only be changes in form or in the operational procedures. Humanitarian motivation is the unchangeable motto of the Hong Kong Red Cross. This mission which looks simple on the surface has in fact helped the Hong Kong Red Cross develop extensive services over the last fifty years. This has enabled it — whether in terms of scope, areas of services, and ability to mobilize volunteers — to become an excellent Red Cross Society in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. 1

2

Henry Dunant, A Memory of Solferino (Geneva: The International Committee of the Red Cross, 1986), p. 115. Ibid, p. 118.

APPENDIX 1

Vision, Mission and the Fundamental Principles of the Hong Kong Red Cross Our Vision We strive for a world in which people respect and protect h u m a n life and dignity, and where people are ready to give aid voluntarily to the sick, the suffering and the vulnerable, without regard to their race, belief or affiliation.

Our Mission We advocate the spirit of humanity, the belief in and respect for the intrinsic value of h u m a n life, and the dignity of individuals. We deliver impartial and quality care to protect life and health and to enhance the capacity of vulnerable people to live a safe and dignified life. We promote voluntary service and organize individuals to serve the cause of humanity, by providing them with the opportunities and skills to help others and to help themselves. We support the World Red Cross Movement; we work to enhance the network of humanitarian service and concern for h u m a n life and dignity worldwide, thereby promoting lasting peace.

Appendices

The Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement Humanity The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavours, in its international and national capacities, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, co-operation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.

Impartiality It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suffering of individuals being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.

Neutrality In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.

Independence The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.

Voluntary Service It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire for gain.

Unity There can be only one Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in any one country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.

Universality The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other, is worldwide.

*.**-. Hong Kong Red Cross's 50 Years of Service tt ®

1949 • Director of Medical Service assisted in the setting up of the Hong Kong branch of the British Red Cross Society to assist refugees, provide a tracing service and operate voluntary services in military hospitals.

1954 • First Hospital School established in the Orthopaedic Ward of Lai Chi Kok Hospital.

^

1950 • T h e B r i t i s h Red C r o s s S o c i e t y approves the formation of the Hong Kong Branch on 12 July. • Formation of the first group of lady v o l u n t e e r s to m a k e s u r g i c a l dressings for hospitals. 1951 • Hong Kong Red Cross starts teaching patients in Lai Chi Kok Hospital to m a k e h a n d i c r a f t . T h i s is t h e beginning of the Patient Concern Service. 1952 • Establishment of a blood collection centre. 483 people donate blood in the first year. 1953 • Setting up of the Disaster Relief Service and a warehouse to store emergency relief items. • Relief clothing distributed to victims of the Shek Kip Mei Squatter Area fire.

1956 • First Junior Red Cross Link set up at St Francis' Canossian School. 1962 • I n a u g u r a t i o n of t h e P r i n c e s s Alexandra Red Cross C h i l d r e n ' s Residential School. • Provision of emergency relief to victims of Typhoon Wanda. • Establishment of a feeding programme to help the huge influx of Chinese refugees. 1965 • Inauguration of the Hong Kong Red Cross H e a d q u a r t e r s at H a r c o u r t Road.

86 1967 • O p e n i n g of t h e s e c o n d s p e c i a l school, John F Kennedy Centre. 1968 • H o n g Kong Red C r o s s a s s u m e s m a n a g e m e n t of Tsz Wan S h a n physically handicapped youth hostel. • Opening of the Red Cross Holiday Camp at Shek Pik. 1969 • Hong Kong Red Cross becomes a member of the Community Chest. 1973 • M o b i l e Blood C o l l e c t i o n C o a c h commences operation. • Inauguration of the Margaret Trench Red Cross School. 1975 • Launch of the Medical Equipment Loan Service for adults. • Expansion of the Hong Kong Red Cross refugee service following the arrival of 3700 Vietnamese refugees on t h e D a n i s h Freighter, Clara Maersk.

1981 • Hostel for physically handicapped youth in Tsz Wan Shan relocates to Shun Lee Estate and is r e n a m e d Shun Lee Hostel. 1984 • Opening of the Blood Transfusion Service Bradbury Centre at King's Park Rise. 1987 • H a n d o v e r of t h e N o r t h Kai Tak Transit Centre to the Hong Kong Christian Aid to Refugees. • Medical Equipment Loan Service expands to serve children. 1989 • The Princess of Wales officiated at the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong I s l a n d D i v i s i o n a l H e a d - —— quarters of the Youth &. Welfare D e p a r t m e n t at Southorn Centre, Wanchai.

1976 • Launch of first aid training courses for industrial personnel. 1979 • Tracing Service expands to serve Vietnamese refugees. • H o n g Kong Red Cross a s s u m e s m a n a g e m e n t of N o r t h Kai Tak Transit C e n t r e w h e r e a medical centre for Vietnamese refugees is then established.

_

1980 • Delegation led by the Hon. Run Run Shaw invited to visit the Red Cross Society of China. . Opening of the blood donor centre in Tsuen Wan.

