From Charity to Community Building - Volunteer Service in Hong Kong, China by Flora Chung
Volunteerism exists in every society in the form unique to its historical, cultural, political, and socioeconomic context. Hong Kong is well known for its financial and trade businesses. People are generally regarded as sensible, pragmatic, instrumental and even calculative. However, it is evident that they also have loving hearts and a sense of commitment to the community, ready to contribute resources and talents given the appropriate opportunities. Volunteering as a way of life of Hong Kong people, will be flourishing in furtherance of the vision of building a caring community!
Volunteerism in the Early Days
In any societies, growth of volunteerism is closely tied to the historical, cultural and socioeconomic context. In the post Second World War period, volunteer service in Hong Kong emerged mainly in the form of mutual aid and self help efforts as a way to alleviate poverty and provide charity to the deprived. Following the social riots in 1967, the 1970s witnessed an increased government support to the social service provision and youth development. As a pivotal organization to spearhead volunteerism in Hong Kong, Agency for Volunteer Service (AVS) was established under the support of the government in 1970.
In the 1980s, the government introduced the concept of community building to promote citizen involvement in communitywide campaigns, like the Clean Hong Kong Campaign and the Anti-Crime campaign, civic events like Hong Kong Festival and recreational activities for different sectors of the population, which engaged lots of volunteers. On the other hand, as the notion of “Community Care” was widespread, volunteerism was also emphasized in the welfare sector attempting to assist the disadvantaged groups to remain in their familiar community.
The 1990s was a decade filled with tremendous changes and challenges. In face of the reunification with China Mainland, volunteer service was not only significant in solving social problems, but also contributing to social stability and solidarity, as well as a positive integration with the motherland. The International Year of Volunteers in 2001 set a new momentum for volunteerism internationally and in Hong Kong. At the wake of the new millennium, the Study on Public Reception and Perception of Volunteer Services conducted by Agency for Volunteer Service in 2001 found that 62% of the respondents aged 15 or above had participated in organized or non-organized volunteering, with 22% participating in organized volunteer service and 55% in non-organized volunteering/mutual aid activities. The result revealed that volunteerism has gained ground in Hong Kong.
In 2003, in response to the SARS outbreak, in just a few days over 6,000 volunteers have signed up for the SARS Prevention Volunteer Campaign called by AVS. Over the next three months, more than 45,000 volunteers joined in the fighting of SARS all over the community, assisting public health education, caring the under-privileged and providing logistic support to community organizations. This event marked a special chapter in the volunteer history of Hong Kong which would never be forgotten.
