JUNE 2O11

SUSTAINABILITY AND ROBIN HOODS Oxfam Hong Kong’s Sustainable Livelihoods Adviser Johan Rock says the more Robin Hoods in Hong Kong, the better.

HEAVEN IN LAOS It’s Fair Trade, certified organic, made with solar power, and scented naturally. It’s silk and tea from Mai Savanh Laos.

JAPAN: THREE MONTHS AFTER The Oxfam priority in the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis is to assist women, children, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities, writes O.N.E editor, Madeleine Marie Slavick.

TREASURE HUNT An old man and a child search for love. Sandy Wong, Education Officer with Oxfam Hong Kong, introduces the newest workshop at our Interactive Education Centre.

OXFAM PIX Around the world, people are trying to make their lives stable in the face of the huge changes due to the climate change crisis.

18 NEW PARTNERS With a highlight on Live and Learn for Environment and Community.

Woman with a bird of Fair Trade silk / Photo: Courtesy of www.maisavanhlao.org

SUSTAINABILITY

O.N.E will move to our main page at www.oxfam.org.hk. See you there.

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 2

O.N.E: Would you say that sustainable

development is about having a strong

economy and a good environment?

JOHAN: That’s definitely part of it, yes.

Economic growth is important, at least

in developing countries. And the growth

has to be green. It has to respect the

environment. Which is why we are

promoting agro-ecological practices.

O.N.E: Tell us about these practices and

why they’re so important.

JOHAN: It’s a kind of farming that imitates

nature and helps protect our natural

resources such as soil, water and air. In

Vietnam for example, many farmers follow

the ‘vuong-ao-chuong’ practice, which can

be translated as ‘garden-fishpond-pigsty’.

Farmers use leftovers from vegetable

gardens to feed pigs. The manure is then

taken to a pond, where it makes plankton

grow that the fish will feed on. And pond

water is used to irrigate and fertilise the

garden. The cycle is closed. Nothing is

lost. Some farmers go even further and

let their fish swim freely in their rice fields

to eat insects, so that less pesticide is

needed.

As you know, the world is facing a severe

food crisis. We need to produce much

more food, and we have to do this in ways

that protect the world’s natural resources.

Agro-ecological practices, in combination

with some (safe) industrial fertiliser and

maybe pesticide, can do that. Green

practices can also help farmers adapt

better to the climate change crisis, for

instance by conserving water or growing

drought-resistent crops.

O . N . E : W h a t e l s e i s n e e d e d f o r

sustainable development?

JOHAN: Social and cultural aspects are

at least as important. Economic growth

alone, even if it is green, does not give

you sustainable development. The wealth

created by that growth has to be shared

fairly. China’s economy may be growing at

an incredibly fast pace, but so is the gap

between the rich and poor. The same is

true for Hong Kong. Just the other day, I

met this old man. I had seen him before,

searching the garbage bins for some

Sustainability and Robin Hoods in Hong KongJOHAN ROCK is Sustainable Livelihoods Adviser with Oxfam Hong Kong, working on livelihood programmes in Africa and Asia. O.N.E asked him to help us explore the many faces of sustainable development.

ONE PERSON

Johan’s son at a climate change action in Hong Kong

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 �

recyclable plastic or a cigarette butt. But

this time he approached me, asking, “Son,

can you spare me a smoke?” Which I did.

He then started telling me about his life.

He had worked in factories, had swept the

streets, taken care of gardens, and so on.

For very little pay. Now retired, he has to

supplement his meagre welfare benefits

by whatever money he can make from

collecting waste paper and plastics. Sad,

isn’t it? On one side, we have those who

drive around in Ferraris. On the other side,

so many folks struggle to survive, even

after a lifetime of hard and honest work.

That’s dead wrong. And not sustainable.

O.N.E: Is Oxfam Hong Kong working on

these social issues?

JOHAN: Oh yes. And I regard these

projects as some of our best work! In

Hong Kong, we have been campaigning

for the minimum wage and social security.

With good results. The large majority of

the population now supports minimum

wage legislation and social security.

But a lot remains to be done. Foreign

domestic workers are still excluded from

the minimum wage. Both the minimum

wage and the social security benefits have

been set too low. And we see how some

employers look for loopholes and cut

down on paid rest days and meal breaks.

O.N.E: How would you rate Hong Kong in

terms of sustainable development?

JOHAN: Not too well, I’m afraid .

To be fair, Hong Kong is one of the few

cities in the world that has kept so many

green areas. All you have to do is get

on a bus and in no time you’re in the

countryside. That’s great. I love it. But

how ‘developed’ and ‘sustainable’ a city

is does not depend on how many nature

parks it has. And it definitely doesn’t

depend on how tall its buildings are or how

many shopping malls it has .

