World Refugee Day 2023: Hong Kong music and dance event to be a ‘celebration of resilience’, says city’s first ethnic-minority social worker
- On June 25, Christian Action’s Centre for Refugees is celebrating the resilience of Hong Kong refugees and asylum seekers with an event at PMQ
- Jeffrey Andrews, who works with the centre, says the event will feature drum sessions, leather workshops, a fashion show and handicrafts
Hongkonger Jeffrey Andrews wears many hats. Bridge builder is one of them.
“As an ethnic minority, as a social worker, as someone working with refugees, all these roles have helped bridge a lot of the social and racial gaps that exist in Hong Kong,” says Andrews, who works with Christian Action’s Centre for Refugees, Hong Kong’s only drop-in community centre for asylum seekers and refugees. “I feel very lucky.”
A third-generation Hongkonger of Indian descent – “I grew up in the local school system and picked up Cantonese from playing football in the streets” – Andrews is the city’s first ethnic-minority social worker and a much-needed voice for refugees and asylum seekers.
There are an estimated 14,000 in the city, most of whom can’t work because Hong Kong did not sign the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.
Instead it has its own system to determine asylum claims, a process that can take years, even decades. For those caught in the system, life is tough.
On June 25, the Centre for Refugees is celebrating the resilience of its community at PMQ, in Central, the event one of many this month to mark World Refugee Day (June 20), which is designated by the UN to honour refugees around the globe.
“It’s going to be a carnival of diversity, a celebration of resilience,” says Andrews of the colourful music and dance event featuring drum sessions, leather workshops, a fashion show and handicrafts made as part of a women’s empowerment project by the centre.
“Our theme is ‘dignity in action’ because our clients don’t want to be known only as refugees but as ambassadors for their country – a representative for the Hong Kong community.”
Changing perceptions through education is vital.
“As a kid, I was disillusioned with my skin colour so, like many minorities, I ended up rebelling against society,” he says of his troubled past.
Spend a day with me and you will see the problems I have, like trying to hail a taxi or get a seat on public transport
Today, Andrews’ life is very different: Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah acknowledged him in 2016 for outstanding contributions to improving racial harmony in Hong Kong, while in 2019 he was honoured with a Cathay ChangeMaker award. Football club Manchester United has recognised him as one of its seven global heroes.
Andrews says he has seen a more positive shift in attitudes towards ethnic minority groups, helped by the cultural sensitivity training and community engagement programmes run by the centre.
“Relations with the police have improved and there’s less public fear, especially among the elderly who have shown lots of interest in our tours of Chungking Mansions,” he says of the building in Tsim Sha Tsui where the centre is based.
Cooking workshops and refugee tours are among the cultural experiences the centre hosts.
But while the city’s willingness to embrace diversity is growing, Andrews still faces discrimination.
“Spend a day with me and you will see the problems I have, like trying to hail a taxi or get a seat on public transport.”
The Centre for Refugees’ World Refugee Day celebration will be held on June 25 at PMQ Courtyard, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, from 12pm to 8pm. Tickets are priced at HK$200 and available from Eventbrite.
