CHINA: Red-white-blue Homes for the Sichuan Earthquake
PHILIPPINES: Affordable Medicine for All
CAMBODIA: Justice for Girls and Women
GLOBAL: Climate Experts meet Disaster Experts
HONG KONG: Fair Trade in the Workplace
HONG KONG: Sustainable Fashion
In the town of Xiushui, in Sichuan,
hardly a building remains standing af-
ter the earthquake, and almost all of
the survivors are homeless.
This woman (left) stays with about
50 other people in a makeshift tent
erected next to the pile of rubble which
once was her house. Her husband re-
mains missing.
Her tent is made of a plastic woven
fabric commonly called “red-white-
blue” – named after the colours of the
rain-resistant material. Formally, it is
called polyethylene or polypropylene.
The fabric was specifically requested
by the residents. They want the flexibil-
ity of how to use it – as ground cover, for
shelter, and to be able to easily adjust
the size of the area to be covered.
A typical temporary shelter made
with the red-white-blue. For people’s
A survivor in Xinshui – at least 109 people have died here, and many remain missing, including this woman’s husband HOMES
OF RED-
WHITE-BLUE
Text and photos by Keith Wong on 21 May 2008
June 2008
in China
HO Wai-ChiWhen I was young, I wanted to be
a professional footballer. But like many
fans, my dream didn’t come true! Yet, I
managed to develop a career in another
field I have a great passion for: human-
itarian work. I never thought the two
would ever connect.
The first time was 2005, when I
coached a football team of homeless
people – I didn’t have any coaching ex-
perience, and most of the players had
not played much football, yet, togeth-
er, we represented Hong Kong in the
Homeless World Cup in Edinburgh.
The experience changed my life,
starting from the very first training
session. The players were rather unfit,
physically and in other ways. One lit up
a cigarette, a few swore, several eas-
ily ran out of patience with each oth-
er, and themselves. Instead of focus-
ing on footwork, the social worker and
I concentrated on teamwork. Months
later, somehow, there was synchronic-
ity. Those days in Edinburgh, as a real
team, with true solidarity, were the
most extraordinary and glorious days
of our lives.
Then, a few months ago, I joined
Oxfam, and football arrived again, this
time as part of the Fair Trade movement.
I learned that many footballs are pro-
duced in Pakistan, under exploitative
conditions, with very low wages, espe-
cially for women and children. If we all
change the way we do business, if we
do it ethically and responsibly, trade can
solve poverty; but right now, because
it is often done unjustly, it doesn’t:
factory workers in Pakistan remain
poor, and we in Hong Kong who use
those balls are also poor, in conscience,
in spirit. To me, we are all part of the
same team, and we each have a role to
play, from CEO to consumer. I am play-
ing my part: I have urged the Homeless
World Cup to use Fair Trade footballs
in their games – ones that are made in
factories that do pay good wages and
do prevent poverty.
As I write, the news is full of re-
ports from Sichuan, and I can’t help to
say to myself that I am ‘lucky’ to have
joined Oxfam just at the ‘right’ time.
Not that I want to satisfy any heroism,
thinking that I could save the world
single-handedly, but to offer myself in
helping those who are in great need. I
know I am not strong enough to move
the rubble, I am not that professional
footballer with endless stamina, but I
at least can make sure I communicate
people’s needs to the public and appeal
for support, and justice, in Sichuan, in
Myanmar, in Sudan, in Hong Kong, in
as many places as possible.
Ho Wai-chi is the Director of the Hong Kong Unit.
in Cambodia
in China
BREAKING THE CODE By Tobias Jackson
became addicted to drugs. He began
arguing with her, beating her, repeat-
edly, to the point where she had to
do something. But she did not know
what to do. Volunteers helping with
the community development organisa-
tion Banteay Srei heard her story from
people in the community, made con-
tact with her and arranged for her to
stay in a safe shelter. This gave her the
space and time to decide her next step.
