“We are a group of CUHK students who are passionate to make our society a better place to live. This summer we got funding from the I · CARE Centre for Whole-person Development to initiate our social service project, which aims to promote the well-being of asylum seekers. The idea was indeed originated in a student research assignment to study the living condition and crime involvement among asylum seekers in Hong Kong.

Asylum seekers are individuals who seek international protection due to various humanitarian factors, for instance, armed conflict, domestic violence, political and religious oppression in their home countries. Hong Kong has signed the United Nations Convention Against Torture since 1992 and it is obliged for the government to provide them with a temporary shelter while they are waiting for the recognition of an official refugee status and resettle in third countries. Nonetheless, their basic needs are yet to be fulfilled in Hong Kong. On one hand, they are usually frustrated about their living, as they are prohibited to work and can solely rely on a very limited financial assistance to survive. On the other hand, the acceptance rate of an official refugee status is very low (around one percent per year), once they failed the application, they will be deported and may even lose their precious lives. More importantly, it is discovered that they are socially marginalised and stigmatised by the public in the society of Hong Kong.

Under these circumstances, we offered them language training to teach them the most fundamental Cantonese for daily communication use; we also organised one-day tour to let them understand more about the local cultures and to practice what they have learned during lesson. By these activities, our ultimate goals are to release their strain, to broaden their horizons and to re-engage them into the local community, which these are the basic human rights and well-being of humankind.”