Recently, there was an article reporting a pair of sister and brother had to pick up the discarded cardboard boxes so as to gain money and maintain the daily expenditures for the family. This shows that the impoverishment of the children in the society. After reading the news, if I ask why this situation would happen in Sham Shui Po. Most of you may say that it’s because Sham Shui Po is the poorest place in Hong Kong. However, if this situation happens in the new town, what will the boy & girl be facing? Tseung Kwan O is one of the new towns, whose housing management is very “professional”. Even for the discard cardboard boxes, the management team has a very accurate & perfect system to manage, so that the money gained from the cardboard boxes recycling/ selling will finally go back to the management company itself (in private estates). If residences want to join this cardboard boxes selling activity, they have to go through the “test” from the security personnel. If the boy & girl were living in a new town, they would have no opportunity to pick up the cardboard boxes at all. I am not saying that we need not care about the problem of children impoverishment. I am just saying that we have not paid good attention to see what special social environment is in Sham Shui Po, so that it makes the lower level get into the market more easily. I was chatting with an old woman in Sham Shui Po before. The old woman maintains her life by selling the discarded cardboard boxes for many years. She mentioned that Sham Shui Po is a place which consists of most people among Hong Kong, and has a high diversification of participants. For her, even facing the large competition, she can still live by selling cardboard boxes for so many years because of the good network established between she and the local companies/ shops. The companies/ shops would reserve & keep the unused cardboard boxes especially for her. Isn’t it the society capitalized by the government, is it? *Today, I read an article in a newspaper saying that the “enti-stolen” function of the new recycling machine from the Green Power. However, I would like to ask, who is the final beneficiary of this “enti-stolen” machine?
The renewal plans set up by the government make the “old society” become a “new perfectly-managed society”. Finally, it only lets the lower level hide behind the society and just wait for the “perfect” system of our social benefits & protection!
