For forty years plus our work for youth has been changing in response to needs. We have instigated pioneer services and branched out with outreach programmes, youth placements, volunteering and work experience. See this week's story about Airport Ambassadors for just one example. We're always trying to find ways of tailoring programmes and streamlining contributions to maximize their impact. For contributions in cash you can now use PPS, a new channel for donations.If you are an existing subscriber to the system all you need to know is our merchant code: 9345.For a detailed explanation call Ms Elaine Chan at the Partnership Office, tel: 2123 9598.

However you contribute you can be confident that all the funds received by the Federation will go where they are most needed - for the benefit of youth. We need your help and we count on your participation.
PS: your donation is our life blood
PPS: another channel that takes a gift from your heart to our branches

Lawrence: taking off

Youth unemployment, running at 30% for the 15-29 year olds at the end of July this year, is a serious problem for Hong Kongers. Lawrence, a F5 graduate who did an HKIVE course in telecoms engineering always had a yen for flying but never imagined how he might get his dream off the ground. After a period of uncertainty, unemployment and short contracts he found himself at a Job Fair. Luckily for him, the Federation and the Airport Authority were there, promoting the Airport Ambassadors programme. Lawrence has never looked back. We asked him what was the best thing about the programme…

"I loved the environment, training with other people my age. The experience of working there showed me I was good at customer services. Nothing to do with my qualifications but that didn't matter!"

The Federation founded the Airport Ambassador programme in 2002 as a pioneer tripartite partnership with the Labour Department and the Airport Authority. The idea is to get young people into the work force and to give them a starting wage for their efforts. They have classroom training in customer care by AA terminal management staff before working for 6 months under supervision in the passenger terminals. This provides them with valuable vocational experience in the tourist industry. The cream of the crop are offered posts as Senior Airport Ambassadors and become trainers themselves, mentoring the next intake of trainees and a few are taken on as staff at the airport. But even those who simply complete the basic Ambassador course find the experience of working in a big, buzzing, real-life context the best possible start to a long and fruitful working life.

We asked Lawrence to comment on the programme and how it might be modified or improved… "… Make it longer," he said, "…and make similar programmes available so that as many young people as possible can sign up. The work experience and discovering what you're good at are invaluable. It's hard work but that brings its own rewards."

Airport Management Director, Howard Eng, says
"The AA is proud to be associated with the Airport Ambassador Programme. Service quality is one of the cornerstones of airport business and we're very pleased to provide this type of practical, front-line work experience for young people." At a time when an aviation industry training firm (The Edge) says local people have lacked the necessary skills in the past to be taken on, this is especially good news.

Other NGOs have followed the example of the Federation while we have forged ahead with similar partnerships with Sino Estates, NationMark and MacDonald's. We take the initiative in all these ventures and are always on the lookout for new partners. Is your company interested in offering similar internships? If so contact Judy Tsui at the Youth Employment Network, tel: 3113 7999, email: yen@hkfyg.org.hk

The gap between the rich and the poor is too big in Hong Kong. Among developed countries or territories it ranks fifth in the world for inequality*. The British Archbishop of Westminster recently had telling words to say on this subject. He said that failed states are those which "pay insufficient heed to the importance of ensuring that wealth is adequately distributed". This definition puts Hong Kong perilously close to failure.

350,000** children live in poverty here and that figure is rising while the top 10% earn over $50,000 a month. Those kids are hungry, getting less than 1000 calories a day while, in grotesque contrast, many worry about obesity. Poor children live in squalor, with a couple of square metres of space each. Most are "home-aloners", often left to fend for themselves in ramshackle buildings. They are the ones you see scavenging in litter bins even though over half of their families are on CSSA (Comprehensive Social Security Allowance).

The number*** living in extreme poverty here has more than doubled since the handover but there is stigma and much red tape attached to CSSA welfare handouts. A penniless pregnant woman with two children who had been eating only rice and soy sauce joined the queue for free food last week at St James Settlement. She's at risk of miscarrying because of malnutrition but refused to apply for CSSA until she was 2 months in arrears with rent and tuition fees. Meantime a Federation Youth Poll**** revealed that over 15% were in favour of cutting social security pay-outs if necessary to reduce government expenditure - but if the cuts would affect them personally a third were firmly against.

Very few of us are willing to take on others' financial burdens. That's one reason why institutionalized welfare systems exist but also why the work of an NGO such as the Federation is so important when government has to tighten its belt.

*Human Development Report 2003 ; HK Council of Social Service: Growing seriousness in poverty & income disparity, (September 2004), & study released 16th October 2004
**SCMP 26 & 27/9/04, 18/10/04 & The Standard 30/9/04
***Asian Human Rights Commission http://acr.hrschool.org/mainfile.php/0145/207/
****HKFYG Youth Poll series 111, publication forthcoming (survey date 2002-03)

Crime, need and punishment

Neglected at home and misfit at school, the young murderer is either a loner or a member of a gang. The youngest member of the gang convicted for the brutal Braemar Hill murders has now been released. He went to prison at 16 and came out aged 34. What made him into an accomplice? A triad gang initiation rite was suspected. He wanted to belong to the triad society and was prepared to take part in a murder for the privilege.

We all need to belong to something or someone. Religion, clubs and organizations like the Federation sometimes fill the need. At their best they give a sense of identity, worth and contribution. A memorial fund set up by the bereaved parents in the Braemar Hill case benefits underprivileged students. This honorable gesture shows the way forward to a civil society that everyone wants to belong to. It's a society where violence is revolting but forgiveness is possible and caring is normal. But it's a society we have to create first. Help us. For more information on our pioneering work in the field of juvenile crime and delinquency contact the Outreaching Social Work Units email: osw-tk1@hkfyg.org.hk or osw-skwts@hkfyg.org.hk

42% university students in the red

Two surveys of how university students manage their money were done recently. The first, by Caritas*, found that by the 2nd year 42. 2% of undergraduates are unable to make ends meet while 11.4% have an average monthly credit card debt of nearly $3,600. Significantly, half the students interviewed said they had no idea how much they spent. The second, a web survey, was done by the University of Hong Kong, Department of Psychology for the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals**. This found that although 30% owed money, less than 10% had difficulty in making repayments although under half of the sample knew much about the terms and conditions attached to their loans and debts. It also looked at how finanical stress impacts on the quality of learning. This not just a HK problem. In the UK 95% of students are in debt when they graduate to the tune of ￡12,000 (HK$168,000) per person. According to the Student Financial Assistance Agency in Hong Kong the number of university students here who go bankrupt and are unable to pay back their loans is also on the increase, even though over half of them have jobs. Published data gives 27 cases for 2001-02, 80 for 2002-03 and 119 by July 2003. Caritas wants there to be stricter screening procedures of student eligibility for credit cards. Equally the need for students to be better at personal financial management is very clear. That way they should be able to keep tighter control of their own purse strings - a life skill of ever-increasing importance.

*Caritas Family Crisis Support Centre survey, September 2004, by the Centre for Social Policy Studies at the Polytechnic University Click here www.polyu-csps.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=65
**University of Hong Kong & Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (draft report, unpublished) ; SCMP 9/10/04