bobble: Filter In Your Bottle

November 19, 2012

The eco-friendly solution for safe, bottled water on the go

by Viola Yeh

If you ever worry about how safe it is to drink the water from drinking fountains at school, feel guilty that you are not being environmentally-friendly when you buy bottled water, or are turned off by the odour from tap water – then bobble might be able to help.

bobble is a water bottle that filters water as you drink. It has a portable water filtration cartridge with a carbon filter that significantly reduces odour, chlorine and organic contaminants from regular municipal tap water. It is also an eco-friendly water bottle made from recycled materials and is 100 per cent recyclable itself. Each bobble filter is good for producing the equivalent of at least 300 bottles of filtered water. If it is for daily use, the filter should be replaced once every two months.

Worried that you may forget to grab yourself a new filter in time? You can create a personal account on “bobble Love” to remind yourself regularly. bobble filters are available in more than 10 bright colours. So every two months, you will have an excuse to buy yourself a new filter that represents your mood, style and character.

Owning a bobble does not only help protect nature and save money, it can also be a symbol of friendship. Charmaine Chan Yin-man, 18, has been using a bobble for almost a year. She received a bobble as a present from her friend last Christmas. “I wanted that [bobble] present for a long time. My friend knew and she got it for me,” she says. A lot of Chan’s friends use a bobble, symbolizing their friendship and closeness.

Chan finds it convenient to drink from a bobble. She often fills up her bobble with tap water from her dormitory and drinks from it straightaway. “You feel safer drinking water from it and you actually feel better,” she says.

One of Chan’s friends had an interesting experience that may clear any doubts you have about the efficiency and effectiveness of the bobble filter. Her friend put chocolate milk into the bobble as an experiment to test its filtration ability. “The stuff that comes out is like brownish water and it tastes like water,” says Chan. Unfortunately, the success of the experiment had a sad ending. Her friend’s brand-new filter was clogged afterwards and she was forced to buy a new one.

A bobble costs HK$99. It can be found in City’super, Francfranc and different sports stores. It is available in three sizes, ranging from 385 millilitres to one litre.

Veggie Dining for a Cause

November 20, 2012

Happy Veggies, restaurant helping the hearing-impaired

By Stephanie Cheng

There is a wide variety of cuisines available in Hong Kong and at a wide range of prices. But if you want to savour fresh, green bites in a cosy environment and for a good cause, then look no further than Happy Veggies. Happy Veggies is the first not-for-profit vegetarian restaurant in Hong Kong. It is run as a social enterprise and employs both hearing-impaired and hearing staff. It also promotes vegetarian culture and the use of sign language.

Founded by actor Eric Tsang Chi-wai and actress Jaime Chik Mei-chun in 2010, Happy Veggies is run under the Enhancing Self-reliance through Business Partnership Programme. The restaurant serves economical meal sets tailored for vegetarians such as mushrooms and vegetables with rice and soup. It soon became a sought-after lunch spot for people who care about their health, especially the office ladies working nearby.

You might wonder whether the staff with hearing impairments can actually understand your order. Don’t worry, the restaurant has a user-friendly approach to enhancing your dining experience.

Once you step into the restaurant, you get a lunch set form and pay first at the cashier. You can then take your own food. In the evenings, they use a different system: customers are served by the hearing-impaired staff at their tables. To help diners differentiate, the hearing-impaired staff wear green shirts, while the hearing ones are in yellow.

Menus with detailed descriptions of ingredients, prices and pictures of the dishes provide customers with clear information. Looking around, there are also posters introducing simple sign language, like water, noodles and rice.

At the corner of the restaurant, fair-trade products like tea bags and snacks are sold.

Candy Mok Siu-ying, who celebrated her birthday in Happy Veggies, was overwhelmed when she was treated to a rendition of her birthday song in sign language. She says although the staff sometimes cannot catch their words, they are very helpful and attentive to customers’ needs.