She chose to take the crime all the way
to the courts, and her case was han-
dled by a lawyer from Banteay Srei who
helped secure the ruling she had hoped
for: a divorce, with half of the family
assets. She also went to several coun-
seling sessions to rebuild her sense of
self that had been shattered. Other fol-
low-up services helped her re-integrate
into the community and re-establish a
normal life again, without violence at
home, and with a higher status in her
everyday world.
A 13-year-old girl, also in the north-
west, used to live with her mother, a
day labourer, and stepfather, a hunt-
er. At nine o’clock, on the first night of
As a consequence, violence against
girls and women has generally not been
seen as ‘wrong’ in Khmer society and
this attitude was exacerbated by the
years of civil war (1967-1975). During
those years, violence was typically the
first way that people resolved con-
flicts, both within the family home, and
in society as a whole. In a 2003 survey
looking at views about rape among
youngsters, only 13 per cent of respon-
dents viewed rape as wrong. Similarly,
in a 2005 survey conducted by the
Ministry of Women's Affairs, 23 per cent
of the women said that their husbands
had been physically violent recently; a
figure likely to be an underestimate as
many cases remain unreported.
Here are two cases that illustrate the
violence and also the actions taken by
two community groups.
A 35-year-old rice farmer in the
northwest, near the border with
Thailand, married a policeman in 1992
and they had four children together.
They needed more money, so he decid-
ed to do construction work for some
extra income, and around this time, he
the Khmer New Year, 14 April 2007, she
was raped by her stepfather while her
mother went to make the traditional
round of greetings to her neighbours.
The mother returned home and saw the
rape taking place, and screamed as loud
as she could for the whole neighbour-
hood to hear. The next day, the mother
and daughter reported the incident to
the police who immediately arrested
the stepfather. The teenager was re-
ferred to stay in a safe shelter run by
the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center,
where she could get practical assistance
and emotional support from a counsel-
or, a doctor, and a lawyer.
In addition to these straight-for-
ward ways to help these survivors of
violence, Banteay Srei and Cambodian
Women’s Crisis Center – two of sever-
al organisations supported by Oxfam
Hong Kong – also do extensive advocacy
and awareness-raising to persuade lo-
cal, provincial and central government
of the importance of tackling these is-
sues and implementing existing laws.
Change is happening. There are fewer
cases of violence in the communities
where these organisations are working.
There is a greater determination from
the government to address the issue, as
indicated by the passing of the Law on
Prevention and Protection of Domestic
Violence (2007). More and more survi-
vors are gaining justice in the courts,
which sends a clear indication that the
violence against people like the 13-year-
old girl and the 35-year-old woman is
indeed ‘abnormal’ and wrong.
Based in Phnom Penh, Tobias Jackson is the Pro-gramme Officer for Cambodia and Myanmar. Oxfam Hong Kong support s a number of organisations in Cambodia on different ways to reduce violence against girls and women in general, and to stop rape and trafficking, in particular. The agency has been supporting projects in the country since the 1970s.
Girls and women in Cambodia face
discrimination in many areas of their
lives: unequal access to an education,
inappropriate and inadequate health
care, limited options for jobs, little or
no voice in public affairs, little involve-
ment in the family or the society’s de-
cision making, and the high risk of be-
ing abused. Three common types of
this gender-based violence are rape,
human trafficking and domestic vio-
lence. Girls and younger women are
especially at risk.
Cambodia has traditional moral
codes for women (called Chbab Srey)
and for men (called Chbab Pror) which
were written in poetry form by Krom
Ngoy (1865-1936), who is regarded as
the father of Khmer poetry. His poem-
codes have been taught at secondary
schools across the country, and rein-
forced by parents and grandparents
through the generations. The Law for
Women suggests that women should
serve and respect their husbands at all
times, whatever the circumstance. Girls
grow up believing that a man’s violence
is ‘normal’ and acceptable and private.
