ALWAYS LEARNINGSo Yuk Yan writes from the Oxfam Hong Kong Interactive Education Centre

Oxfam Hong Kong is located in a

typical office building in Hong Kong – a

glassy exterior, the ubiquitous marble

lobby, and a set of three lifts/elevators

that run 18 floors of workers up, and

down again. Yet there is part of Oxfam’s

office that doesn’t look like an office

at all.

It begins with the corridor and its

mock-broken walls, just to the right of

the entrance. Arriving here, you wonder

what is behind this design. It is this

questioning that Oxfam wants to foster:

the physical space creates a different

thinking space in people’s minds. One

student said “the broken wall looks like

a globe” and another, “it sounds like the

situation after gunfire”.

Open a door, and in one corner there

is a hut where a farmer might live. On

another day, a dormitory for factory

workers might be juxtaposed next to

a Hong Kong teenager’s bedroom. If it

is wartime, there are devices to filter

contaminated water. What is it? Where

are we? In one sense the room is basic.

Look again and it is a mini-theatre,

with equipment for lighting, sound and

special effects.

This 1,800 square foot space, with

changeable sets and props, is the Oxfam

Hong Kong Interactive Education Centre

(IEC), a place where young people meet

and play, a place which provokes them

to think and ask questions, a place where

they learn and discuss poverty issues,

not in the ordinary classroom setting,

but in a unique environment through

interactive methods, namely drama, role

plays and simulation.

The centre exists in Hong Kong, one

of the most capitalistic economies in the

world, which has the global reputation

for only caring about profit. It exists

to contribute to the development of

alternative curricula and pedagogy in

the teaching and learning of poverty

issues with an emphasis on global

citizenship. It is innovative in Asia for

its diversified and experiential learning

that puts equitable development at its

centre.

Since November 2005, when the IEC

was established, Oxfam has provided

more than 400 workshops for over

13,000 people from nearly 200 schools

and youth groups. The number of

ONE Always learning with teenagers

ONE Huge shadows of violence in Darfur

ONE Poverty in Hong Kong workforce

ONE Transparency in the workplace

ONE Water bottle life jackets in India

ONE Joe Mitty

Two sets at the Interactive Education Centre: a factory dormitory (top) and a teenager’s bedroom (bottom)

October 2007

October in Hong Kong.

Around me, one out of every six

neighbours is poor, and one of seven

employees: the income gap is the

highest ever and there is no minimum

wage. On a ten-minute walk to the

subway station, there are perhaps 100

people just barely getting by.

To the south: of the many factory

workers in Cambodia, about 90 per

cent are women, and Hong Kong is the

largest investor in the garment industry.

In the Philippines, a worrying trend in

camp, and as a woman, I might have

been raped.

Look around again. A few cubicles

away, colleagues are monitoring

HK$12 million (about US$1.5 million)

worth of grants for projects in Darfur

and Chad. Other colleagues have just

released a major report on poverty

in the workforce, and are pressuring

Hong Kong’s top leader, Donald Tsang,

for policy change. Teammates are

making progress with Hong Kong’s

garment companies about tran-

the workforce is ‘informal’ jobs, where

salaries and rights are not formally

protected.

To the west: the aftermath of huge

floods in India and Bangladesh.

Look over to Darfur. If I were a

resident of that dusty and violent place,

would I sleep in my house? Would I be

alive? Millions of people have had to

desert their homes, to abandon their

lives as they know it. About 200,000

have been killed. I would probably be

waiting out time in an overcrowded

sparency, while the innovative Oxfam

Club (celebrating its tenth year) and

our Interactive Education Centre (almost

two years old) are helping teenagers

to think, feel, experience, and think

again.

“The world is wide enough for all of

us,” wrote Charles Dickens.

Madeleine Marie Slavick

Editor, Oxfam News E-magazine

Oxfam Hong Kong

emagazine@oxfam.org.hk

participants more than doubled from

2005 to 2006.

When Oxfam was starting out with

this large-scale project, we had several

concerns. Would enough teachers be able

to find the time to bring their students

to a location-bound centre, when the

teaching load can mean inflexibility

and examination requirements can eat

up timetables? Could we find room

within the recent educational reforms

to introduce more poverty issues into

the curriculum? Would our site-specific

programmes consistently arouse young

people’s interest in poverty issues? For

the IEC to be sustainable and effective,

investments of resources needed to

balance the outputs and impacts.

