Interview | Hong Kong Night Fair Social Worker: Between Human Nature and Professional Identity

Dec 10, 2020

At midnight, all sounds are silent, and even Hong Kong, which is usually regarded as a city that never sleeps, will quietly fall asleep. The MTR, the blood of the city, stopped operating, leaving only the lonely lights of 24-hour convenience stores.

At this time, a group of young people set off from every corner of the city with a sense of mission, and walked gently into this doomed night - they are Hong Kong social workers specializing in "Overnight Outreach" It is responsible for reaching out to the young people who are roaming the streets at midnight and providing professional counseling and guidance.

Tianlang, a 26-year-old boy this year, was once one of this group of night exhibition social workers who worked silently.

Tianlang's Home - Night View of Sham Shui Po

Counterattack from the tail of the crane

My acquaintance with Tian Lang stemmed from our mutual friend Lucy. Lucy is a netizen I have known for many years and is currently studying for a master's degree in cultural studies at Lingnan University. When I was frowning on my final assignment, she offered to be a matchmaker to interview her fellow part-time classmate Tian Lang. Later, we made an appointment to meet in a place full of fantasy and perhaps not so suitable for in-depth interviews - Chungking Mansions, because he needed to conduct a course survey on ethnic minorities in Chungking Mansions that day.

Tianlang, who was born in 1994, has short hair and big glasses, which reminds people of his peer Luo Guancong, who happens to be his senior brother from the same school. I don't know if it's to take care of me, but Tianlang speaks Mandarin at a slow pace, occasionally mixing Cantonese and English words in places he doesn't know. His age-matched soft gaze and shy smile have nothing to do with the stereotype of the "Western-style elite" young people in Hong Kong that I had previously imagined. It was only in the ensuing chat that I found out why. It turns out that even in the mainstream perspective of the mainland, Tianlang can be regarded as an out-and-out "crane tail".

"When I was choosing subjects before the college entrance examination, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in the future, but then I figured out that my future work must be dealing with people. Because whether it was related to sorting words or numbers, I was always I'm not good at it at all, so I have considered becoming a social worker, a tour guide, or even going to a vocational school to learn to be a hairdresser. After I got my grades in the college entrance examination, I couldn't get into any university in Hong Kong at all, so I went to post-secondary school for two years. The college's associate degree in social work (Deputy), and after graduation, he was promoted to teach Da Nian's undergraduate degree in health education."

The competition for the Hong Kong College Entrance Examination (DSE) is fierce, with less than 20% of students qualifying for admission to the top eight universities every year. From the perspective of the mainland, Tian Lang can be regarded as a graduate student who has successfully counterattacked. But if it is in the Mainland, a failed candidate like him will not only be labeled as a poor student or a junior college student, but also face a hard choice in the future.

There is still a gap in the development of social work education in the Mainland, and there are no institutions with sufficient living space and sufficient salary to realize their career plans. In 2018, a national social worker development survey in Shanghai showed that the average monthly salary of social workers in mainland China was only 3,975 yuan. In addition to the difficulty of finding jobs and the serious brain drain, most licensed social workers in the Mainland are mainly distributed in the civil affairs system, grassroots streets and other organizations. They face criticism that "social workers are becoming government employees in disguised form" and questions about their transparency.

But in Hong Kong, the professional social work vocational education and system here opened a way for Tianlang. Social workers are regarded as professionals like doctors and lawyers, and practitioners who provide services must be certified and registered. Only after you have a Hong Kong social work diploma like Tian Lang and have completed 800 to 900 hours of social practice during your studies, can you become a certified registered social worker. More than half of the social workers here work in various non-governmental non-governmental organizations, and have a decent job with a starting salary of 20,000-30,000 per month.

We are social workers, but we are also people

Tian Lang interviews Indian restaurant owner at Chungking Mansions

"During my university course, I was exposed to various social work services such as supporting mentally ill and the elderly. But what I fear most is contacting the marginalized groups of teenagers who haunt Internet cafes and bars. Not because I think they are bad people, but because The mentally ill and the elderly basically need help to actively seek services, but the marginalized teenagers on the streets reject social workers, and you don’t know how to continue this one-way communication.”

The outreach social work service in Hong Kong began to develop in the 1970s, but at first it was only responsible for the day work of "Nikkei". In the 1990s, there were frequent incidents of gun fights and drug use in the streets. Since 2001, the Hong Kong government has expanded the scope of its services, spending 100 million yuan every year to assist 18 local social work organizations, providing 10 o'clock every night for teenagers living on the streets. Late-afternoon "Night Show" service until 6:00 am the next day.

