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Thanks
to Partners
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Culture+青年藝展廣場
A
big thank you to the Home Affairs Bureau, Paul
Frank, Supernova, Inter-pro Beauty Architect School, Imperial
Flower Enterprise
Ltd, Infinity Dance Studio, Image Culture and the
Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education for their generous
sponsorship of this programme. It will run from January
to December 2006 with the support of the Leisure
and Cultural Services Department. The programme provides a platform
for Hong Kong youth to develop latent artistic talent,
ranging from singing, hip-hop dance and performing conjuring
tricks to modelling on the catwalk. All participants will
have the chance to gain confidence by performing in public.
Every second Sunday of the month there will be a special
event. To start with, on Sunday 12 February participants
will be demonstrating a variety of dance forms at 3:pm
in Tsuen Wan Town Hall Plaza. Do come and join us.
Click
here for the programme schedule. More info is at
www.u21.org.hk/main/promotion/culture3/poster
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UBS
Matched Giving Program 2005
We are delighted to say that the Federation
was the beneficiary of the UBS Matched Giving Program 2005.
Through this Program, UBS AG matched donations from its employees
and then made direct donations to us. UBS AG sets an excellent
example of responsible corporate citizenship by encouraging
its employees to contribute actively to the community in
this way. Thanks again to UBS AG for making this great effort
to support the Federation.
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20
notebooks donated by Intel for LEAD 2006
Many
thanks to Intel for donating 20 notebook
computers through the Intel Involved Program.
The computers will support the 2005/06 LEAD (Learning
through Engineering, Art and Design) Project. Intel loaned
ten notebooks last May for the LEAD Showcase at Cyberport
and we are very grateful for this ongoing commitment.
At this year’s LEAD workshops, students will build
motorized robots, produce animations and compose music
on the donated notebooks, using technology developed
by MIT Media Laboratory. MIT Media Laboratory and The
Chinese University of Hong Kong continue to
be our partners this year and the Innovation
and Technology Commission will also maintain
fully-fledged support as we build on successful experience.
Contact the LEAD Secretariat, tel 3579 4560, for further
information or visit the LEAD website www.lead.org.hk
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Publications
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The latest
issue of the Youth Counselling Magazine (關情:
奏起「樂」章--為老師打氣) features:
Youthline: including
online dating cyber love and friendship
Positive attitudes and happiness: empowerment
for teachers under stress
Blogs and counseling
Girl gangs: Hong Kong and North America
Communicating with parents: help for teachers
Contact
Ms Flora Mok or Ms Wong Ying-ying to obtain copies
tel 23950161, email ycs@hkfyg.org.hk
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| Dear
Readers, we would love to enlist your support
and are sure we can work together to improve youth services
in Hong Kong. Please click here for more details of how
to help: www.hkfyg.org.hk/support/cash.htm |
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Valentine's
Day
My
funny valentine, sweet comic valentine
You make me smile in my heart…
from the Rodgers and Hart song made famous by Frank Sinatra
Valentine's
Day is very special for young people. It is a time when
young lovers tell each other how much they care, a positive
time when they can share how they feel with their friends
and family too, letting others know about their joys
and passions.
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Valentine's
Day brings its own pressures and problems though. What
to buy as a token of your love? Where to dine? What can
you afford? These are serious issues for many young people
and some find the decisions very hard. For the lonely
ones, trying to cope with feeling left out and forlorn,
is much worse.
So
let us remember on Valentine's Day this year, how lucky
we are to be loved. At the Federation we will share
what we have. Friends with friends, sons and daughters
with mothers and fathers. We all have something to
give, be it a rose, a dinner for two or just a few
heartfelt words. |
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Feature
Story
Leading
the way in sport: Felix Wong Award winners
Lam Tak-kwan and Fung Yun-him, both 18, received Felix Wong
Awards for doing exceptionally well against the odds. Tak-kwan
is a star badminton player with only one arm and Yun-him is
a champion canoeist from a deprived background. Both of them
are thoughtful and sensitive. Yun-him, had to cope with the
bigotry that comes so often from those who think wealth means
superiority. Learning how to cope with prejudice of any kind
brings an early maturity which both of them clearly show.
Lam Tak-kwan, born with only one arm, talks freely about his
disability, saying that because he was born that way he has
developed a mind-set that helps him cope by believing that
he is normal. His superbly supportive parents told him:
“Just
think of yourself as normal. If you behave as if you do,
others will follow suit.”
He did
and it worked. “After all, having no right arm is perfectly
normal for me.”
Tak-kwan's
sport – the love of his life – is badminton. He has been
winning singles tournaments since 2003 when he was invited
to become a member of Hong Kong's special team for the disabled.
How does he manage?
“The main
problem is balance. I had a special coach who showed me how
to train with weights to compensate. I strapped sandbags
to my leg to strengthen it. A primitive solution but it worked
and gives me balance, vital when I’m on the court.”
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| Tak-kwan
says he doesn't want or expect any special treatment. He
even rejects the idea of a prosthetic arm, partly because
of the expense of anything sophisticated enough to improve
his performance, but mainly because he has learned to manage
without.
He is determined
to take part in the 2008 Paralympics but says one of the
most difficult
parts of life for him has been the reaction of people who
don't know him: “There
is a lot of discrimination against the physically disabled.
I have felt it and learnt that if I can't change them I
can at least change myself. With all my friends it has worked.
They don’t give me special treatment because I have only
one arm.”