To me, it depends first of all on how it

treats the poorest among its residents –

elderly people, the sick, the unemployed,

blue-collar workers, and so forth. In this

regard, Hong Kong does not do well. We

have one of the largest gaps between rich

and poor people in the world.

You also have to look at how we treat the

rest of the world. For instance, part of the

pollution in the Pearl River Delta is caused

by Hong Kong employers who moved

their factories to the mainland, where they

keep wages low and working conditions

substandard, simply to make more profit.

Hong Kong’s f inancial sector too is

creating problems in developing countries.

Plus, our carbon emissions (per capita)

are too high.

So, in short, Hong Kong still has a long

way to go before it can call itself a truly

‘developed’ and ‘sustainable’ city.

O.N.E: Is there hope?

JOHAN: Oh yes, absolutely! I look around

me and I see a lot of potential for change.

I see it in the eyes of those elderly folks

who search the garbage bins for paper or

plastic, anything they can get some money

for. Discontent over the extreme gap

between the rich and poor is growing. More

and more people are speaking out against

it. For example, there was a newspaper

article recently about Father Law Kwok-fai,

who invoked the anger of some of Hong

Kong’s richest people by condemning their

behaviour and speaking out for poor folks.

So, clearly Hong Kong has its own Robin

Hoods . And that’s good. Where there

are Robin Hoods, there is hope.

The youth of Hong Kong too give me hope.

Just look at the popularity of our Interactive

Education Centre. So many teachers

and students come to our interactive

workshops here. For me, taking the

elevator up with a bunch of kids on their

way to the Centre has always been quite

a thrill. A lot of young Robin Hoods in the

making ! We need to invest even more in

these kids. Every day they are confronted

with commercials and TV shows that incite

them to “buy this, buy that” and “get rich”.

We need to make them immune to all that

brainwashing and convince them that the

true heroes of this world are those who

stand up for poor people and the planet.

O.N.E: What else can we do for a more

sustainable Hong Kong?

JOHAN: Continue promoting agro-

e c o l o g i c a l p r a c t i c e s . C o n t i n u e

campaigning for labour rights and social

security. Continue educating Hong Kong’s

younger generation. And speak out on

other urgent issues too. Take nuclear

energy for instance. In the wake of what

happened in Japan, people are worried

over plans to increase Hong Kong’s

reliance on nuclear energy from the

current 23 to 50 per cent in ten years time.

I read that the Hong Kong authorities want

to consult the people, later this year. That’s

good. We have to seize this opportunity

and promote green sources of energy

such as wind and solar.

O.N.E: One more question. You will leave

Oxfam Hong Hong soon, right? What will

you do next?

JOHAN: Yes, we leave Hong Kong in

July. No concrete plans yet, but with more

than 20 years working in sustainable

development, I guess I’ll remain in the

same sector. But we’ll see. Life’s a box of

chocolates, right? Never know what you’re

gonna get . I’d love to stay in touch with

Oxfam. Contribute in one way or the other.

Even long-distance.

O.N.E: We count on it!

JOHAN: Please do.

TOP: Johan Rock with colleagues in Nepal

BOTTOM: Johan’s daughter (centre) playing with children in Beijing

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 �

From the start, this silk and tea farm in

southern Laos made the decision not to

use any chemicals. “Our farm is located

on the wonderful and pristine Boloven

Plateau and we want to keep it as it is for

the future,” say the Schmidts, Philippe

and El isabeth, a husband-and-wife

team who in 2005 started this Fair Trade

HEAVEN IN LAOS - SILK AND TEA, NATURALLY

cocoons

business called Mai Savanh Lao, or Silk

Heaven Laos.

Solar power brings them the huge quantity

of hot water needed for silk production,

minus the carbon emissions and the cost.

Fertiliser is made naturally, with cow dung,

ash, cabbage and left-over vegetables.

They scent their mulberry and green tea

with their home-grown basil, lemongrass

and ginger.

Apart from their 25-hectare certified

organic farm, they run a silk weaving and

dyeing training centre in northern Laos,

and tea operations in Vientiane. They

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 �

and

tea for sale!

silkworms

washing lemon basil mulberry and basil

drying lemon basil

employ 35 people full-time, all of whom

had once been poor, and have trained

hundreds of others in farming, weaving,

dyeing and marketing.

In April 2011, Oxfam Hong Kong invited Mai Savanh Lao to present their Fair Trade products to international buyers at HOFEX, a biannual regional food and hospitality tradeshow held in Hong Kong. “It’s a good opportunity to see the market trends and to plan for the future.” For more: www.maisavanhlao.org

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 �

It is almost three months since the three disasters that hit Japan – earthquake, tsunami, nuclear crisis. Evacuation centres remain full. Some people are living in their cars. Others are living in a state of ‘jishuku’, a kind of seclusion. They tend not to socialize; if they are working, they tend to return home right afterwards – they fear being stranded anywhere. Of the 13,000 dead who have been identified, more than half were over the age of 65.