1991 • Hong Kong Red Cross raised over HK$144 million to provide relief for flood victims in Eastern provinces of China. • Integration of the Blood Transfusion Service with the Hospital Authority and the signing of a management agreement between Hong Kong Red Cross and Hospital Authority. 1992 • Setting up of the first uniformed Elderly Volunteers Detachment.

8L 1994 • Industrial First Aid Training Centre renamed First Aid Training Centre u n d e r t h e s u b v e n t i o n of t h e Department of Health. 1995 • L a u n c h of h e a l t h care t r a i n i n g courses to train supportive personnel and h e a l t h w o r k e r s to w o r k in homes for the elderly. • The Hospital Authority subvents the Patient Concern and Library Service. • Hong Kong Red Cross hosted the first A s i a - P a c i f i c First Aid Competition and Workshop. 1996 • Opening of the Bradbury Shatin Red Cross Centre. 1997 • Hong Kong Red Cross changes its affiliation as a branch of the British Red Cross Society to b e c o m e a highly autonomous branch of the Red Cross Society of China. • Hong Kong Red Cross appointed as t h e m o n i t o r i n g a g e n t of t h e Government's Portable C o m p r e h e n s i v e Social Security Assistance. • Launch of the Hong Kong Red Cross website. 1998 • The Hon. Run Run Shaw, President, and D r T . C . Cheng, Chairman, retire after more than 30 years of dedicated service. Mrs Betty Tung and the Hon. T. L. Yang elected to the respective posts. • Hong Kong Red Cross assists the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to establish an Asia-Pacific Regional website. • Hong Kong Red Cross, together with t h e M e d i c a l F a c u l t y of t h e University of Hong Kong and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), jointly organize the ' H e a l t h E m e r g e n c i e s in Large Populations' training course in Hong Kong. • T h e Blood T r a n s f u s i o n Service breaks new ground with the setting up of a Cord Blood Bank. • Launch of the first hospital minitheatre at Kwai Chung Hospital.

1999 • T h e Blood T r a n s f u s i o n Service achieves ISO9002 accreditation. • First anaesthetist sent to Kenya to assist with the humanitarian work of ICRC.

2000

In commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Hong Kong Red Cross, the following activities are launched: • Celebrity Service Campaign. —— First Aid in Action Towards 2000. Issue of H o n g Kong Red C r o s s ' s G o l d e n Jubilee C o m m e m o r a t i v e Stamp and KCRC Commemorative Ticket. Hong Kong Red Cross Territory-Wide Community Service Campaign. International seminars focusing on blood transfusion, youth work, special e d u c a t i o n and t h e p r o m o t i o n of humanitarian principles. Publication of the Hong Kong Red C r o s s 5 0 t h Anniversary Commemorative Book. Youth Power 2000.

Appendices

APPENDIX 3

Patrons and Council Members of the Hong Kong Red Cross in 2000-2001 Patron The Chief Executive, The Honourable Tung Chee Hwa

President Mrs Betty H P Tung, JP

Vice-Patrons Dr T C Cheng, OBE MA D Litt JP (Up to November 1999) Dr Edgar W K Cheng The Hon Run Run Shaw, GBM Mr Shum Choi Sang, OBE JP

The Hong Kong Red Cross Council Mrs Betty H P Tung, PATRON JP, President and Director The Hon T L Yang, The Chief Executive GBM JP, Chairman The Honourable Tung Chee Hwa Mrs Patricia S H Ling, JP, Director Mr Richard Standing, Hon Treasurer Mrs Mona M S Leong, BBS MBE JP, Assistant Director Dr Albert S B Li, MBE Hon FCP JP, Assistant Director Mr Luke S K Wong, Assistant Director Mrs Ada Y M Ma, Assistant Director Lady Ivy S P Wu, Assistant Director Mr Ken R Deayton Dr C K Lin Dr Poon Tak Lun (Up to November 2000) Mr Norman W Y Leung VICE PATRON VICE PATRON (From December 2000) The Hon Run Run Shaw, GBM Mrs Rita Liu, BBS D r T C Cheng OBE, MA, D Litt, JP Mr Alex Choi (From January 2000 to December 2000) Mr Thomas P W Sin (From January 2001) Mrs Betty Chao Miss N McClintock Mr Cheng Sing Yip Mr Allen K K Yam Mr James H M Ko Mr Jonathan Hubbard Mr Vincent W S Lo Mrs Julia Fung Dr Leung Man Po Mrs Ingrid Kwok Mrs Kathryn Wong Mr Lee Sai Kin Dr Susan Chan, JP Mrs Susan Chong Mrs Peggy B W Wong VICE PATRON VICE PATRON (From November 2000) Dr Edgar W K Cheng Mr Shum Choi Sang Ms Christine M S Fang OBE, JP Secretary General (Up to May 2001) Mr K M Chan Secretary General (From June 2001)