Chen Chia-wen, the administrative assistant of Happy Veggies, says the restaurant is a convenient platform for customers to get acquainted with the staff with hearing difficulties. It fosters mutual integration and understanding. The public gets to see the daily operation of a social enterprise while the hearing-impaired staff can learn how a business is run.

“The hearing-impaired colleagues are actually more focused. They want to prove themselves as competent workers and gain an equal footing with others,” says Chen. While most of the colleagues are deaf or hearing impaired, the challenge of being a waiter can encourage them to be more independent.

Few employers are willing to hire the deaf and hearing impaired. Happy Veggies is different. As an “enterprise with conscience”, it cherishes every employee and they get an afternoon break from 2.30pm to 6.00pm to relax.

If you want to show your support, or if you simply want to enjoy a tasty, healthy meal, then check out Happy Veggies: 1st Floor, Bayfield Building, 99 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai. For more information, please visit http://happyveggies99.blogspot.hk/.

Survey on reading habits of HK youth

November 20, 2012

Transsexual Marriage

May 21, 2012

Editor:Dorothy Goh,Joyce Lee
Reporters:Natalie Cheng,Rene Lam, Derek Li

Preparations are currently underway for a musical inspired by the case of W, a transsexual woman who is taking her fight for the right to marry in Hong Kong to the Court of Final Appeal.

“Dream of the Mermaid” tells the story of a mermaid, who is no longer considered an “animal” after transforming her body, fighting for her right to marry her human beloved. Her perseverance moves “God”, who finally alters the laws of the animal kingdom, granting the mermaid her lifelong wish.

The mermaid’s predicament is based on that of W’s. Although she was born a man, she has undergone sex reassignment treatment and has changed the gender on her Hong Kong Identity Card to female. She wants to get married, but the law forbids her to do so because she was a ‘man’.

Music producer Angela Mak believes the production will give W a source of support, and hopes for a happy ending to W’s court case, just like in the musical.

W is challenging the Marriage Ordinance, which she thinks unconstitutional as it denies her the right to marry a man. She says it contradicts the right to marry guaranteed under the Hong Kong Bill of Rights as stated in the Basic Law.

W lost her case in the Court of First Instance and then in Court of Appeal, which said there was no evidence of a social consensus regarding transsexual marriage.

The court restated that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, with the responsibility to procreate, following the logic that non-consummation remains a ground for annulling a marriage. It equates transsexual marriage with homosexual marriage, which is outlawed in the current marriage system. W’s lawsuit will be heard at the Court of Final Appeal early next year.

Philip Dykes SC, the barrister representing W, emphasizes that W is not gay. Transsexual women want to be acknowledged that they are born female inside a male body. The surgery is only a means to align their physical state with their mental one.

As the term LGTB (lesbian, gay, transsexual, bisexual) bounds these minorities together, their differences are often overlooked. Transsexuals ask for an affirmation of their new identity. Unlike gays and lesbians, who relish their own sex and challenge the traditional view of marriage, many transsexuals adhere to the conventional values of marriage, including the view that it is between a man and a woman.

Countries like Singapore strictly prohibit same-sex marriage but allow for transsexual marriage, as the latter reaffirms heterosexual marriage. Other regions in Asia that allow transsexual marriage include the mainland, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Dr Ng Wan-lun, who performed transsexual surgeries before his retirement, says transsexuals have a special need which is currently treated as an illness. Medically, the condition of feeling trapped in a body of the wrong sex is referred to as gender dysphoria. It is believed to be a biological condition that develops before birth.

According to Ng, the government is but a witness to register marriages and its agreements; all couples should be given the legal right to marry.

Snake King

May 21, 2012

Editor:Stephanie Chan
Reporters: Ian Cheng, Vivian Ng, Matthew Leung

Despite being a cosmopolitan city, Hong Kong is home to 52 species of snake, fourteen of which are venomous. Banded Krait, Many-banded Krait, Chinese Cobra, King Cobra and Bamboo Pit Viper are the five venomous snakes commonly seen in Hong Kong.