Two years and two feasibility studies

later, we have received an overwhelming

vote of support. Remarks by teachers

are not very different from students.

A teacher writes on a feedback form:

“Compared to lecturing, it is much

more effective. Students can easily step

into the shoes of different roles. The

discussion that follows is also helpful

in arousing thoughts and stimulating

analysis.” A student contributes: “It

is interesting in the adventure. I liked

the feeling of discovery. This makes me

curious, and I have more thinking about

what is behind the story.”

For comprehensive feedback, Oxfam

also commissioned Hong Kong Institute

of Education (HKIEd) to lead focus group

discussions, interviews and questionnaires

with about 70 teachers and 1,100 students

who had joined IEC programmes. In all,

the evaluation indicates that the centre

has been effective in presenting global

citizenship and in deepening people’s

understanding of poverty.

The first stage in the life of IEC

focused on the development of our

workshops. We now have 12, covering

such issues as the poverty gap, disasters

and the environment, war and conflict,

and international trade and poverty.

The newest workshop, which we are

fine-tuning at this very moment, will be

on climate change and poverty.

‘Siu Ying and Nick’, which dramatises

the gap between the lives of teenage

factory workers in southern China and

middle-class teenagers right here in

Hong Kong, remains the most popular

in our series. The three-hour experiential

journey is based on the real-life story

of a woman who transformed herself

from a migrant worker at a toy factory

in Shenzhen, in the east of China, into

an advocate and activist for services

for people with disabilities back in her

hometown of Chongqing, in the west.

The IEC is now in its second stage

of development. An important finding

by HKIEd was that participants were

more inclined to change their attitudes

about poverty issues rather than their

behaviour. Oxfam’s one-off workshop

approach, though successful in providing

a unique learning experience and

arousing participants’ interest and

active learning, has had limitations in

leading to in-depth and long-lasting

change through action. Oxfam needs

to go beyond this kind of short-term

workshop and provide more follow-up

and consolidated learning programmes,

and we are currently developing ways to

meet this need.

At just two years of age, the IEC

is only a toddler: we are learning all

the time. We celebrate the creativity,

potential and success of the centre, yet

we are also ready to find better ways of

meeting our goals. The ultimate picture

in our mind is a community of young

people who understand their rights

and responsibilities as global citizens,

who have the knowledge and ability to

act on global and local issues, and most

importantly, who will remain committed

to act for a fair society. They are Oxfam’s

partners in community development,

fundraising, campaigns, policy advocacy,

and public education. They are sources

of creative and innovative ideas to

reduce poverty and injustice. IEC has this

picture in mind. We invite you to join us

in actualising this picture.

The IEC is open every day, Monday through Friday, except holidays, and sometimes also on the weekends. Most youth workshops are conducted in Cantonese, but programmes are available in English, too.To book a workshop or visit our adjacent resource library, contact us at 3120 5180 or education@oxfam.org.hk. So Yuk Yan (pictured, bottom, second from right) is Project Manager of the Oxfam Hong Kong Interactive Education Centre / Photos: Liu Wai Tong.

ALWAYS LEARNING

and killed at least 12 peacekeepers.

AMIS personnel see the violence as a

“huge shadow” that will have lasting

implications for the future AU-UN force.

Rodolphe Adada, the AU-UN Joint Special

Representative for Darfur, said, “I am

profoundly shocked and appalled… Not

only was it a flagrant violation of the

Ceasefire but an unconscionable crime

that breaks every convention and norm

of international peacekeeping.”

Aid workers also face assault: 13 aid

workers, including an Oxfam driver,

have been killed in the last 12 months

– more than in the rest of the conflict

combined. Vehicles are being hijacked

and vital equipment stolen. At the

start of 2007, aid agencies warned that

violence had interfered to such an extent

that operations had reached the lowest

capacity for three years and that the entire

humanitarian response – with last year’s

budget at over USD12 million for Oxfam

International alone – could collapse if

the violence did not stop. In June,

insecurity forced Oxfam to withdraw

from Gereida, the largest camp.

