Press Room
Opinion Survey on “Community Knowledge of South Asians in HK”
6 December 2005
Social Harmony has been emphasized in the recent Policy Address and harmony among different races in Hong Kong is also one of the main foci. South Asians who have long resided in Hong Kong are also members of the family in Hong Kong. However, their needs have been always neglected because of the language barriers. Thus, Hong Kong Christian Service has conducted an opinion survey on “Community Knowledge of South Asians in Hong Kong” to understand the community knowledge of South Asians and their difficulties in Hong Kong and 133 South Asians have been interviewed in this survey.
From the study, it has been revealed that South Asians have high trust on the government, but they have little knowledge on government and community resources. Language barrier has hindered their use of community services, which has adverse effects on their community lives. Hong Kong Christian Service urged the government to put more resources to enhance South Asians in Hong Kong to use community resources so as to improve their quality of life. In order to tackle this problem, Hong Kong Christian Service has launched an Interpretation Service for South Asians to assist them to seek for suitable services. This Interpretation Service, including Urdu, Nepali and Hindi, is also made available to government departments, schools, or NGOs in order to facilitate their effective communication with the South Asians.
According to a study by the Hong Kong Christian Service who has interviewed 133 South Asians, 70.54% of the respondents agreed or very agreed that services provided by government departments can be trusted. Moreover, 80.31% of the interviewed South Asians agreed or very agreed that the Police can be trusted. They also have very high trust on social services organizations, of which 79.93% agreed or very agreed that social service organizations can be trusted.
“When facing difficulties, they are ready to seek help from the government or NGOs, ” Dr Alvin Kwok, Professional Assistant of Hong Kong Christian Service, the researcher of this study said.
For example, 10.99% will seek help from the government or the Labour Department to find a job, while 5.5% will resort to NGOs. Nevertheless, most of them will still rely on their friends. And when they feel unhappy, 60.16% will approach social service organizations for help. For financial difficulty, slightly more than half of them will seek help from the Social Welfare Department (SWD), although these figures also imply that they do not want to rely totally on the government as 45.08% of them definitely said that they would not seek help from the SWD.
In spite of the above positive impression on the government, Dr Alvin Kwok found that South Asians do not have ample knowledge on community resources. “When being asked which government department they should approach when trying to find a school place for the children, 59.02% reported that they do not know or not sure about which government department is responsible for this issue,” Dr Kwok said.
Similarly, although as reported above that 10.99% when approach Labour Department for job, 58.37% of the South Asians interviewed have no idea or not sure about which government department they should approach when finding a job. Their knowledge on government resources in financial assistance is also limited. More than six-tenth (63.28%) reported that they have no knowledge or not sure which government department they can seek for help when in financial hardship.
In general, South Asians have little knowledge on community resources available to them. Among the respondents, 32.06% said that they “Don’t know at all” about community resources, while 22.09% know only a little. On the contrary, only 19.08% said that they are quite knowledgeable or very knowledgeable about community resources.
From these findings, Hong Kong Christian Service put forward a proposition that language barrier is the major hurdle for the South Asians to have good knowledge on community resources and to use them when necessary.
According to the service experience of Hong Kong
Christian Service, it is found that for most of
the time the South Asians are unable to use community
resources mainly due to language barrier. As their
Pakistani volunteer, Aziz who had offered interpretation
support to those in need said, “I
had escorted those who could speak neither Cantonese
nor English to the public hospitals because they
had problems in communicating with doctors and
nurses. Some of them even had no idea about the
procedures for accessing the medical services
like where to go for registration, where to take
the medicine etc..” In addition, Hong Kong Christian
Service had also helped those who only speak their
native languages in accessing social security
assistance, public housing, legal aid and school
placements. In fact, it was not
only the South Asians who were in need of interpretation
support but also those who worked with them like
social workers and teachers. Previous experiences
showed that interpretation support had served
as an effective connection between school personnel
and the parents for the students’ welfare. Besides,
it had also facilitated social services personnel
in offering necessary assistances to their clients.
In order to enhance the community life of South
Asians in Hong Kong, Project SASA (South Asian
Support Alliance), funded by Community Investment
and Inclusion Fund, and Happy Teens Clubs of Hong
Kong Christian Service has jointly launched
an Interpretation Service in Hindi, Urdu and Nepali,
starting from 6th of December this year.
“It is our pioneer attempt working within the
limitation of resources. In this service, South
Asians will be recruited as freelance interpreters
to provide interpretation support to organizations,
government departments, schools and South Asians
in order to help the communication among South
Asians and other local Chinese people and organizations.
In helping their communication and finding suitable
service resources, the adjustment of South Asians
in Hong Kong can be facilitated. Besides, it is
equally important that through the involvement
as interpreters, South Asians can contribute their
talent in serving the other South Asians who are
in need of interpretation support,” Ms Yvonne
Chak, Principal Coordinator of Hong Kong Christian
Service said.
Both the verbal on-site interpretation service and simple written interpretation service in Urdu, Nepali and Hindi will be provided. “Those who can communicate fluently in either Cantonese or English AND one kind of South Asian languages in Hindi, Urdu or Nepali are welcome to join our team of interpreters. For those who want to help the written interpretation are expected to have the qualification of grade C or above in English (Syllabus B) in HKCEE or in GCE (O Level) or equivalent. Assessment and training to interpreters will be arranged before providing the service,” Ms Chak said.
For those who are in need of the service, no matter they are South Asians or other local people from organizations, government departments, schools, they can call Hong Kong Christian Service at 6172 6774 during the following hours:
| Day | Time | Medium of communication |
| Tuesday | 2-6pm | Chinese, English |
| 7-10pm | Hindi | |
| Wednesday | 2-6pm | Chinese, English |
| 7-10pm | Nepali | |
| Thursday | 2-6pm, 7-10pm | Chinese, English |
| Friday | 2-6pm | Chinese, English |
| 7-10pm | Urdu | |
| Saturday | 10am-1pm, 2-6pm | Chinese, English |
| Sunday | 10am-1pm | Chinese, English |
Media Enquires
- Dr. Alvin KWOK
Hong Kong Christian Service Professional Assistant
Tel：2731-6213 - Ms Yvonne Chak Tung Ching,
Hong Kong Christian Service Principal Coordinator
Tel：2708-7423 - Ms Cindy HO
Information Officer
Hong Kong Christian Service
Tel: 2731-6263