Snakes are very often spotted by hikers in country parks or people who live in the mid-levels and village houses in the suburbs. Some of them will directly contact the snake kings; while some will seek help from the Police, who will then call the snake kings to catch the snakes. The captured snakes, be them venomous or non-venomous, will be sent from the Police to the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden.

Snake Kings are people who catch snakes for a living. Also, they usually operate a shop serving a Chinese traditional dish, snake soup in some old districts in Hong Kong. They are called the “snake king” (se4 wong4) in Cantonese.

Working hand in hand with the snake kings, the Kadoorie farm provides temporary shelter for the captured snakes. Dr. Gary Ades, Head of Fauna Conservation Department, has been working in the Farm for over fifteen years. As he says, vets of the Farm will first examine those received snakes, then release them back to the nature in areas that are further away from the residential areas.

As Ades further explains, he believes that snakes, poisonous or not, are part of the nature and have an important role in the ecosystem. It is essential to release healthy snakes back to their nature to maintain the balance. For example, common rat snakes, that the Farm occasionally receives, which he describes as “farmers’ friends’”, carry a role to protect a farmer’s harvest as they feed on rats.

Lau Tit-pong, an experienced snake king in the East Kowloon, has been offering his skills in catching snakes for more than 20 years. As he says, at peak seasons, which is from May to August, he receives two to three orders per week. Lau has mastered a set of snake-catching skills through his experiences and is able to handle snakes confidently and professionally. Nonetheless, there is one conventional procedure that is not welcomed by the Farm.

As Lau says, “(In the past,) We used to de-fang the snakes immediately after catching them, so to made it less dangerous to put in a bag.”

However, as the Farm explains, since the fangs are essential for killing preys after releasing back to the wild, poisonous snakes cannot survive if snake kings de-fang them. Since then, Snake Kings capture snakes with their bare hands and no longer de-fang them.

Speaking of the continuality of this craftsmanship, Snake King Lau is not so optimistic. Lau says that it is almost impossible to find new blood to join the industry today. Yet, he understands that snake catching is often perceived as highly dangerous and young people nowadays would rather opt for ‘less-demanding’ jobs as they are better educated.

Ho Cheuk-hing, another experienced snake king who has been capturing snakes for more than 40 years, echoes with Lau, regarding the profession of snake catching as a ‘sunset’ business. Yet, he still finds a sense of satisfaction from his job today. Perhaps that is why he keeps working as a snake king as he has already stepped into his retiring age.

Islanders fight Shek Kwu Chau Incinerator Plan

May 21, 2012

Editor: Margaret Ng, Liz Yuen
Reporters: Caleb Ho, Thee Lui, Vicki Yuen

Shek Ku Chau, a rocky island a 20-minute ferry ride away from Cheung Chau, provides the tranquil backdrop for the Shek Kwu Chau Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre for drug users. That tranquility is now under threat from a government plan to build an artificial island with a rubbish incinerator nearby.

Patrick Wu Shun-on, the Superintendent of the Shek Kwu Chau Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre, says the plan totally disregards the well-being of the 300 patients and staff at the centre.

A quiet environment is an essential part of the treatment provided and for the rehabilitation process. Wu says the patients experienced emotional problems when the government first held a site investigation of the sea bed near Shek Kwu Chau two years ago.

He says it would be hard for the residents to endure the noise during the five-year construction period of the project. Wu is afraid many of the patients would no longer be willing to stay.

Hong Kong’s last waste incinerator was shut down in 1997 due to pollution concerns. However, with solid waste continuing to increase and the territory’s landfills overflowing, the government says the incinerator is necessary.

The proposed 16-hectare artificial island would contain a thermal incineration plant which can deal with 3,000 tonnes of waste a day and a mechanical sorting and recycling plant. There would also be an education centre which could host 450 visitors a day, mainly students. Proponents say this will help boost tourism in Cheung Chau.