Yet Oxfam International remains

committed. We advocate at the national,

regional and global level to influence

policy concerning Darfur. Alongside, an

integrated on-the-ground humanitarian

programme is currently assisting about

500,000 people with water, sanitation,

public health and livelihoods projects.

With the conflict now in its fifth year, and

showing no sign of abating, our response

is becoming more and more long-term.

We now provide opportunities and

training to reduce dependency on aid,

and promote better management of

scarce natural resources.

In all interventions, Oxfam ensures

that our approach does not create or fuel

conflicts or divisions between nomads

and pastoralists, and between factions,

tribes, religions, races and ethnicities. We

take this into account in our targeting,

beneficiary selection, and choice of

projects.

Basic infrastructure projects also

uphold safety requirements: Oxfam

wells, latrines and other facilities, for

instance, are always located in safer

areas. Fuel-efficient stoves reduce the

number of times women need to leave

the camp on long walks for firewood:

on each trip, they face the risk of rape.

Oxfam also works to make sure that

camp residents know their rights, and

that when a crime has occurred, such as

rape, each person knows what services

and options are available.

Oxfam’s calls for permanent cease-

fire, adherence to international humani-

tarian law, strengthened peacekeeping

efforts, and safe access for humanitarian

personnel. Only a cessation of violence

and an effective ceasefire can bring

civilians the immediate security they

need, and only the political process can

bring about a sustainable long-term

solution, a process inclusive of the many

groups involved, including the millions

of displaced people.

Oxfam water suppl ies in Kalma (top) and Kebkabiya (bottom) camps. Photos by Lourdes Lasap of Oxfam's disaster management team; she was stationed in Darfur for 18 months.

The crisis keeps deepening – violence,

thickening.

Most of the camps in Darfur are now

full, and food rations insufficient, yet

people keep arriving, with nowhere else

to go. Violence, and the omnipresent

threat of violence, has caused one out of

every three people in Darfur to abandon

their homes, their land, their livestock.

Almost two out of every three people

in Darfur and eastern Chad now rely on,

and survive on, humanitarian aid.

Armed violence happens every day

in Darfur, especially in rural areas, with

reports of several hundred murders

in the past two months, on top of the

many uncounted attacks, abductions,

rapes, robberies… Even camp residents

are not safe – armed men regularly

come and steal, harass, intimidate – and

peacekeepers, police and aid workers are

also targets of attacks.

Tens of peacekeepers have been shot

dead since February 2007, with the worst

attack happening on 29 September: the

African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS)

was attacked by up to 2,000 armed

men who stole weapons and vehicles

The Huge Shadows of Violence in DARFUR

Lourdes Lasap writes from Hong KongLourdes Lasap writes from Hong Kong

The Huge Shadows of Violence in DARFUR

in 2006, 63 per cent of workers in

poverty are women, particularly

middle-aged women, who face both

sex and age discrimination. Typically,

they work in casual jobs, with a low

wage and little job protection.

• Poverty among minorities is dis-

proportionate, especially among

South Asians, who often face racial

discrimination: 44 per cent of

Nepalese work in menial jobs; 36

per cent of Pakistanis earn less than

HK$6,000/month.

Oxfam’s report examines poverty

trends in the workforce, reviews

Hong Kong SAR Government policy,

makes polic y recommendations ,

and presents two case stories, one

of age discrimination, one of racial

discrimination, but both showing a

strong desire to work.

Oxfam Hong Kong recommends an

immediate introduction of a statutory

minimum wage. Surveys in 2006 found

that 60 per cent of small-to-medium

enterprises (SMEs) support the minimum

wage, as does about 60 per cent of the

public.

Oxfam’s report points out problems

with Hong Kong’s main welfare

programme, Comprehensive Social

Security Assistance (CSSA). Despite

people’s low wages, few eligible workers

apply for their allowance through CSSA.

The stigma is too severe. In 2006, there

were only 1,551 new cases, while there

were 418,000 workers in poverty.

The report also reveals the limitations

of the government’s Wage Protection

Movement (WPM), a voluntary pro-

gramme for the private sector designed

to protect cleaning and security workers,

who are typically among the lowest paid

in the workforce. Only about a third

of the relevant companies participate

in WPM and even then, according to

a recent survey, the majority does not

pay the wage set by the government:

some cleaners receive only HK$21.90/

hour, not the required HK$26.60.

