Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1962-1963 — Page 33

as many of the inhabitants as possible by attracting them to the Centres, which provide a host of welfare services and group activities; and then to stimulate through the Centres the development of a community spirit. The first centre at Wong Tai Sin Estate which was built with money provided by the United States Government is nearly three years old; the second was completed a year later in the rapidly growing industrial town of Tsuen Wan, the first of three community centres to be built with funds donated by the United Kingdom World Refugee Year Committee. At the Wong Tai Sin and Tsuen Wan Centres the Maryknoll Sisters and the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association respectively provide a day nursery for 200 children between the ages of two and six who need care whilst their parents are at work; the Chinese Y.M.C.A. organizes a variety of group activities in each centre for young people, some 80 of whom participate in folk dancing, sport, arts and crafts every evening. Practical training classes in motor car and electrical repairs run by the Hong Kong Christian Welfare and Relief Council in the Wong Tai Sin Centre provide ready employment and at present 300 boys aged 15 and over are being trained. At Tsuen Wan, Lutheran World Service provides similar facilities for 200 young people of 16 years and over. The Family Welfare Society, whose work is referred to in paragraph 30 above, provides casework services at both Centres. The Department is responsible for the management of the Centres and also runs a variety of groups, fathers' and mothers' clubs, youth and children's clubs, interest groups and centre-wide activities in the form of campaigns, exhibitions, concerts, Chinese operas, film shows, etc. with the general object of helping participants to come increasingly together, to develop a group spirit and the willingness to accept responsibility for others. It is encouraging that this has already been shown in a number of ways: in the play centres, mothers take turns in looking after the children; the fathers' club continues its tradition of entertaining old people; and a drama group raised over $2,000 for the Community Relief Fund after typhoon 'Wanda'.

91. The third Centre at Kwun Tong Resettlement Estate is now under construction and should be in operation by December 1963; in the meantime some of the new Centre's staff are already at work in the ground floor of one of the resettlement blocks, finding out the needs of the area and getting to know the people and the organizations operating in the estate. Youth groups, children's and women's clubs

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