89

PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR Mrs Betty H P Tung, JP

CHAIRMAN The Hon T L Yang

dk

DIRECTOR Mrs Patricia S H Ling, JP

GBM, JP

HON TREASURER Mr Richard Standing

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Mrs Mona M S Leong

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Dr Albert S B Li,

BBS, MBE, JP

MBE. Hon FCP, JP

O ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Mrs Ada Y M Ma

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Mr Luke S K Wong

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Lady Wu

Appendices

APPENDIX 4

The Office-Bearers of the Hong Kong Red Cross from 1949 to 2000 1949-2000 July 1949 - Dec 1950 Patron (From July 1950) President (From July 1950) Chairman (From July 1949) 1951/52 Patron President Chairman (From July 1951) 1952/53 Patron President

1953/54 Patron President

Chairman

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, KCMG Lady Grantham Dr the Hon. Isaac Newton

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, KCMG Lady Grantham Dr the Hon. K. C. Yeo

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, KCMG Lady Grantham The Hon. Sir Man Kam Lo Dr the Hon. S. N. Chau Sir J. H. Ruttonjee, Esq., CBE

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, GCMG Lady Grantham The Hon. Sir Man Kam Lo, Kt CBE Sir S. N. Chau, CBE Sir J. H. Ruttonjee, Esq., CBE Mr K. Keen

1954/55 Patron President

Chairman (April --Dec 1954) Acting Chairman (Jan --March 1955/56 Patron President

Chairman 1956/57 Patron President

Chairman 1957/58 Patron President

Chairman (Up to June 1957) Chairman (June - Oct 1957) Chairman (From Oct 1957)

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, GCMG Lady Grantham Sir S. N. Chau, CBE Sir J. H. Ruttonjee, Esq., CBE Dr the Hon. K. C. Yeo 1954) Mr K. Keen

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, GCMG Lady Grantham Sir S. N. Chau, CBE Sir J. H. Ruttonjee, Esq., CBE Dr the Hon. K. C. Yeo

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, GCMG Lady Grantham The Hon. Ngan Shing Kwan, OBE Sir J. H. Ruttonjee, Esq., CBE Sir Tang Shiu Kin, CBE Dr the Hon. K. C. Yeo, CMG

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Alexander Grantham, GCMG Lady Grantham The Hon. Ngan Shing Kwan, OBE Sir J. H. Ruttonjee, Esq., CBE Sir Tang Shiu Kin, CBE Dr the Hon. K. C. Yeo, CMG Mrs D. C. C. Trench Mr W. S. B. Wong

92 1958/59 Patron President

Chairman 1959/60 Patron President Chairman 1960/61 Patron President Chairman 1961/62 Patron President Chairman 1962/63 Patron President Chairman 1963/64 Patron President Chairman

Light the Darkness

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, KCMG, OBE Lady Black The Hon. Ngan Shing Kwan, OBE Sir Tang Shiu Kin, CBE The Hon. Dhun Ruttonjee, OBE Mr W. S. B. Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, KCMG, OBE Lady Black Mr W. S. B. Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, KCMG, OBE Lady Black Mr W. S. B. Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, GCMG, OBE Lady Black Mr W. S. B. Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, GCMG, OBE Lady Black MrW. S.B.Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Robert Black, GCMG, OBE Lady Black Mr W. S. B. Wong

93 1964/65 Patron President Chairman 1965/66 Patron President Chairman 1966/67 Patron President Chairman 1967/68 Patron President Chairman 1968/69 Patron President Chairman 1969/70 Patron President Chairman (From Jan 1969) 1970/71 Patron President Chairman

His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Trench, KCMG, MC Lady Trench MrW. S.B.Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Trench, KCMG, MC Lady Trench The Hon. W. S.B.Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Trench, KCMG, MC Lady Trench The Hon. W. S. B. Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Trench, KCMG, MC Lady Trench The Hon. W. S. B. Wong

His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Trench, KCMG, MC Lady Trench The Hon. W. S. B. Wong, OBE, JP

His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Trench, GCMG, MC Lady Trench Mr Run Run Shaw

His Excellency the Governor, Sir David Trench, GCMG, MC Lady Trench Mr Run Run Shaw

94 1971/72 Patron

President Chairman 1972/73 Patron

President Chairman 1973/74 Patron

President Chairman 1974/75 Patron

President Chairman 1975/76 Patron

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, KCMG, MBE Mr Run Run Shaw Mr Run Run Shaw

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, KCMG, MBE Mr Run Run Shaw Mr Run Run Shaw

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, KCMG, MBE Sir Run Run Shaw, CBE Mr T. C. Cheng, OBE, JP

His Excellency the Governor, Sir Murray MacLehose, KCMG, KCVO, MBE Sir Run Run Shaw, CBE Mr T. C. Cheng, OBE, JP

President Chairman

His Excellency the Governor, Sir M u r r a y M a c L e h o s e , GBE, KCMG, KCVO Sir Run Run Shaw, CBE Mr T. C. Cheng, OBE, JP

1976/77 Patron

His Excellency the Governor,

President Chairman

Sir M u r r a y M a c L e h o s e , GBE, KCMG, KCVO Sir Run Run Shaw, CBE Mr T. C. Cheng, OBE, JP