The research leading to Oxfam’s

44-page report was conducted by

Wong Hung, Professor of Social Work

at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Professor Wong also worked alongside

Oxfam Hong Kong in 1996 to release a

landmark report on Hong Kong poverty.

Poverty in the workforce – also referred

to as ‘employment poverty’ – is an

issue that Oxfam Hong Kong has been

addressing for several years through

research, advocacy, public education,

and support for community projects.

The case story of Mr. Hui is published in Life on Welfare in Hong Kong: Ten Stories, a book (in Chinese) by the Alliance on Concerning CSSA Review and Oxfam Hong Kong (2007). The case of Mr. Hass comes from A Research Report On the Life Experiences of Pakistanis in Hong Kong, produced in 2003 by the Centre for Social Policy Studies of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the S.K.H. Lady MacLehose Centre.

Age 70 and HUI still wants to work

Mr. Hui learned how to construct

large wooden packing cases when he

was a teenager, and plied this trade

at various factories for decades. When

crates were no longer in demand, he

found other factory jobs to support

himself.

In the 1980s, his factory relocated

to Mainland China, as did many other

manufacturers. Hui received HK$20,000

(about US$2,500) as compensation for

ten years of service, which he worried

could not support even a modest

retirement. He was in his fifties by now,

and managed to find a job in a small

restaurant that paid HK$2,000 a month,

plus tips from take-out deliveries. He did

Talking about TRANSPARENCYNovember 2007 marks one year since

the release of our “Transparency Report:

How Hong Kong Garment Companies

Can Improve Public Reporting of

their Labour Standards”. Back then,

the majority of the companies we

surveyed were reluctant to respond,

and the results of the 60-page report

were alarming: the highest score on

transparency was 10 out of 100, with

only four of the 16 companies scoring

above zero at all.

Times are changing.

I am now in regular dialogue with

Giordano, Goldlion and U-right, among

other Hong Kong-based clothing

companies. Esprit is currently reviewing

our recommendations and has indicated

that Oxfam Hong Kong is the first

NGO here that they engage with on

transparency. And just a few weeks

ago, I had a third meeting with senior

management at Moiselle. In all, during

the past year or so, “Corporate Social

Responsibility” – or more often, CSR

as its short form – has become an

almost everyday term in the Hong Kong

vocabulary.

To sustain the impetus, and to help

make sure that CSR becomes part of

the core of everyday business practices,

not just public relations ‘talk’, Oxfam

is undertaking more research into the

clothing industry for a follow-up report

on transparency. The report, to be

released in Spring or Summer of 2008,

has an expanded scope, reaching some

of Hong Kong’s biggest garment trading

companies and manufacturers. We are

also going beyond clothing companies

and mapping the CSR initiatives of Hong

Kong’s top publicly-listed companies in

28 sectors. Given their enormous impact

on the economy in Hong Kong and

the region, it is crucial to benchmark

their social, environmental and CSR

performances with international best

practices.

Oxfam is also conducting research

into labour and CSR in the clothing

industry of Cambodia, where Hong Kong

is the largest investor. Almost one-third

of all garment factories in the country

are solely or partly owned by Hong Kong

companies, and our research will target

this group, specifically ones which joined

the Better Factories Cambodia Project,

which is monitored by the International

in Hong Kong

Labour Organization (ILO). Eight years

ago, in 1999, a textile agreement was

signed between USA and Cambodia

which granted quotas for Cambodian

exports in return for better compliance

with international labour standards.

The ILO was contracted to monitor

compliance and by March 2007, over

300 garment factories had joined the

Project, about 100 of which are Hong

Kong owned or invested. One aim of

the research is to see if lessons learned

through this Project can be applied to

workplaces around the region.

Within the realms of Oxfam Hong

Kong and its various networks, I will

soon be discussing transparency and

ethical sourcing with corporations

which have been long-time donors to

the organisation. (Almost 90 per cent

of our funds comes from individuals and

companies in Hong Kong.) My colleagues

and I encourage youth to take action

on injustice in the garment

trade; these Youth Campaign

Partners and Oxfam Club

members visited Cambodia

last year to witness the reality

of workers firsthand, and when

they returned home, they ran

public education events on

the streets of Hong Kong, and

on the Internet too. My editor-

colleagues have published

English and Chinese editions

of the book PHOTOVOICES, in

which workers speak, in their

own words and through their

own photographs, about their

daily work life in the factories of

southern China.

