56 Close liaison is maintained with two voluntary institutions, Pelletier Hall and the Po Leung Kuk. At Pelletier Hall the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, whose order has long specialized in this kind of work and has similar homes in other parts of the world, provide residential care, education and domestic and vocational training for up to a hundred and sixty girls, mostly between the ages of 14 and 18, who have agreed to enter the home to learn a better way of life (see Appendix 16). They are taught hairdressing, English conversation, elementary book-keeping, cooking, tailoring and power-machine sewing, typing, knitting, laundering, commercial art and baby-care. Land has also been granted near Aberdeen for a second home to be run by the Sisters for girls in moral difficulties. The Po Leung Kuk, besides its work for children already referred to in paragraph 49, provides for unmarried mothers and their children, while others who require special care are looked after at other maternity homes. The figures are also in Appendix 16.
57 Work in this section has a very special interest for social welfare practitioners with a close concern in the workings of the human mind, and despite the sordid nature of many of its problems and the brutaliz- ing surroundings into which inquiries may lead its officers, it remains a popular choice among recruits to the department. It is evident there- fore that lack of startling statistics of achievement does not mean frustration or a lack of sense of reward.
CHAPTER VII
HELP TO THE DISTRESSED
Real unselfishness consists in sharing the interests of others.
SANTAYANA
• EMERGENCY RELIEF
58 Though the year of the Snake brought with it fore-boding, with its implicit threat of more of the devastating storms so prevalent in Hong Kong, 1965 proved in fact to be a more peaceful meteorological year than previous ones. Only two mild storms, Freda and Faye, came and they by-passed the Colony giving rise to only slight damage in exposed places here and there. Many people were however effected by closure orders which the Building Surveyors of the Public Works Department had to impose upon the owners of dangerous old buildings;
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