論

香港寻求庇护者和难民协会于二〇一四年十一月成立，是一个由本地人与寻求庇护者及难民共同管理的组织。我们也是一个独立运作的团体，会与其他组织、个人、商业公司及非政府组织等合作。

我们的组织位处八乡，主要服侍住在元朗、八乡、屯门及新界北的寻求庇护者和难民；也有一些住在九龙，来到我们这里寻求支援及建立友谊。我们的使命是为寻求庇护者及难民提供支援，促进他们的身心健康发展，令他们彼此之间更多合作，以及提倡寻求庇护者及难民的权益。

相比成为一个具架构、有层级的组织，我们的目标是成为一个像邻舍般的群体，让服侍对象在这里可以如同在家一样。寻求庇护者及难民除了远离家乡外，在香港这个百物昂贵的城市中，生活也极不容易，只能靠政府少量的补助金来过活。因此，协会提供不同类型的支援，以回应他们的需要。

他们到高等法院及入境处就身份声请作上诉时，我们会提供协助，如跟负责他们个案的人员及入境处职员协调沟通。我们亦会为他们提供物质上的支援，包括食物、衣物、电器、书本及文具等；为有需要寻找住所的求助者联络业主；助适龄上学的难民子女与学校沟通，让他们的学习更理想。除此之外，我们也会举办每星期的游戏小组及节日庆祝活动，让大家都可以有轻松快乐的时间；亦有跟我们合作的个人及非政府组织，为他们提供讲故事、手工班和舞蹈班等。

我们致力把服侍对象与本地社群连结在一起，并为这工作感到自豪。基督徒的价值是以「爱邻舍」为中心，因此我们亦以让更多香港人认识这个群体为目标，以消除不信任和负面标签。过去八年对我们来说是一个祝福，有幸得到很多人和组织伸出援手帮忙。

近几年对香港社会来说，是艰难的日子。因为新冠病毒，我们在营运和管理上也有很多限制，既要留神不违反政府的规定，但亦要在有需要时向求助者提供关心、支援与紧急援助。当有少数族裔群体染疫的新闻出现，张力就更显着，因为那可以成为一个理由，让人攻击寻求庇护者和难民。因此，我们分发物资时，也对物流安排非常小心。

尽管新冠疫情使我们面对很多挑战，却也提供了机会让本地社群与我们连系，令协会成员展现出力量与坚忍。成员之间不只互相帮忙，支援有需要人士，也帮助协会采购大批口罩，让我们可以在香港缺乏口罩供应时为人提供物资。社群之间的彼此援助与支持是很重要的，透过新冠危机，我们看见寻求庇护者和难民也是社会上重要的资产和支持。我们感谢分享资源的成员所作的贡献及情谊。

现在，我们正经历因香港政府收紧寻求庇护者和难民政策而带来的另一波挑战，在这困难的时刻，愿神赐福我们，赐予力量和支援。

 

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作者为香港寻求庇护者和难民协会联合创办人。
本文为本报编者所译，标题为编者所拟。
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.

「与难民同行．社群关爱」系列。
本文由难民事工小组提供，小组由香港的基督教教会和机构组成，
一直以来支援在港难民和免遣返声请者在房屋、教育、心理、生活上的需要，帮助他们融入社会。