It is the Federation's 45th anniversary and we are proud to celebrate the progress we have made. From small beginnings with just five youth centres in the 1960's we have grown to over 60 service units and more than a thousand staff . The last few years have brought such stimulus and change, spurring us on to fulfill our aims and realize our vision. This has meant developing services in counselling, leadership training, youth employment, parenting and education. Web-based services, youth exchange, volunteering and efforts to help youth at risk are also central to our work. The field of leisure, culture and sports completes the gamut and with a range of new initiatives there has been a terrific surge to over 170,000 members and 90,000 volunteers.

Change is challenging and we welcome it with open arms as the enthusiasm and commitment of our staff has borne fruit. Their efforts have been underpinned by the work of dynamic, strategic planning teams. For us, the changing times have been a fulcrum for turning our ideas into reality as we work out ways to meeting the evolving needs of Hong Kong's youth. We hope you will celebrate our anniversary with us, revelling in the opportunities we have to focus our energies and work together for young people - our pride and joy.

Father of the Federation returns
George Stokes, MBE, founding father of the Federation, graced us with his presence last week. A man of compassion and commitment to his work for youth in the UK, for the first time in forty years he was able to return to Hong Kong to join in the celebration of our 45th anniversary. Tall, and upright despite the years, George's enduring loyalty to Hong Kong's youth and his memories of the 1960s, bring alive once more the resettlement crisis when George was in his late thirties.

What made you come here?
"It was World Refugee Year and I saw an exhibition about the difficulties that people from China were facing in HK. They had so little. I wanted to help them. The hillsides were teeming with children from squatter huts, dressed in snowy white school uniforms, carefully laundered by desperately poor, labouring parents. All they seemed to have was a bucket, a bar of soap and a standpipe in the street."

How did you feel on your first day?
"I remember standing in Wanchai as the trams rattled past, feeling alone, illiterate and completely culturally ignorant."

What were the most obvious problems here then?
"Poverty and poor communication. There were a lot of deprived children going to school but they had nothing else, no hopes or dreams for the future. Language was the other major obstacle - communicating ideas to everybody involved, and to the parents. They wanted the kids to stay and do their homework. We had to persuade them there were alternatives. But once they understood there was no stopping them."

What were your priorities?
"Getting the message across that we could help, training staff to provide services that were suitable and sustainable and encouraging the children to make the most of them."

How did you start?
"I spoke to Bishop Hall who had a lot of experience. He told me to stop, look and learn; then decide what to do."

Were there any youth services here then?
"There were the Scouts, the Boys' & Girls' Clubs Association and the Boys' Brigade but they worked mainly with the under 14's. There was virtually nothing for the older teenagers."

What were the highlights of your time in HK?
"The staff I trained and our buzz groups (brainstorming). We drew up plans, unrealistic though they seemed at the time. One idea was for a camp in the countryside, with canoeing and dinghy sailing. We knew there was no money for it but we did costings and put them away in a bottom drawer. A bit later an American from a charity arrived. He said, 'If I had some money, what would you do with it?' We were well prepared you see. The plan was right there in the drawer. We got our camp. That was the start of your present day Sai Kung camp."

George Stokes spent just six years here. But from the work he did then, today's Federation has grown. Instead of tents and campfires, he saw a camp with comfortable bunks and a catering service. Instead of a little boy in Nathan Road doing his homework at a desk with a candle under the stairs, George saw today's Hong Kong youngsters in modern Youth SPOTs equipped with computers.

"But underneath a changed exterior and some differences in attitude and expectations, I can still see that inside they are the same - young human beings, enthusiastic, keen to do new things and wanting to do them well. What you have done is beyond my wildest dreams. I feel so excited and proud."

"The most important thing is that the foundation we laid forty years ago is still firm. The details are different but the ethos is exactly the same. You rely on volunteers and philanthropy as we did and on dedicated staff who work so hard."

George Stokes and his work were our inspiration and our guide. The privilege of his company has given us new impetus and reassurance that the passion we feel, our values and commitment, mirror those of the Federation's founder almost half a century ago. To see that the dreams of this man have come true is a rich reward. May the next 45 years' work bear as much fruit for the youth of Hong Kong and their future.

Facts & Figures

Findings of a survey show that children want to visit Disneyland more than once a year

Hong Kong Disneyland has been a hot topic recently and the long-awaited Grand Opening was on 12 September. In July, a local children's website《點蟲蟲熱線》conducted telephone interviews with 1,082 children aged between 6 and 15, asking for their impressions of the American-originated theme park. 80% of those interviewed said they had not been to Disneyland before and more than 78% thought that the ticket of Hong Kong Disneyland was expensive.

Despite this, 30% of them wished to visit the theme park once every 3 months and more than 20% wanted to go every 6 months. Among the Disney cartoon characters, Mickey and Minnie Mouse are the two most popular ones for children. Disney culture is widespread and more than 90% of the children interviewed have watched Disney cartoons and nearly 80% of them said they had Disney stationery, toys and clothes*.
*Mingpao 24 August 2005

Teenage brains are different

Research at London's Institute of Child Health* on 600 children aged 6-17 has shown that both sadness and anger are difficult emotions for young teenagers to interpret from facial expressions even if they were able to do so when younger. Other research** has shown that at around the same age, a teenager faced with a choice of homework, watching a television programme, or phoning a friend for a chat is most likely to do what he or she wants to do first and then get down to what really needs to be done later. Again, because their brains' wiring is still in process, adolescents may have special problems establishing priorities and controlling impulses.

In the second study the brains of 145 normal children were scanned at 2-year intervals with magnetic resonance imaging. Researchers found that although 95% of the structure of the brain is laid down by the time a child is 5 or 6, there are some changes in the structure of the brain that appear relatively late in child development. The prefrontal cortex appears to have a spurt of growth just before puberty. As the prefrontal cortex matures, teenagers can reason better, develop more control over impulses and make better judgements. There may be a link between the two sets of findings.
* South China Morning Post 10 September 2005, E6
** www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/work 12/6/2004 [accessed December 2004]

Internet gaming: the risks of immersive realities

Online games can have a sombre impact on rational behaviour. In January this year, a 13-year-old from Tianjin with a warped sense of reality committed suicide. He believed he would go to the virtual equivalent of heaven and meet his online friends in cyberspace. Immersion in such fantasy worlds, where thousands of players are linked by a virtual network, is having seriously worrying implications.

There are an estimated 25 million online gamers* on the Mainland alone and the death of the Tianjin boy is not an isolated incident. Crimes involving theft of virtual weapons, online fraud and murder are all other symptoms of the same problem. Chinese law does not recognise virtual property and governments in other countries such as Singapore, Taiwan and Korea have also been struggling to cope with the escalating popularity of online games and with its consequences for legislation.
*South China Morning Post 30 August 2005, T1