All of this advocacy and public

education work began in 2002, when

the 64-city Make Trade Fair campaign

kicked off in Hong Kong. Oxfam Hong

Kong has researched the sugar industry

in southern China and the cotton

industry in northwest China; we have

promoted Fair Trade products in Hong

Kong; and we have lobbied the World

Trade Organization (WTO) and various

governmental, bilateral and multilateral

bodies. In 2004, we released the report

“Turning the Garment Industry Inside

Out – Purchasing Practices and Workers'

Lives” and distributed our “Resource

Kit on Corporate Social Responsibility”

to the business community of Hong

Kong.

Kalina Tsang directs Oxfam's private sector engagement efforts.You too can join our call for a fairer garment industry, and for fairer trade as a whole. Visit: www.maketradefair.org.hk/trad_06/petition_eng.asp.

in 2006: this rose by 87 per cent

from 1996 and 2006, from 222,800

to 418,000 workers. It is defined as

people earning less than HK$5,000 a

month (about US$1,300) or half the

median income.

• 103 per cent more workers earn

less than HK$3,000 a month – from

68,600 workers in 1996 to 139,000

workers in 2006.

• Workers are earning 10 per cent

less than in 1996: this is the case for

service workers, such as dishwashers

and cleaners.

• Poverty among women workers:

The common view in Hong Kong is

that when the economy booms, poverty

falls. Yet, poor people are not benefiting

from Hong Kong’s recent growth: since

1997, poverty has risen seven times faster

than the GDP, and the Gini-coefficient

– the standard measure of income

inequality – now stands at 0.533, the

highest ever.

Poverty in the workforce is particularly

worrying, according to Oxfam Hong

Kong’s new report, Employed but Poor:

Poverty among Employed People in

Hong Kong:

• 13 per cent of the workforce is poor

not mind the low pay. He just wanted to

make a living. The thought never crossed

his mind of receiving government

assistance, to which he was entitled with

such a low salary. When his restaurant

job ended, he found that no one would

hire him anymore, even though he was

still healthy and youthful: only at age 70

did he apply for welfare.

HASS tried 500 times to get a job

Mr. Hass applied for at least 500

jobs, but not one prospective employer

replied to his applications. This was

during an 11-month period between

2002 and 2003.

The Pakistani man says that once,

when he finally got an interview at a

factory for a machine operator job, they

insisted that he know written Chinese:

a requirement he felt unnecessary for

the job.

Hass also remembers applying for

three delivery jobs through the Labour

Department. When he telephoned the

three companies about the jobs, he

was told that the positions had been

filled. He could not believe it, as the

notices had only just been placed on

the job board. Hass felt that he was

being discriminated against, and that

the employers had refused him based on

his accent, so he asked a Chinese person

in the Labour Department to telephone

again. “When he called, the company

said, ‘Okay, you come at this time for

an interview’. It was totally ridiculous!”

Hass said.

Kalina Tsang

Photo: Ducky Tse

Hong Kong: Poverty for One out of Eight Workers

Oxfam Club: Empathy to Action

Every year for ten years now,

Oxfam has been running a club with

Hong Kong teenagers and twenty-

somethings. Every year: overnight

camps, workshops, and a trip to a

developing country. In August, 30

Oxfam Club members went to Cebu

in the Philippines, and saw what

many typical tourists there never see:

daily life in slums, in a factory, and

on a mango farm. In other words:

poverty, exploitation, discrimination

and unfair trade. Through all of the

encounters, they developed a deeper

sense of empathy and justice, along

with a more thorough understanding

of poverty, labour and trade. When

the Club met garment workers, they

felt the hardship of their lives. One

student said of the man photographed

at the sewing machine “He will have to

go back to his low-paid job. I can leave

for Hong Kong.”

Now, three months later, the

students are back home in Hong Kong,

ready to take their new wisdom to the

streets. They have chosen Causeway

Bay, one of the busiest districts for their

Cebu-inspired dramas, photographs,

and installations. They want to show

the public how our shopping habits

can create or deepen other people’s

poverty. They want to urge us all to

travel fairly, buy Fair Trade, and to live

our daily lives fairly.

