A door to the future

Carving out a niche for children from Hong Kong's low-income families is the theme of the city's push to eliminate intergenerational poverty. Experts say education remains vital, and single parents should be encouraged to rejoin the workforce. Xi Tianqi reports from Hong Kong.

Patrick Guan — a 14-year-old Secondary Two student at Hong Kong's YWCA Hioe Tjo Yoeng College — stands as a symbol of hope for others of his generation amid the special administrative region's relentless efforts to rid the city of poverty, as it embarks on a journey to be a crucial pivot on multiple fronts in the post-pandemic era.

Guan, who has stuck together with his family through thick and thin in his early life, has enrolled in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government's pilot program to make intergenerational poverty a thing of the past.

He lives in one of Hong Kong's notorious subdivided flats with his mother, Ma Miu-yee. Their 100-square-foot (9.3-square-meter) apartment, stuffed with a double bunk bed, a study/dinner table and a refrigerator, can barely accommodate the two of them. Most of the time, Ma has to sit on her bed to leave room for her son to do his homework at the small table.

When Hong Kong's humid weather hits in spring, water drips from the damp walls in the flat, soaking Guan's quilt on his bed. At night, he has to put up with the musty smell.

Promising first step

Guan is among 37,000 youngsters living with their families in appalling conditions in similarly overcrowded cubicle apartments throughout the city. In his maiden Policy Address last year, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu vowed to tackle intergeneration poverty with the pilot Strive and Rise program to help about 2,000 secondary-school students living in subdivided flats to break the shackles of destitution.

The program managed to identify 2,800 eligible students — 40 percent more than its target. It received HK$140 million ($17.8 million) in donations from some 120 organizations and enterprises.

Guan — one of the beneficiaries of the program — hopes it will change his life, with a pledged subsidy of HK$10,000 for each recipient. He received a startup amount of HK$5,000 in February for expenses under the guidance of his mentor, Colin Yip Wing-fung, an auditor with renowned auditing, taxation and advisory services firm KPMG. He'll be granted another HK$5,000 as a scholarship for program participants to deploy the financial skills they'll acquire under the program.

The financial aid has enabled Guan to do many things that would not have been possible otherwise. Along with 1,600 students and mentors, he visited the main facilities of Hong Kong flagship air carrier Cathay Pacific at Hong Kong International Airport, attended seminars, and joined other outdoor activities such as touring museums and wetland parks. "I can choose any activity based on my personal interest, including outdoor activities and indoor lectures and tours that have helped me broaden my horizons," he says.

So far, Guan has joined more than five activities under the program, including a personality survey, a career planning program, and meetings with students and mentors.

As an ardent sports fan, Guan is interested in meeting athletes and engaging in sports activities, which was his aspiration when he joined the program. He took heart when he learned that his mentor could be a well-known athlete like Hong Kong Olympic gold medalist Edgar Cheung Ka-long, who could be someone to look up to.