However, the $15 billion project has aroused opposition from various groups. On 18March 2012, around 500 Cheung Chau and Mui Wo (in Lantau) residents marched to the new Government Headquarters. They objected the site of the incinerator and the type of technology used, which they fear will add to air pollution. Fishermen also expressed worries that the reclamation would damage their livelihood.

But Au Wai-kwong, the Assistant Director of Environmental Protection Department says the incinerator will be designed to meet stringent international standards and suitable mitigation measures will be adopted to minimise any environmental impact.

The project is now held back by the panel on Environmental Affairs in the government. The authority says more consultation is needed.

Concerned environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth, believe that incineration is not a solution to tackle Hong Kong’s waste disposal problem. They believe the Government should devise a comprehensive strategy and an action plan covering enhancing waste reduction and recovery, and fees for dumping rubbish. As the amount of waste in Hong Kong builds up, reducing the amount of rubbish produced rather than building an incinerator may seem like a more sustainable long-term solution.

No Place to Call Home

May 21, 2012

Editors: Dora Chiu and John Yip
Reporters: Kris Lee, Yannie Mak and Viola Yeh

In a home of around 300 square feet with mouldy ceiling, dimmed lights and hanging electric wires, lives a family of four. They have to tolerate persistent noise from traffic every day. They also have to face fire risk, hygiene problems and unstable electricity supply, as well as the threat of eviction. They live in a subdivided unit in an industrial building.

Leung Fat-wei, a 46-year old construction worker and sole breadwinner of the family, received a closure order from his landlord recently. He is now nervous and panicked, placing his last hope on his application for public housing. He has been waiting since 2009.

Leung’s situation is not unique. Currently, there are approximately 2000 people living in subdivided units in industrial buildings. On March 7 this year, the Buildings Department applied for a closure order to clear the subdivided units in industrial buildings on Larch Street in Tai Kok Tsui. More than a hundred tenants lost their homes.

Increasing public concern over safety issues has driven the Government to begin abolishing such illegal units. In light of the Government’s crackdown, some landlords are worried they may face prosecution for constructing illegal structures and renting them out. As a result, some of them try to sell up and evict their tenants as soon as possible.

But the tenants are asking to be resettled before the clearance of their homes.

“Can you imagine 2000 people become homeless because of this action?” asks Foo Wai-lok, Assistant to legislator Raymond Wong Yuk-man. He initiated a one month protest with evicted tenants in late-January this year to tell the Government about the problems they are facing and to raise public concern.

Anthony Wong Kin-wai, chief research officer in Policy and Research and Advocacy in the Hong Kong Council of Social Service believes that the fundamental problem lies in the inadequate supply of affordable housing.

Wong says the queue for public housing keeps growing but the government has done nothing to clear it. He criticizes the Government for keeping members of low-income groups waiting for years.

In fact, many grass-roots families are unable to see when they will live in public housings. Subdivided units in industrial buildings are perhaps the best they can afford. Facing the eviction from the Buildings Department or the landlords, these people live with helplessness and great uncertainty, not knowing where they can go.

Food Banks: Enough food for all?

May 21, 2012

Editors: Christine Tai, Yvonne Yeung
Reporter: Sabrina Poh, Nectar Gan, Ben Lam

It is 3 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon. James Lung Wai-mun, manager of the Yau Tsim Mong Food Bank, opens the doors of a room inside a Nepalese temple, welcoming a line of silver-haired elderly people. It is lunch time for those who receive food assistance from this private food bank in Hong Kong.

“We make friends with [the users],” Lung says. “We don’t have an examination process [for selecting food bank applicants]. Once they express their needs and reasons, they can come and get the food.”

Instead, applicants are invited to the private food bank’s office in Yau Ma Tei for a casual chat with Lung and his colleagues who will try to understand and help them overcome their difficulties.

Meanwhile, government-funded food banks face more stringent guidelines.

“Prior to government support, our income was not stable, but we had a lot of flexibility in the way we handled things,” says Connie Ng Man-yin, service manager of the St. James Settlement People’s Food Bank.