Clients at a shelter in northwest Cambodia in a skills training session / Photo courtesy of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center
in the daytime, it is about 25 to 30 de-
grees Celsius, and many men go about
shirtless. At night, it drops to about 15
degrees.
People in Xiushui have shown a
strong resilience in the face of the cri-
sis. They are cooking outdoors, even
though flies surround her food and
utensils. To feed their surviving live-
stock, they have searched through the
rubble to find maize. The poultry will
be their meals in the future.
Oxfam Hong Kong has almost 20
staff members in the disaster zone.
Working alongside government units,
local NGOs and a disease control centre,
we are focusing on shelter, water and
sanitation, and prioritising the needs of
women, children, elderly people, peo-
ple in remote areas, and people with
specific needs. For instance, we are sup-
plying sanitary pads for women; nutri-
tious milk for children and elderly; and
Halal food and milk to five remote Hui
(Muslim) communities.
For a map of Oxfam’s work: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/news?ha=&wc=0&hb=&hc=&revision%5fid=79572&item%5fid=79328
For more photos: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/sichuan_earthquake/photo/chinese.html
OXFAM in CHINA: Oxfam Hong Kong has been working in the country since 1987. Last year, Oxfam allocated over HK$68 million (over USD8.7 million) on about 230 development and emergency projects in Mainland China.
OXFAM in an EMERGENCY: Oxfam Hong Kong, founded in 1976, has responded to hundreds of disasters over the years, including the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, the ongoing crisis in Sudan, and the Asian tsunami. In any crisis, 100% of all donations received go to assist the survivors.
For a book (published in Chinese) about Oxfam Hong Kong’s disaster management experience, please go to: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/list?page=3&lang=big5.
Keith Wong, at the disaster site in Sichuan, is a member of the communications team of Oxfam Hong Kong.
Howard Liu, the director of the China Unit of Oxfam Hong Kong, distributing milk in Xiushui – the priority is for children, elderly people and women. Oxfam is distributing over 250,000 packets of milk in a dozen or so areas of Sichuan, including five Muslim communities.
immediate needs, they have requested
this fabric for its versatility in use.
Yet, the red-white-blue home can
only be a temporary measure. The ma-
terial is not strong enough to endure
the rainy season and its typhoons: the
rains are due to start in June and run
until September or so. In Xiushui, it has
already been raining for several days
straight.
The supply of stronger tents is ex-
tremely limited in Sichuan. According
to official figures, only about 280,000
tents have been delivered to affected
areas so far. The government has just
announced, and has sought Oxfam’s
support, to supply one million tempo-
rary pre-fabricated shelters, but this will
takes many weeks. Overseas shipments
of about 150,000 donated tents are on
the way from outside Mainland China.
Oxfam Hong Kong is sourcing tents
from Gansu, just north of Sichuan, from
Hebei to the northwest, and from oth-
er locations. But it may take two weeks
or more to receive the bulk order, and
in the meantime, the red-white-blue
is meeting people’s immediate needs
for shelter.
In addition to the red-white-blue
material, Oxfam Hong Kong has also de-
livered packaged milk to people in Xiu-
shui, with a priority for children, wom-
en and the elderly – families with these
members received the supplies first.
The milk can help people endure
the temperature changes in Sichuan:
in The Philippines
Being able to get medication has
been hard in The Philippines. The cost
of prescription drugs there is second
highest in Asia, after Japan. About 26
million Filipino people, almost one out
of every three citizens, can not afford
the basic medicine they need.
People like Lola (grandma) Eufemia
and Lolo (grandpa) Jose, a couple in
their eighties who live on the edge of
poverty in Metro Manila, have been
suffering from hypertension for years.
They pay exorbitant prices for their pat-
ented medicine, and sometimes they
too have to go without.
Lola and Lolo are not quiet about
their pain, about the injustice. They
have made their situation public, cam-
paigning the government to take bet-
ter care of its citizens, as right now the
government is barely covering ten per
cent of public health care costs.