Fung Yun-him the other Felix Wong Award winner we interviewed,
has not had an easy childhood either. His parents separated
when he was 2 and his mother has been through hard times bringing
him up as a poor, single parent. He was not terribly academically
inclined but was helped by social workers to go as a boarder
to the all-boys Sea School in Stanley. That is how his plan
for a maritime career grew.
Since its
establishment in 1946, the school has always helped the underprivileged
but its teachers also know how to spot talent. Yun-him chose
canoeing as his extra-curricular activity and right from
the outset his sports coach saw his potential.
He started
winning local open kayaking competitions in 2002 and has
ambitions
to go a lot further. "Now I know want
to work with canoes," said Yun-him, glowing with health from an
afternoon out on the water at Stanley.
"Of
course I would like to go to the Olympics, but I would
also like
to be a coach and think I have the right attitude to teach
others. It was hard to decide to keep on with my education,
especially since I want to concentrate on sport. You see,
my mother needs me to earn some money."
Nonetheless,
his coach saw his talent and convinced him and his mother
that abandoning canoeing would be a sad waste. For now at
least his progress towards his Olympic goal is making strides.
He is taking part in competitions in Shaoxing and is looking
forward to going to top-notch sports school, the Wuhan Institute
of Physical Education later this year.
"Hard
work," says Yun-him, "and perseverance. That's what matters,
even if you don't win to start with. I've become a far
more positive person because I've had difficulties to deal
with."
"Believe in yourself," said Tak-kwan, "If you think you
can, you can."
*The Felix Wong Youth Improvement Awards scheme was set
up in 1997 to give formal recognition to local secondary students
who have overcome hardship, misfortune or personal crises.
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Federation
News
The
Financial Secretary Dialogue Session with Young People
Financial
Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, GBS, JP on the 2006 - 07
Budget
Monday 27 February 6:00pm to 7:30pm
Run Run Shaw Hall, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, Aberdeen
Call 3579 4560 for further details |
Hong
Kong First Lego League (FLL) Robotic Tournament
Saturday
25 February 2006 9:00am to 5:30pm
Venue: 1/F, Student Halls of Residence, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
FLL is an educational programme which encourages students go solve problems
creatively. Teams of 5-10 members aged 9-14 will be nominated by schools to
design and programme robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS technology and LEGO bricks. |
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Facts
& Figures
Problems and
joys for young lovers
Ten percent of the Federation's Youthline 2777 8899 hotline calls
are about dating, sex and love. They tend to peak as Valentine's
Day approaches. Last year there were 4,500 such calls and they
included well over 1,000 about troubles handling a partner's requests
for intimacy, doubts about a partner's fidelity or worries about
getting into a relationship their parents disapproved of.
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open and truthful about their feelings. Another 550 had been in conflict
with their partners over issues like expectations or opinions, while
over 500 wanted to talk about breaking up. The online counselling
service, which backs up the hotline, also dealt with hundreds of
similar questions last year and it is quite normal for our staff
to hear stories about online dating and party sex, especially during
the holidays. Parents get in touch with Federation
counselors too, worrying that their children's emotional turmoil
will affect their academic results and if contraception has failed,
what to do about unwanted pregnancies. Some parents even admit
that they try to invade their children's privacy by spying on their
address books, online diaries and messages. Our counsellors advise
parents to stay calm and talk it over, trying to act like sympathetic
friends rather than being critical or authoritarian. If they can
show how they care, be open-minded and help analyze the complex
issues of love and sex it can help a great deal.
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Latest
child abuse statistics
Overall
figures for reports of abuse received via hotline calls
or at walk-in centres by the local agency, Against
Child Abuse, rose by 6.3% from 2003/2004. Although child
sexual abuse generally has a lower profile in Hong Kong
than domestic
violence against children in general, estimates by concern
groups indicate that 50% of all child sexual abuse cases
are not officially reported and theoretically 1.3 million
are at risk.*
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A
University of Hong Kong survey** also showed far more
cases of domestic violence than official statistics.
30% of children under 18 interviewed said they had experienced
violence at home. By extrapolation, these figures mean
that up to 70,000 children in the city have been victims
of domestic violence yet government statistics are a
fraction of this at 622 child abuse cases. Differing
definitions of abuse may partly explain the discrepancy.
On the Mainland the situation is worse with over half
of all males and a third of all females saying they were
abused in childhood according to a 2-month survey conducted
among 3,577 university students.***
The
three Hong Kong districts with the highest number of
reported cases of child abuse last year were Tuen Mun,
Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai. In 2005, Tuen Mun had 10.4%,
while Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai had 7.3% of the total
cases. This is a 2.1% increase for each of them on the
2003/4 figures. Distinctions were not made between domestic
violence and child sexual abuse in the sources of these
statistics.****
* South
China Morning Post 31 January 2006 A18 ** South China
Morning Post 5 July 2005 C4
*** South China Morning Post 18 May 2005, A6 **** South China Morning Post
31 December 2005 C4 |
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Core
Service Highlight
Parenting
Services
Being
a good parent is difficult. Family life involves taking
responsibility and parents, especially those with young
children, sometimes need help to shoulder those responsibilities.
They also need to play an active role in their children’s
developing lives, both in the home and with the outside
world. The Federation, understanding the constraints
of modern life, undertakes to help them, not only as
teachers, but as positive role models for their sons
and daughters.
We
endeavour to reinforce sound family values which can
support parents, helping them to provide a secure background
in which youngsters can grow into mature young adults.
We help improve communication in order to promote better
understanding, and resource management techniques to
ease practical difficulties. We also conduct research
and opinion surveys in order to promote healthy family
life and effective parenting.
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Contact
parenting@hkfyg.org.hk
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