}
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medical facilities here were far better than for Kong as no fee was charged and queues were shorter.
people in Hong
The schools building was closed so I was not able to see it. The same problems exist here as in Chi Ma Wan in that apathy sets in after refusal of refugees for resettlement.
My purpose for visiting Hei Ling Chau was not to look round but to talk with 5 men aged between 23 and 32 with whom I correspond on a regular basis. I went back to the main waiting area in which I had seen so many people upon my arrival. The five were waiting there and had been all morning. We then went to the camp shop (situated outside the camp fences) and bought lemon tea which I was in need of because of the heat. I was then shown to the interview room and allowed 30 minutes to talk with them. We were left alone for this talk. As I arrived at the interview huts there were about 20 people waiting for interviews with either UNHCR or resettlement delegations they all had faces which said "We've been here before and no doubt will be here again". From amongst this number one young man approached me and asked if I could help him. He had been in Hei Ling Chau for five years and as yet had not received a resettlement offer.
His English was very good and he was a worker for UNHCR in the interview building, helping to translate and co-ordinate the interview process. I had to tell him that I was not in Hei Ling Chau to interview people for resettlement and quickly explained the policy the UK Government had adopted over refugees in Hong Kong. He did not give in and said if the opportunity ever arose when I would be able to present his case please would I then help him. He gave me his name and numbers. I said I could not do anything. All the time this was going on, going through my mind was the thought that over the last 5 years I had finished college, joined the Ockenden Venture and had now reached the point where I was Assistant to one of the Directors. Meanwhile, here in Hong Kong, over the last five years this young man had sat in a refugee camp, removed from real life with nothing to do other than study English and wait for an interview with a country that might one day, some time in the future, accept him. It is an utter waste of human resource.
Having concluded the interview I left the camp and took the Government launch back to the mainland. On the way I was able to discuss what I had seen with Belinda Tang (HKGO). The number of refugees arriving from North Vietnam were so many
that the Hong Kong Government were now having to consider setting up new facilities for them. In the main these people are fishermen and people seeking a better lifestyle than that which they can obtain in Vietnam. They are "economic refugees". The question of or not they are real refugees was being raised by the HK Secretary for Security at the United Nations in Geneva at the time I was in Hong Kong. I asked Belinda if they had many MPS and other VIPS visiting from the UK and if so whether they requested to see the camps. Her reply was that there were quite a large number of visitors and the closed camps were included, usually at the request of the Hong Kong Government, on the schedule of the visitor. Usually they only visited Tuen Mun unless they had a special interest in the camps. I asked what the outcome of these visits tended to be. She said a report was sometimes submitted by visitors but nothing ever seemed to be achieved. There is no doubt in the minds of the people in Hong Kong that the problem of
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