The couple can claim a victory:
the government recently passed the
Universally Accessible Cheaper and
Quality Medicines Act of 2008, which
everyone calls the Cheaper Medicines
Bill.
What this means is that Lola and
Lolo can now use a different, equally
effective, yet less expensive drug man-
ufactured in Pakistan, medicine that
saves them 62 Pesos a day (HK$8.60).
When their income is only 100 Pesos a
day, every Peso counts. They can now
turn on their old electric fan whenev-
er the heat beats down. Now they do
not have to choose between paying
for food and paying for the medicine
to stop their dizzying headaches and
blurred vision.
For millions of poor people like Lola
and Lolo, the parallel importation safe-
guard is one of the most important pro-
visions of the bill. This provision confers
new power on government to set aside
patent privileges of drug companies and
to import medicine that is cheaper from
Many elderly people joined the many rallies to get the law passed.
anywhere in the world. The bill intro-
duces several basic public health safe-
guards into the country’s intellectual
property code.
In fact, all of these provisions are
already recognised in the World Trade
Organization TRIPS (Trade Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights)
Agreement of 2001, yet millions of the
poorest patients in the poorest devel-
oping countries in the world have been
denied access to life-saving and pain-
relieving medicine simply because they
operate under patent rules that do not
include the TRIPS safeguards.
The few developing countries that
have succeeded in incorporating these
safeguards have had to do battle in the
courts and even now are being subject-
ed to punitive trade measures by phar-
maceutical companies. These countries
include India, Brazil, Thailand, and now
the Philippines.
The Bill also limits what kind of med-
icine can be patented, and ensures that
as soon as a patent expires, generic ver-
sions of that medicine can be introduced
immediately into the market.
Lola and Lolo are not first-time
campaigners for better public health.
Defying the infirmities of their age, the
elements and sometimes even hunger,
they have joined hundreds of other el-
derly Filipino people to stage numerous
public actions since 2006. They patiently
monitored all-night deliberations on the
bill through two Philippine congresses.
Their passion and tenacity in the halls
of Congress captured mass media and
galvanized broad public support for
affordable medicine like nothing else
could. They have also been an inspira-
tion for all of us at Oxfam International,
which has been working on fair access
to medicine through the Make Trade
Fair campaign for years.
In early 2006, Lola and Lolo pro-
tested against the pharmaceutical
company, Pfizer, which had brought
the Philippines government to court
when it imported a cheaper version of
a patented drug. This case is still in the
courts, yet the Cheaper Medicines Bill
will ensure that such companies can no
longer mount a similar court offensive
in the country, ever again.
Shalimar Vitan, whom colleagues call Shally, is the Philippines coordinator of the Oxfam International Economic Justice campaign. She is based in Manila. Photos courtesy of Oxfam Great Britain.
62Lola Eufemia and Lolo Jose can now get their medicine at an affordable price - saving 62 pesos a day
A unique net work has
just been formed: the Harbin
Alliance for Harmonisation of
Climate Change Adaptation
and Disaster Risk Reduction,
called Harbin Alliance for short,
is named after the city in the far
north of China.
The Harbin Alliance is a
worldwide partnership of ten
NGOs, UN bodies, intergov-
ernmental bodies and research
organisations: Asia Disaster
Preparedness Centre, Asia Dis-
aster Reduction Centre, Care
International, Climate Action
Network South Asia, Climate
Action Network South East Asia,
International Disaster Reduction
Conference, Prevention Consor-
tium, Oxfam Hong Kong, UNDP
South Asia and UN/ISDR (Inter-
national Strategy for Disaster
Reduction).
It all began last year, at a
major conference in Harbin on
disaster risk reduction. Oxfam
Hong Kong led a discussion
about the importance of inte-
grating climate change in disas-
ter response, and we brought
together internationally regard-
ed experts in and practitioners
of disaster risk reduction and cli-
mate change adaptation.
