Hanging out after midnight

By Eldom Chim

By 10 at night, when many people are at home, some teenagers, known as young night drifters, begin to hang around in public places. According to a survey by the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society, 80 percent of secondary school students have had the experience of night drifting. Q, Van, Yan and Ting, who requested that their full names be withheld, squat on a corner in Sha Tin Central Park smoking cigarettes. Dressed in school uniforms, the Form 4 girls have interests like singing karaoke, watching films, chatting on the phone, and so on. They go out at night four times a week, sometimes more. Their meeting places vary from shopping arcades and snooker centres to libraries. They like going out at night because they want fun. Sometimes they stay on the streets because they do not have enough money to spend on 24-hour entertainment venues. However, they rarely go to youth centres with entertainment facilities. "Those places are too small and you can always expect a crowd there. "We have to queue for hours to play just one game of snooker," says Van. "It is boring to stay at my home, where I don't have any entertainment. My elder brother occupies the computer. "I can't even chat on the phone with friends because there is no phone at my home," says Q. Q lives with "one of her fathers". She has a complicated family background, with two fathers and two mothers. Her relationship with her parents is also complicated. "In the past, they sometimes put a pack of cigarettes besides my pillow, even though they do not like my smoking habit. "But they might also lock me up at home," says Q. Q quit school earlier in the day after an argument with her mother, "She is so garrulous and always threatens me by saying she will not pay my school fees if I go out at night frequently. It is so annoying that she made me terminate my schooling. "I will look for a job instead of going back to school," says Q, her face clouding. She worked at a part-time job before, but the amount she earned could not cover her daily expenses. "I feel free when I leave home," says Van smoking a cigarette. "I want to try everything when I am still young. "I want to study in a university, but I do not want to study in a strict, stressful and dull condition like what I face now." Although the girls understand that triad members are more active at night, they are not afraid, because they confidently reject the lure of triad members. Ting has three elder brothers. They are irascible and often take their frustrations out on her through abuse. She ran away from home last September due to domestic abuse. She moved around and stayed at a friend's home. Although Ting and Q frequently spend their nights on the streets, they are not real runaways, because they go home sometimes. Young night drifters may have some other purposes besides idling away their time. "Crazy" is a 22-year-old part-time worker who spends every night skateboarding at places like the podium behind the Hong Kong Cultural Centre or other public parks. The podium is the mecca for skateboarders like Crazy, where one can find nearly 100 young people on any given night. "I skateboard at night because this is my interest and I want to do it well. "Similar to other sports, it requires physical fitness as well as practice. "If I go home, I just waste the whole night sleeping or doing nothing," says Crazy. Although lots of skateboarders can be found skating on the streets, they are not ideal for them. "There are skateboarding parks that charge money in Hong Kong. I cannot afford that much. "But the only possible place for (free) skateboarding, a park in Sai Kung Street, had a notice saying skateboarding is prohibited placed recently," says Crazy. "Skateboarding in parks is not right because there are no safety measures," says he. Skateboarders are often chased away by security guards and police. They are asked to clear the grounds and leave. Most of them follow the police's instructions. But they may gather again after some time. The most troublesome situation is not created by the police, however. Gangs sometimes hassle the skateboarders, accusing them of being too noisy and occupying the space. Recently, one of Crazy's friends was attacked by gang members outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. "We really want a public skateboarding park to be built so that we can gather and skate without disturbance from others," says Crazy, "Most preferably, it should be open for 24 hours so that we can skateboard anytime."

Night drifters New centre to cater to kids on the street at night By Alice Tong

There are some 10,000 young- sters loitering around at night. Having no money but wanting to stay out with friends, hanging around on streets is their last resort. At night, youth centres with recreational facilities are closed. Some teens do not really need social workers to help. They just want entertainment. Last year the government spent $1 billion to subsidize youth services. This accounts for 3.6 percent of total payments to non-governmental organizations. In February this year, the government decided to build the first all-night drop-in centre for youngsters. The centre will be located at the premises of Kai Nang Sheltered Workshop and Hostel in Kwun Tong, which itself will be relocated. The new centre will open in July. The Lotteries Fund Advisory Committee granted $16.3 million for the centre. Besides counseling and crisis residential units, the centre will have a cyber café, karaoke, band rooms, barbecue and rock climbing facilities. Space for skateboarding and break dancing will also be available. Youth Outreach will run the centre. It will close its current headquarters in Sha Tin and move to the new site. In 1991, Youth Outreach had Hong Kong's first all-night outreach team. Now it has eight social workers divided into three teams. Anthony Law, a social worker at Youth Outreach, says, "The facilities will be a good means for social workers to break the ice with teenagers. Teens will be less defensive if social workers hang out with them. "The drop-in centre will be a key to opening a new area of youth services. In the near future more projects will develop," says he. In 2003, the new all-night drop-in centre will be relocated to a 12-storey integrated services centre in Shau Kei Wan. The building will cost $70 million and is expected to serve 10,000 youngsters a year. The new centre will include a drop-in centre, an education centre, a counseling unit and a training unit. Residential centres will be expanded several-fold. Mr. Law says, "This kind of shelter for nighttime activities is not appearing too late. I'm glad that something is finally being done."