ENG-1961 — Page 229

SOCIAL WELFARE

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Kaifong Associations and a number of voluntary agencies co- operated with the Social Welfare Department in providing relief and assistance for the victims. Some 67 other minor misfortunes added another 9,700 people for varying periods to the relief register. A total of $417,000 was paid out of the Community Relief Fund to assist victims of natural disasters.

The programme to provide community and social centres also made significant strides. Early in the year the Department con- verted the whole of the old Tsan Yuk Hospital building in the congested western part of the city into a social centre-in reality a community centre on a smaller scale and this was followed in May by the opening of the community centre at Tsuen Wan. This new centre, built with a United Kingdom World Refugee Year donation of $1,250,000, was named the Princess Alexandra Com- munity Centre, Tsuen Wan, when Her Royal Highness visited it on 8th November. The growing chain of social and community centres not only brings a host of welfare services, both govern- mental and voluntary, to densely populated areas, but is also designed to stimulate the development of a community spirit and a 'sense of belonging', particularly among people in newly built urban areas; for instance, an estimated 25,000 people out of 60,000 residents of the estate participated in an 18-day 'good-neighbours' campaign at the Wong Tai Sin Community Centre; this helped to draw the inhabitants of this resettlement estate closer together through competitions, social gatherings, sports, sing-songs and film shows. Further World Refugee Year donations from the United Kingdom are earmarked for the establishment of two more centres in the next few years. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Council of Social Service has been allocated land at Chai Wan, the only resettlement estate on Hong Kong Island, to build another centre. More than a million dollars was raised by the Council for this purpose-the bulk of it locally-and by the close of the year plans for the centre were well advanced.

All these developments demonstrate the willingness of the com- munity to accept a large measure of responsibility for those in need. The progress being made in such spheres as planning and training augurs well for the future and should provide a solid foundation on which to build and expand welfare services in Hong Kong.