How do the two fields over-
lap? How is adapting to climate
change related to reducing
risks in a disaster? Both address
the many risks in emergencies,
such as cyclones, floods and
droughts; and both aim to re-
duce the vulnerability of peo-
ple, as well as their animals and
crops, yet, there are several dif-
ferences that have often kept
the two groups apart. The two
groups, for instance, can use
very different language to dis-
cuss their work. People working
on climate change adaptation
usually use longer time frames
and see risks over a period of
time, whereas people in disaster
risk reduction work usually de-
scribe situations in shorter time
frames. Oxfam Hong Kong led
that meeting in Harbin to try
to facilitate a closer link. We
wanted to facilitate more com-
munication and better informa-
tion exchange between the two
groups, so that development
policies would not be conflict-
ing, and disaster management
and short- or long-term de-
velopment projects would be
sustainable.
The Alliance has meshed
well. So far, the members nego-
tiated ahead of and during the
UN climate change meeting in
Bali in December 2007, and they
are currently preparing the re-
port, “Global Linkages between
Disaster Risk Reduction and
Climate Change Adaptation –
Can two roads become one?”.
In general, the work of the
Alliance includes:
• Promoting best practices by
sharing, analysing and dis-
seminating information
• Engaging policy-makers and
practitioners on the bene-
fits of synergising the two
fields
• New research
• Lobbying the UN that disas-
ter risk reduction is the first
and foremost strategy to ad-
dress climate change
• Build up a critical mass of
disaster risk reduction prac-
titioners who understand
climate change negotia-
tions, in particular the UN
climate change adaptation
framework
Sahba Chauhan is Humanitarian Policy Officer of Oxfam Hong Kong. Please contact her for more information on the Alliance, including the report.
CLIMATE EXPERTS
WITH
DISASTER EXPERTS
by Sahba Chauhan
More Pesos a Day by Shally Vitan
From left to right: Pham Tung Lam, Nguyen Hien Thi, Chris Adams and Mark Blackett of Oxfam Hong Kong; Nguyen Duc Chinh, Vice Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee, and Hoang Dang Mai, Director of Foreign Affairs of Quang Tri
OXFAM HONG KONG WEBSITEwww.oxfam.org.hk
OXFAM BOOKSOxfam Hong Kong has created
more than 30 books, some in Hong
Kong, some in Taiwan, some on the
Mainland, some in Chinese, some in
English, some bilingual, and some
mostly with images, which cross
all languages. Through publishing
the voices of poor people around
the world, we want to change the
way people think about poverty.
We want justice.
To order books: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/list?lang=iso-8859-1
OXFAM in the NEWS VIETNA M: Oxfam Hong
Kong was recently awarded
with a Certificate of Merit for
its contributions to humani-
tarian and development work
in the central province of
Quang Tri. Oxfam
has focused on rural, often
remote, ethnic minority villages in the high-lands of Quang Tri, such as in Kieu and
Pa Co, near the Laos border. Over the past 15 years, more than 90,000 people have
been participating in anti-poverty projects run alongside governmental units and
community groups. Oxfam Hong Kong has been working in Vietnam since 1988 and
is currently active in three central provinces: Ha Tinh, Nghe An and Quang Tri.
MOKUNGOxfam Hong Kong publishes this quarterly magazine
in Traditional Chinese. Mokung, which means both “no
poverty” and “infinity”, highlights a different aspect of
development in each issue. The Editor is Tung Tsz-kwan.
The March 2008 edition looks at the poverty news poll
in Hong Kong.
To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/?lang=big5
Mokung is online at www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/category?cid=1017&lang=big5
ONEO.N.E – Oxfam News E-magazine – is uploaded
monthly at www.oxfam.org.hk/one.
To receive a copy in your inbox, please sub-
scribe – it is free.
