:
11
treatment of
refugees was concerned.
as Hong
Kong's
5) KAI TAK OPEN CENTRE
I went to Kai Tak Open Centre with Mei Cheung, who is the Cultural Orientation Co-ordinator for refugees coming to the United Kingdom. Under this programme 468 named refugees with relatives in the UK have been granted visas for settlement in the United Kingdom. Kai Tak Centre holds refugees who have in Hong Kong for more than 5 years 2 months. Many of them have been in Hong Kong since 1979. There are about 3150 people still there who have been waiting for resettlement for a great length of time. Refugees in Kai Tak Camp
seek are able to employment in Hong Kong. They provide for themselves and at have now least one member of each family works. Some of them moved out of the camp and have found accommodation in Hong Kong although they are still defined, by Hong Kong Immigration, as 468 The vast majority of the refugees awaiting resettlement. coming
to the United Kingdom will be coming from Kai Tak Camp. has recently agreed that it will The Hong Kong Government take 20 refugees per month into Hong Kong from this Camp. These people must be those who are ethnic Chinese and do not fill has Kong criteria for resettlement elsewhere. Since 1975 Hong
The United accepted some 14,500 refugees from Indo-China. Kingdom has accepted something in the region of 20,000.
sections.
two The camp is divided into
Northern Vietnamese occupy one section while Southern occupy the other. From what I could tell this arrangement works fairly well. It is possible for people to move freely between the two sections. The living quarters are much the same as in the Closed Camps but there is not the same air of confinement people may come an go as they please. That said conditions are crowded and the camp is not as clean as the closed camps and has far more of a decaying look about' it. Education in Kai Tak is very active. The school building is enormous and well built, unlike the corrugated iron shacks in which the refugees live. All children in Kai Tak attend school and have a proper curriculum including the study of their native language ( in most cases Chinese) and also English. The lessons were relaxed. Teachers are not paid at the rates they would expect in Hong Kong and many of the teachers
working with are volunteers
Hong Kong Christian Aid for
!
Refugees.
The Camp, unlike the closed camps, is run by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. They have delegated their responsibility to other agencies such as Hong Kong Christian Because there Aid to Refugees and Norwegian Refugee Council.
were no CSD staff about I felt more relaxed and less aware of myself. Also I was largely ignored by the refugees unless I chose to speak to them. Although their situation is not ideal
away from there was not so much of a sense of urgency to get the camp. I visited the Camp Shop and was pleased to find that
the had been accepted by
United the woman who was serving
relatives. to join Kingdom
her However,
was English non-existent and I wondered how she would cope upon her arrival here. The UK Cultural Orientation Co-ordinator encourages all
classes. refugees coming to the United Kingdom to attend
In