Young offenders acting out

The Federation's Youth Support Scheme (YSS) works with Tuen Mun District police officers to organize reintegration programmes for young offenders. Teenagers are engaged in creative activities and community work with the elderly. Ah Fong and Ah Chi , two 13 year-olds who sometimes seemed to have no better goal in life than to get away with petty theft, are under the guidance of Miss Ho, a professional social worker with YSS. They are now back on the right track having taken part in the YSS drama workshop and training programme, 「你有我講你」一人一故事劇場計劃 – Having your Say. When asked for her opinion of the programme, Ah Chi's thumbs-up said it all. The programme only ran for two months but it changed their attitude completely.

Ah Chi confessed:

“I was in no mood to join the programme when Miss Ho first told me about it. I thought it would be boring and time-consuming. But it turned out quite the opposite.”

The programme has sponsorship from the Citigroup Success Fund and its aims are to encourage adolescents covered by the Police Superintendents' Discretionary Scheme in Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan to reflect on life's problems and act out their opinions and feelings through drama groups. 14 teenagers took part last December and found it a very positive experience. They developed a sense of belonging to their community and learned how fulfilling it can be to do voluntary service.

To begin with it wasn't easy.

“I had never stood up in public before. It was really embarrassing to start with,” said Ah Fong , “but our coach, Mercy, really helped us and we found that it was actually really good fun.”

Ah Chi spoke of her own experience at the drama workshop:

“We had to tell a fairy tale story but we were only allowed to use body language and facial expressions. It was really hard to begin with, not being allowed say even one word. But then I found out that real communication is not just in what you say.”

The second part of the Programme required them to visit senior citizens and put on a show.

“I really didn't want to go,” said Ah Fong. “I went to an old people's home when I was at primary school and they were unfriendly and hard to get along with. But this time was completely different. That's because we had learned how to get along with them. We got a warm welcome and they liked our impromptu drama very much.”

“Lunar New Year was coming,” said Ah Chi, “and we did some acting on stage related to the festival. The elderly people were all very friendly and talked to us about the things they had prepared for the New Year. In the end we all had a really great time together! It was the last thing I expected. I realized how much more confident I was and part of it came from respecting the others and co-operating as a group.”

Miss Ho confirmed how much the girls had changed, saying:

“When I first saw the girls and asked their opinion on certain issues, they just shrugged with a grudging ‘dunno' or a ‘well maybe'. They lacked confidence of course and that's why they were reluctant to get involved. Now, I see them growing more mature and responsible every day and they really deserve the awards they got at the end of the programme.”

Naturally, the experience gave both girls a boost – not just in self-confidence but in their sense of self-worth. It was a very important turning point for youth-at-risk like them. Both say they loved helping others and both want to be involved in voluntary service again.

Ah Chi's message for youths is:

“Never break the law. Be a volunteer instead,” and Ah Fong added:

“I have learnt how to be considerate of other people, like my parents for example. Now I realize how much they love me. They were heartbroken when I was caught by the police and I'll never let them down again.”

Their New Year Resolution put it in a nutshell:

Facts & Figures

Youth Opinion Polls: the 2006 Budget*

Young people aged 18-34 were interviewed by the Federation before and after the recent budget speech. Of those interviewed before the budget, 28.2% wanted tax reductions and 22.9% hoped schemes to help low-income families could be introduced. 17.1% and 15.5% respectively wanted greater employment opportunities and more expenditure on education.

Compared to the equivalent post-budget Federation survey in 2005, this year's sample of 374 young people revealed less support (25.1%) for the introduction of a goods and services tax (GST). 24.1% said that they appreciated the budget's continued commitment to investment in education. 19.2% were happy with the help it offers disadvantaged groups, while 18.9% considered “it promoted environmental protection.” A further 69.9% were in favour of “green,” environmentally friendly taxes.

When asked about healthcare financing, about 40% thought the load should be shared equally by the Government and the public. 33.3% were disappointed over the Government's inability to narrow the poverty gap and 33.2% criticized its failure to bring tax relief to the middle-class. Lastly, 38.9% said they were optimistic about job prospects, a 5 percentage-point increase on statistics in this year's pre-budget survey of 474 young people.

Punishment: emotional or corporal

Physical beatings are still common in Hong Kong. 44% of parents in a survey group of 5,049 admitted using corporal punishment on their children according to a 2003-04 survey commissioned by the Social Welfare Department.* However, of a sample of 72 children, more than 96% had experienced some form of punishment at home or at school in the past 12 months and they ranked isolation from family members or classmates as the most hurtful of all.**

A recent study*** revealed that over 60% of Mainland Chinese children have had corporal punishment outside school and 95% of the victims are girls. Of almost 500 college students interviewed, 54% said they were physically punished at school even though it is illegal, just as in Hong Kong. “It's really very deeply rooted in the cultural tradition, the idea of public humiliation as a way to teach people to conform,” says David Ho, an HKU psychology professor. There are no prohibitions against beating children at home. Neither are there clear distinctions between a good spanking and child abuse but a boy of 10 died last month after being shut up in a suitcase and an 8-year old fell to her death after a beating from her mother.

* University of Hong Kong survey organized by Edward Chan Ko-ling, reported in the South China Morning Post 2 March 2006
** Hong Kong Strategic Alliance on Child Protection study reported in the South China Morning Post 10 December 2005 C4
*** A study by the China Legal Studies Association reported in the China Daily 12 July 2004

Core Service Highlight

Services to youth-at-risk Our services to youth-at-risk embrace gang members, school drop-outs, drug users and any young people who have been or may be tempted by minor crime. The Youth Support Scheme works with the Police Superintendents' Discretionary Scheme to help young offenders make a turn-around. We have two outreach teams working on integration and rehabilitation with 6-24 year-olds. Jobs and vocational training, care for night drifters, life skills and English skills – these are among the aspects covered. One example of work with adolescent girls is a new initiative called Project Pretty which is supported by the South China Morning Post's Operation Santa Claus. The Federation has been at the forefront of this kind of work in Hong Kong since 1968 and prides itself on networking with the community to help all young people at risk. For details of all our current projects tel 2487 6151/ 2701 8866 or email yar@hkfyg.org.hk