Outreach services for marginalized youth are also a very special and difficult one among all social work fields. Tianlang's undergraduate teachers once persuaded him to give up such work in school because he was worried that he would not be able to graduate. However, with curiosity and a sense of challenge, Tianlang's first job after graduation was knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, and preferring to travel in the mountains. The company he currently works for is one of the 18 social work organizations of the late-night exhibition mentioned above, a Christian-backed NGO with a history of more than 80 years in Hong Kong.

It's a job that comes with danger and human conflict. Tian Lang and a few colleagues needed to drive the company's vehicles in a team at midnight to find people in need on the streets of Yau Tsim Mong until dawn broke at 6 am. Sometimes it helps to transport young people who are drunk and unconscious to the hospital, sometimes it is more stressful and dilemma.

On the third day of Tian Lang's work, he encountered a fight of more than ten people in a dark park in Mong Kok. When they found Tian Lang and his colleagues coming, they shouted "Social workers are here!" and scattered. In the corner of the park lay a boy of about fifteen years old. He was beaten and kicked until his face was bleeding, and he even lost his teeth.

"If we called the police and resorted to public power as a social worker, the injured boy would be saved, but we lost trust and lost the opportunity to communicate and help a dozen other young people, so we usually intervene sideways to encourage victims. The victim called the police by himself. But most of the bullied victims would be afraid of retaliation, including the boy who would keep saying that I was fine and that I hurt myself. In the end, we can only try to persuade the young man who hurt him. Call the police."

After the ambulance arrived, Tianlang proposed to the leader of the social work group to take the initiative to accompany the boy to the hospital, but was rejected - this is actually a violation of social work occupational regulations and safety. Leader worries that if he goes to the hospital with the boys, he may face retaliation from the clique later.

"I felt helpless. We are social workers, but we are also human beings. After that, I kept thinking, what is a social worker? What is my job?"

In addition to fighting, he once encountered a boy who got two girls pregnant at the same time. Since all the parties involved were minors and violated the laws of Hong Kong, they were transferred to the juvenile detention center after the police and public trial.

"During that time, I often wondered if I wasn't doing well enough. If I could find out and intervene in this case early, maybe pregnancy, which hurts girls a lot, wouldn't happen..."

Years of night shift work and rest have also made Tianlang's health difficult to return. A few years ago, he had a tumor in his waist. After the tumor was removed, he was told by the doctor that it is best to stop working all year round. Afterwards, Tianlang could only give up the youth night exhibition service and is currently responsible for the communication of divorced families in Hong Kong. On weekdays, he needs to contact 4-5 families every day, and a total of 80-90 cases are interviewed and contacted every month. Moreover, the family involves more interests and spiritual entanglements than the simple teenagers themselves, which is like an airtight net that plagues Tianlang's own mental health.

"I'm the kind of post-modern social worker. I don't think depression is a problem that must be solved by taking medicine and making myself happy like a traditional social worker. I think people and illnesses are separate, sometimes illnesses Your problems are not your problems. Sometimes they come and sometimes they don’t. You have to learn how to live with them.”

Despite the bumpy study and employment experience, he still maintains optimism and optimism. Tian Lang made remarks that surprised me as he walked through the dizzying restaurant aisles of Chungking Mansions.

end

After the interview, we exchanged contact information with each other. I noticed that on July 22 last year, he changed his FB avatar from a selfie to an all-black image, so I guess it may be related to the 721 incident that touched the hearts of all Hong Kong citizens the day before.

Lucy told me that Tianlang has been following and forwarding social movement information on FB, but his family members were quite critical about it. In desperation, he could only block all relevant information from his parents. After working, I also chose to move out and share a room with my roommate due to conflicts with my parents.

Tianlang posted a post during his undergraduate studies: "I believe that entering a university is the dream of many students... I have not been smooth sailing, and the road to university is very tortuous. I still have to follow the expectations of society, and for the future life, I have to fight for the five fights. Mi bends over. Finding oxygen in a boring life will be my most important homework for the next six months.”

Oxygen in a boring life, I don't know if he has found it now. But in Hong Kong, where the pressure is approaching and tearing apart, it is precisely because there are many social workers who adhere to social justice and are committed to repairing the gap like him, so more young people who are lost between society and their families can find their own breathing space. A corner of the place.

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