She adds that once the food bank received government support, the procedures became more rigid, less flexible. For instance, applicants are strictly means-tested.

Ng says that half the users of the People’s Food Bank comprise of families.

“If families are already on public aid, we will not assist because the financial aid should have covered food costs,” Ng says.

In addition, in order to apply for food aid, an individual’s salary must not exceed HKD3800 a month; while a two person family’s salary should not exceed HKD7000 a month.

Furthermore, Ng says that an application needs to go through many departments and it takes a long time for an application to be processed.

Lung says these restrictions are one of the reasons why the Yau Tsim Mong Food Bank has not applied for government funding.

“Government food banks do not help people without an address proof, without residency, or have not lived in Hong Kong for at least 7 years. However, this has led to several problems. For example, homeless people definitely need food, but they do not have any address proof. You cannot tell the government that you live under X bridge near Y road; this is not an address proof,” Lung says.

In addition to the qualification process, the budget allocation of food banks is pre-assigned by the government. Food banks have little say in how the money is spent according to their operational needs.

“There is enough food for the people for now,” says St James Settlement’s Connie Ng. This is because the government allocates the majority of funds to buying and stocking food products, rather than for administrative purposes.

“Manpower is a problem,” Ng says, explaining the shortage of employees at the People’s Food Bank.

One of the critical limitations of the government-aided food banks for users is that they can only enjoy assistance for six weeks in the year. Private food bank users do not have to worry about a limit to the time they can seek help.

There is a relatively higher degree of flexibility in running a private food bank and in receiving help from one. Yet, Lung points out that private food banks still need to rely heavily on stable food donations in order to keep providing their services.

Tea Dance waltzes into the Future

May 21, 2012

Editor: Joana U
Reporters: Nicole Chan, Astina Ng

It was afternoon, but the sparkling lights were already turned on in the upstairs teahouses and ballrooms. Pairs of middle-aged dancers were in their dancing shoes, moving fluidly to the music played by the live-bands. They may not be professionals but they take their hobby seriously.

Tea dances were fashionable and wildly popular for young people in the 1960s. But with the rise of other activities like karaoke, the tea dance fell into decline.

Tea dance was defined as the dance session from two to six in the afternoon, the time for afternoon tea. Some liked to spend their whole afternoon in the dance hall, dancing freely and happily.

Although the golden age of the tea dance has past, the activity experienced a mini-revival more than a decade ago. It has now become a niche interest among the middle-aged in Hong Kong.

To cope with the increasing rent, some dance halls have moved upstairs. Some tea dance venues are Chinese restaurants equipped with dance floors. Most venues hire live bands to provide the music for customers to dance to.

Middle-aged couples can relive the past, meet their friends in ballrooms during tea-time and share the joy of dancing together. It costs about $60 to $200 for each four-hour session.

Mr and Ms Tang, a couple who has danced for over ten years, said that tea dance is suitable for all ages. Although they are in their late sixties, dancing regularly keeps them active and fit. They have loved music since they were young and now they have fallen in love with dancing. They vow to dance until they drop.

But the tea dance is not a leisure activity that can be taken lightly. Some professional training is needed. Dancers need to follow the proscribed steps and keep up with the rhythm of the music. Eric Wong, an experienced coach, gives lessons regularly in the Shatin Sunbeam Teahouse. He believes that tea dance is growing in popularity as his students are getting younger.

Martin Cheung, a manager of a ballroom in Mong Kok, says tea dance boomed again 12 years ago. But Cheung points out there is little room left for improvement in terms of facilities and services because the gross profit margin is fixed due to the maximum number of customers on any given day. It is difficult to survive in the industry.

As the tea dance session drew to a close, the bright lights came on and the dancers began to leave. Silence returned to the ballroom as Cheung and his co-workers took some time to rest before preparing the venue for the evening dance. Perhaps opening for more sessions is just another way to survive.

Iphoneography – fad, art or movement?

May 21, 2012

Editor: Gavin Li
Reporters: Jennifer Lam, Lindy Wong and Stephanie Cheng