Fo r more , v i s i t the Oxfam C lub b log fo r photographs and stories (in Chinese): http://oxfamclub.mysinablog.com/index.php

Photo: Rakesh Mohan / Oxfam Hong Kong

Photo: Tai Ngai Lung

• Cellotape

• Fast-drying but thick cotton

• 3-ply thread

IDF sought the support of several

local eateries to donate empty plastic

bottles in bulk, and cloth merchants

recommended a durable fabric that

would not retain water for long.

At first, villagers were hesitant to

make the life-jackets. They had never

seen anything like it before. But now,

after several lives have been saved,

the home-made jackets are in demand.

IDF is conducting training on this and

other basic disaster preparedness

measures.

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.

Oxfam’s most recently supported supported the publication of 西部．希望　

大山里的孩子們 (a book on education in western China, in Simplified Chinese).

To order books: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/list?lang=iso-8859-1

E-NEWSIssued every month in English and Chinese, this e-bulletin provides the latest

from Oxfam Hong Kong, with bite-sized news on emergencies, campaigns,

community projects, public education and fundraising. Oxfam e-News is emailed

to more than 80,000 volunteers, campaigners, donors, Oxfam Trailwalkers, council

members and subscribers. The Editor is Echo Chow.

To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/16830 (English version)

www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/7263 (Traditional Chinese)

www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/7265 (Simplified Chinese)

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 Editors are Tung Tsz-kwan and Fiona

Shek. The focus of the September 2007

issue is on Hunger. The words above the

rice bowl all say ‘food’.

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

CANOxfam Hong Kong is supporting this

new photo-based magazine in China. CAN

means both “look” and “do” in Chinese,

and each 150-page edition (in Simplified

Chinese) examines a different topic.

The Chief Editor of the quarterly is the

writer-photographer, Liu Wai Tong. CAN

is available on the mainland and at select

bookshops in Hong Kong. The focus of

the October edition is on Workers and

Their Products.

ONELINKs

What can people do about Climate Change and Poverty?

Please tell us at:

http://forum.oxfam.org.hk/?c_lang=eng

ONEquestIoN

CO

VER

: Oxf

am H

ong

Kong

Inte

ract

ive

Educ

atio

n C

entr

e /

Liu

Wai

Ton

g

17th Floor, 28 Marble Road, Northpoint, Hong KongO.N.E, published in the middle of each month, is also online:

www.oxfam.org.hk/one//

Hong Kong

INDIA: Where

Plastic Bottles become

Life Jackets

A good man named Joe Mitty just

died, at age 88.

Joe Mitty was Oxfam's very first

employee: he set up Oxfam's very first

shop, in Oxford, in 1949.

During World War II, when the British

public was donating a lot of clothes

for the thousands of impoverished

people around Europe, it was Joe who

spotted the potential for a second-hand

market: Oxfam became a shop that sold

everything, but bought nothing.

He even sold a live donkey once!

Joe said that when he was starting

out, he had no idea how to price

items, "but I had two words – RAGE

and PASSION – rage, because of the

inequality and injustice in the world,

and a passion to do something about

it.”

He got the Beatles to join the cause,

as well as Laurence Olivier and many

other revered celebrities. Today, tens

of thousands of people volunteer

at Oxfam shops around the world,

including at two in Hong Kong: in

Tsimshatsui (Silvercord) and in Central

(Jardine House).

Joe once described himself as a

"little old man".

The Director of Oxfam Great Britain,

Barbara Stocking, sees Joe Mitty as

“truly a giant... His death is a great loss

to Oxfam and to the world, but his life

should be a beacon to everyone...”

Photo: Oxfam Great Britain

Floods are a fact of life in the north-

east state of Bihar, one of the poorest

regions of India. Every year, people die

by drowning.

Oxfam Hong Kong has been working

with villages on a disaster preparedness

programme, such as providing basic

supplies, including torches/flashlights,

and working together to design in-

expensive life jackets. Discussions with

staff from the Integrated Development

Foundation (IDF), a local group based

right in Bihar, came up with this formula

for a life jacket:

• 10 plastic 2 liter bottles (5 bottles for

the front, 5 for the back)

of RAGE and

PASSION