論

香港尋求庇護者和難民協會於二〇一四年十一月成立，是一個由本地人與尋求庇護者及難民共同管理的組織。我們也是一個獨立運作的團體，會與其他組織、個人、商業公司及非政府組織等合作。

我們的組織位處八鄉，主要服侍住在元朗、八鄉、屯門及新界北的尋求庇護者和難民；也有一些住在九龍，來到我們這裡尋求支援及建立友誼。我們的使命是為尋求庇護者及難民提供支援，促進他們的身心健康發展，令他們彼此之間更多合作，以及提倡尋求庇護者及難民的權益。

相比成為一個具架構、有層級的組織，我們的目標是成為一個像鄰舍般的群體，讓服侍對象在這裡可以如同在家一樣。尋求庇護者及難民除了遠離家鄉外，在香港這個百物昂貴的城市中，生活也極不容易，只能靠政府少量的補助金來過活。因此，協會提供不同類型的支援，以回應他們的需要。

他們到高等法院及入境處就身份聲請作上訴時，我們會提供協助，如跟負責他們個案的人員及入境處職員協調溝通。我們亦會為他們提供物質上的支援，包括食物、衣物、電器、書本及文具等；為有需要尋找住所的求助者聯絡業主；助適齡上學的難民子女與學校溝通，讓他們的學習更理想。除此之外，我們也會舉辦每星期的遊戲小組及節日慶祝活動，讓大家都可以有輕鬆快樂的時間；亦有跟我們合作的個人及非政府組織，為他們提供講故事、手工班和舞蹈班等。

我們致力把服侍對象與本地社群連結在一起，並為這工作感到自豪。基督徒的價值是以「愛鄰舍」為中心，因此我們亦以讓更多香港人認識這個群體為目標，以消除不信任和負面標籤。過去八年對我們來說是一個祝福，有幸得到很多人和組織伸出援手幫忙。

近幾年對香港社會來說，是艱難的日子。因為新冠病毒，我們在營運和管理上也有很多限制，既要留神不違反政府的規定，但亦要在有需要時向求助者提供關心、支援與緊急援助。當有少數族裔群體染疫的新聞出現，張力就更顯著，因為那可以成為一個理由，讓人攻擊尋求庇護者和難民。因此，我們分發物資時，也對物流安排非常小心。

儘管新冠疫情使我們面對很多挑戰，卻也提供了機會讓本地社群與我們連繫，令協會成員展現出力量與堅忍。成員之間不只互相幫忙，支援有需要人士，也幫助協會採購大批口罩，讓我們可以在香港缺乏口罩供應時為人提供物資。社群之間的彼此援助與支持是很重要的，透過新冠危機，我們看見尋求庇護者和難民也是社會上重要的資產和支持。我們感謝分享資源的成員所作的貢獻及情誼。

現在，我們正經歷因香港政府收緊尋求庇護者和難民政策而帶來的另一波挑戰，在這困難的時刻，願神賜福我們，賜予力量和支援。

 

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作者為香港尋求庇護者和難民協會聯合創辦人。
本文為本報編者所譯，標題為編者所擬。
英文原文如下：

Introducing our Ministry - The Hong Kong Society for Asylum-seekers and Refugees

Isabella NG

The Hong Kong society was established in Nov 2014. It is an organization jointly managed by local people and the asylum-seekers and refugees. It is an independent society that works and partners with other organizations, individuals, business corporations and Non-governmental organizations.

We are based in Pat Heung, and serve mainly the asylum-seekers and refugees who live in Yuen Long, Pat Heung, Tuen Mun and the New Territories North. There are also some asylum-seekers and refugees who live in Kowloon came to us for mutual support and friendship. Our mission is to provide support to asylum-seekers and refugees; to improve the well-being of asylum-seekers and refugees; to promote cooperation amongst asylum-seekers and refugees and to promote asylum-seekers and refugees’ rights.

Our goal is to run our society like a neighborhood group instead of a well-structured, hierarchical organization. We want the asylum-seekers and refugees to feel like home. Being away from home and living under meagre subsidies provided by the government is no easy feat to pull off in an expensive city like Hong Kong. So, our society provides different kinds of support in order to meet their needs. We provide help on their appeal to the high court and Immigration Department; help our members liaise and mediate with immigration officers and their case workers. We also help provide material support ranging from food and clothes, electrical appliances, books and stationeries and so on.  We help them find homes and schools, liaise with landlords and landladies, and when children reach their school age, we also help to talk to schools to facilitate asylum-seeking and children’s study. We also organize weekly playgroup and festival celebrations so that we could all enjoy the fun time together. We have individuals as well as NGOs that offer us storytelling session; arts and crafts and dance classes.

We take pride in connecting them with the local community. Christian values centers on “Love thy neighbors”. It is therefore our target to provide as many opportunities as possible for Hong Kong people to know the group so as to dispel mistrust and negative stereotyping. The past eight years have been a blessing to us. We were very fortunate to have a lot of people extended their hands to help us, whether they are individuals, corporations, or NGOs.

The last few years have been a very taxing time for our society. Because of Covid, we were facing a lot of constraints in operating and managing the group. We had to be careful not to break the restrictions imposed by the government and yet we need to provide care and support and emergency relief if needed. The tension mounts when there was news about members of the ethnic minority who caught Covid. This news could become a reason for people to attack the Asylum-seekers and refugees. That’s why when we distributed items to the group we had to be very cautious in the logistical arrangement.

While the Covid has posed a lot of challenges to us, it has also provided opportunities for the local people to connect with us; and our members were showing their strength and resilience in terms of the crisis. Not only did they manage to help each other, supporting each other in need, they also helped the society to purchase masks in bulks so that we could provide masks for everyone, when Hong Kong was running out of masks. The mutual aid and support amongst them and between us and them are quintessential, Through the Covid crisis, we also see how the asylum-seekers and refugees can be invaluable asset and support to us. We were so grateful for our resourceful members, their contributions and friendships to everyone!

We are facing yet another wave of challenge from the Hong Kong government, who is further toughening up the policy on the group. May God bless us and provide us strength and support in terms of such difficult time.

「與難民同行．社群關愛」系列。
本文由難民事工小組提供，小組由香港的基督教教會和機構組成，
一直以來支援在港難民和免遣返聲請者在房屋、教育、心理、生活上的需要，幫助他們融入社會。