Oxfam is assisting at-risk women (especially mothers), children (especially infants and babies), ethnic minorities (especially people who do not speak Japanese) and people with disabilities (especially women). We have planned to work for at least one year and mostly in these five prefectures: Aomori, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Iwate and Miyagi.

Why women?

I n J a p a n , t h e r e a r e o n l y a f e w

organisations that specifically address

the needs of women and gender has not

been mainstreamed in disaster relief work

either. We will focus on single mothers,

pregnant and lactating women, women

who have survived sexual or domestic

v io lence, women wi th d isabi l i t ies ,

ethnic minority women and low-income

women. In the initial phase, we provided

counsel l ing for women, pr ivacy for

breastfeeding, sanitary napkins and other

personal care products. A 24-hour hotline

is now active.

Why children?

Psycho-social support is as necessary

as the material, especially for children

who can be easily traumatised. Oxfam

has prov ided counsel ing and a lso

clothing for infants, diapers, wipes, and

more. Child support has been offered for

single parents. In Japan, April marks the

beginning of a new school year, and many

school-buildings had been functioning as

evacuation centres.

Why minorities?

Approximately 40,000 non-Japanese

speakers were affected by the earthquake

and tsunami. Primarily migrant workers,

women married to Japanese men, and

students, they tend to be marginalised

in Japanese society and support has

been limited from the embassies of their

own countries. Oxfam has arranged for

translation services, and for multi-lingual

information in print, on DVD, through

websites and radio broadcasting – we

also supplied solar-powered radios.

OXFAM IN JAPANBy Madeleine Marie Slavick

Why people with disabilities?

Access to urgent supplies may prove

difficult for people with limited mobility.

Oxfam has arranged for goods and

services to be delivered for people with

disabilities. Health care is a priority aspect

of this response.

What about the nuclear crisis?

What happened at the Fukushima nuclear

plant underlines the multiple challenges

that the world faces in redesigning its

energy systems. Oxfam believes that the

production and the delivery of energy

need to be as safe, as clean, as green,

and as reliable as possible. It also needs

to be accessible to all.

Madeleine Marie Slavick is editor of O.N.E. For updates, keep an eye on Oxfam Japan’s website http://oxfam.jp/en and on Oxfam’s blog, where Akiko Mera, Executive Director of Oxfam Japan, blogs here from time to time: http://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blog/. Oxfam’s partners include Japan International Cooperation on Family Planning: (http://joicfp.or.jp/eng/), Japan Women’s Shelter Network and Single Mother’s Forum.

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 �

TOP: Mother and daughter searching for a book to read / Photo: Oxfam Japan

LEFT: Safe water and other supplies for survivors / Photo: Miki Tokairin, JOICFP

BOTTOM: FM 80.1 reaches out to ethnic minorities in different languages / Photo: Oxfam Japan

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 8

UNCLE HUNG / TEASURE HUNT

Uncle Hung leads children on a hunt for love and other treasures at the Oxfam Interactive Education Centre, located right in Oxfam Hong Kong’s office in North Point / Photos: (left) Brenda Lee and (top) Cara Lin, Oxfam Hong Kong

Buddies On A Treasure Hunt By Sandy Wong

Every day, the old man went to the hill near his home. He took along a shovel, with which he dug up the soil at the foot of the hill, bit by bit. One day, a sad-faced child came to the hill. Seeing the old man patiently digging, the child asked out of curiosity, “What are you doing?”

“I am searching for treasure,” said the old man.

“What kind of treasure are you looking for?” the boy asked.

“I am looking for my son. How about you, why have you come here?” the old man asked.

“I lost my father.”

Uncle Hung tells the tale of the old man

and the child who explore love as they

embark on a treasure hunt together. The

workshop reminds us of the importance

of touching and connecting with people,

community and nature, lifelong.

Would you like to accompany Uncle Hung

on a journey to search for your own inner

treasure? Please visit http://www.cyber

school.oxfam.org.hk/iec.php?cat=1&id=155

Sandy Wong, Education Officer of Oxfam Hong Kong, works with different educators and artist-teachers in developing workshops for the Oxfam Interactive Education Centre.

This is a story about searching and love,

nature and sustainability.

These days, many things remind us

that life can be fragile. A person, a tree,

a village, a city, our quality of life and

social relations, all fade out and gradually

deteriorate, even disappear. We may be

left feeling anxious and uneasy. Maybe we

need love to fill in the cracks in our lives.

But what is love? Is love what we see in

the media – good people performing good

deeds? How do we explain love to our

children? Do we really know what love is?

At Oxfam Hong Kong, we always say we

are “helping people to help themselves”.

But before helping others, sometimes we

may need to know how to help ourselves

first. When we are vulnerable, do we

really know what love is? Understanding

is the process of searching.