To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/one/subscribe.html
CO
VER
: Kei
th W
ong
/ O
xfam
Hon
g Ko
ng
17th Floor, 28 Marble Road, Northpoint, Hong Kong
O.N.E is also on-line: www.oxfam.org.hk/one//
Editor: Madeleine Marie Slavick [email protected]
Hong Kong
HONG KONG CLIMATESix action groups call for carbon dioxide emissions to be capped in the Air
Pollution Control Ordinance: right now, the Hong Kong SAR Government does
not regulate CO2 emissions of its two power companies, which account for about
70% of all CO2 emissions. Please add your voice to this campaign (http://write-a-
letter.greenpeace.org/407) – if action is not taken soon, now, Hong Kong winters
may disappear within just 20 years, according to The Hong Kong Observatory.
Oxfam Hong Kong is also calling to stop climate change, to stop the poverty
it is bringing around the world: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/
category?cid=53988&lang=iso-8859-1.
VOICE
How can one’s workplace be fair?
This is a question a new group in Hong
Kong is answering. An easy first step can
be stocking Fair Trade food and drink
for employees, and the new Fair Trade
Workplace Society is inspiring employ-
ers across Hong Kong to practice Fair
Trade in as many ways as possible.
The 11 founding members are ABN/
ARMO, Asia Financial, Asia Insurance,
Hysan Development, Hong Kong and
China Gas, Hong Kong Institute of
Education, Hong Kong Council of Social
Service, NWS Holdings, Oxfam Hong
Kong, Royal Bank Of Scotland and
Twelve Hong Kong textile and appar-
el companies founded the Sustainable
Fashion Business Consortium to pro-
mote best practices throughout the gar-
ment supply chain. The 12 members rep-
resent the whole production process,
from design to dyeing, from spinning
to manufacturing.
The consortium’s initiatives in-
clude:
• instituting better employment
practices and working condi-
tions
• applyingforFairTradelabeling
• establishing carbon account-
ingstandardsfortheindustry,
working toward carbon credit
Every day, Oxfam Hong Kong works
alongside hundreds of groups around
the world, from small NGOs to inter-
national bodies, from government
departments of developing countries
to community groups based in Hong
Kong. Here is 1 new ‘partner organi-
Fair 11, Fair 12, Fair…TBWA\Hong Kong. The group was of-
ficially inaugurated on 10 May, which
was World Fair Trade Day 2008. Marks
& Spencer has since joined as member
number 12.
Each of the 12 members pledges
to practice Fair Trade and to urge col-
leagues in their professional network to
do the same. To join, visit:www.fairtra-
dehk.org.
New PartnerOrganisation
tradingandacarbonfootprint
labelforclothing
• betterpublicreportingonCor-
porate Social Responsibility
andsustainability
• increasing energy efficiency
and reducing waste, such as
recyclingleftoverfabric,which
canbeupto20percentofthe
total
The 12 members are Ace Style Group,
Central Textiles, Clothing Industry
Training Authority, Crystal Group,
Fountain Set, Glorious Sun Group,
Gunzetal, High Fashion International
Management, I Limited, Lever Style, Sun
Hing Industries and TAL Apparel. The
Consortium was officially launched on
Earth Day 2008, the 22nd of April.
Oxfam Hong Kong is in dialogue
with the new consortium and the
Clothing Industry Training Authority,
a government-supported body which
assisted with months of behind-the-
scenes work. Oxfam has also been fa-
cilitating several roundtable sessions
for the past six months on CSR and
ethical sourcing with Esprit, Giordano,
Goldlion and Moiselle, four of Hong
Kong’s leading brand clothing com-
panies. Best practice can reduce pov-
erty, including the poverty caused by
low wages, misguided natural resource
management, and excessive carbon
emissions.
HONG KONG TWELVE
The launch of Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium, Earth Day 2008 / Photo courtesy of Clothing Industry Training Authority (CITA)
sation’ that we are supporting for the
first time, as of May 2008. The location
indicates where the project is being
implemented.
CHINA(MAINLAND)• Youth Elevation Association
Founders and committee members of the new Fair Trade Workplace Society / Photo courtesy of Samuel Foo and Terry Leung