Oxfam Hong Kong’s Interactive Education

Centre is offering a new workshop,

“Buddies On A Treasure Hunt”. The

workshop is led in Cantonese by Uncle

Hung the storyteller (Yuen Che-hung),

who is also an actor and an author of

several books. “We need to build our

lives on the basis of love,” he says. “The

only way to develop your own values is to

explore and understand your own feelings

and emotions.”

O.N.E JUNE 2O11 �

Finding Sustainable Ways to Cope with Climate Change

BLOOD COCKLE:

Temperatures in Ben Tre, Vietnam, are increasing, and this dark sheeting helps keep the water of the tidal river cool – the way the blood cockle like it. / Photo: Bui Thi Minh Hue, Oxfam

RICE:

Farmers experiment with different varieties that can withstand the changes in the climate in the Philippines, such as long periods of sustained rain. / Photo: Rice Watch and Action Network (www.r2phils.org)

SHEEP:

This breed of sheep called ‘Tan’ is suited for the very dry climate of Gansu Province, in northwest China, where desertification is on the rise / Photo: Xiao Sha, Oxfam Hong Kong

18

Working with people against poverty

www.oxfam.org.hk | 2�20 2�2�

CHINA VOICES Speak Out Against Poverty in Mainland China

Oxfam Hong Kong has launched a book of

stories and photographs that features the

views and accounts of people whom Oxfam

has met in 23 years of anti-poverty work in

Mainland China. The publication depicts the

lives of farmers, women, migrant workers,

ethnic minorities and community workers in

China’s impoverished rural areas.

Available at Swindon Books, Kubrick Book

Stores, Relay, Dymocks, CUHK Press,

Times Publishing, Hong Kong Readers,

MCCM Creations, Xiyao Book Store and

Oxfam’s online shop at www.oxfam.org.hk

O.N.E (Oxfam News E-magaz ine) i s

published by Oxfam Hong Kong, 17th Floor,

China United Centre, 28 Marble Road,

North Point, Hong Kong. The publisher does

not necessarily endorse views expressed

by contributors. For permission to reprint

articles, please contact us; normally, we

grant permission provided the source is

clearly acknowledged. O.N.E is available

f ree to al l , in both an HTML and PDF

version, and in Chinese and English.

O.N.E will move to our main page at www.oxfam.org.hk. See you there.

N E W PartnerOrganisations

CHINA

Beijing • Beijing Migrant Workers Community Social Service Investigation and

Preparation Programme Team

• Beijing N-friends Information Consulting

• Technology & Education: Connecting Cultures (Beijing Chapter)

Guangxi • Prata-cultural Development Centre, Ethnic Minority Affairs Bureau

• Fishery and Veterinary Bureau, Douan Yao Autonomous County

• Fishery and Veterinary Bureau, Tiandeng County, Chongzuo City

Guizhou • Education Department, Jiangkou County

• Education Bureau, Songtao County

• Education Bureau, Congjiang County

• Service Centre, Shangji Town, Zunyi County

Shandong • Jicheng Social Work Service Organisation

Yunnan • College of Economics and Management, Yunnan Agricultural University

• Tengchong People’s Hospital

PHILIPPINES • Asian Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in Rural Asia,

Asia DHRRA, Manila

VIETNAM • Live and Learn for Environment and Community, Ha Tinh

• Daknong Department of Planning and Investment

• Daknong Women’s Union

• Daknong Department of Finance and Planning

Every day, Oxfam Hong Kong works alongside hundreds of

groups around the world, from small NGOs to international

bodies, from government departments of developing

countries to community groups based in Hong Kong.

Here are 18 ‘partner organisations’ that we are supporting

for the first time.

In this edition of O.N.E, we highlight

Live & Learn for Environment and

Community, in Vietnam.

Vietnam is one of the most vulnerable

countries to climate change, and disaster

r isk reduct ion and c l imate change

adaptation with poor people is an Oxfam

priority in the country. As part of this work,

we have awarded a US$20,000 grant

to Live & Learn for Environment and

Community, a youth organisation based in

Ha Tinh.

L i v e & L e a r n c r e a t e d t h e G r e e n

Generation Network (The He Xanh),

which empowers youth and environmental

voluntary groups to become ‘green

change agents’ through training, coaching

and many youth-led initiatives. These

agents then inspire climate awareness

and action among other youth nationwide

– they have a l ready worked in 15

provinces.

Oxfam Hong Kong’s support will enable

the Network to expand to 20 provinces

and 3 cities. The project expects that in

one year at least 150 more young people

will have become agents; at least 3,000

youth will have participated in at least 10

youth-led initiatives on disaster risks and

climate change; and the Network will have

developed new collaborations with many

organisations (government and non-

government), business groups, and media

communities.