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Child Sponsor Visits Hong Kong- By Allison Hart Editor's Note: When we learned that Mrs. Hart on her trip to the A.C.W.W. Conference had stopped at Hong Kong to visit a Chinese boy sponsored by her son, under the Save the Chilâ€" dren plan, we asked her to tell us about it through Home and Country. Perhaps those Ontario Women's institutes sponsoring children from the Hong Kong area will be particularly interested but we feel that Mrs, Hart's human interest story will appeal to everyone. HAN YUK-WAKâ€"what a solemn little C Chinese boy he was, with a quick, shy smile and a quizzical look. He had been told that his Sponsor was coming to visit his school which is Simon Peter School, Castle Peak, New Territories, Hong Kong Crown Colony. I wondered what his ten-year-old imagination would make of the word “Spon- sor.” Actually, I was only the mother of his Sponsor, and I was one of several Canadian Women’s Institute members stopping briefly in Hong Kong en route to the A.C.W.W. Trienâ€" nial Conference in Melbourne. On this hot day in late September we Were touring the largest of the three areas that make up Hong Kong Crown Colony. New Territories was leased in 1898 by the British Government from China under a ninetyâ€"nine year agreement. Here is the bread-basket for the crowded areas of Hong Kong Island and the Peninsula of Kowloon on the mainland. “Here also," to quote the guide book, “can be seen the quiet pastoral China of the willow pattern, coolies and water buffaloes at work in the paddy fields, rice terraces carved out of the hillsides, and frail houses with up pointing roofs.” However, to present a true picture, one must add more detail. In contrast to natural beauty of sea, hills and sky we saw poverty, privation and over-crowding amid obvious attempts to make the most of diffiâ€" culties. The influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Red China into Hong Kong has produced problems in human need that are almost insuperable. At Castle Peak 3. farmer’s holding is fre- quently so small that even the most careful and hard-working find it impossible to pro- vide beyond the bare necessities. The sampan at the water’s edge may be a makeshift home, or, if seaworthy, its owner can find competi- tion in the fishing industry so stiff that returns are meagre indeed. Here and there small in- dustries or small factories appear, a tribute to the ingenuity of a people who live where 20 food is scarce and Where hours are long . .J wages low. But let us return to the happy 5. . and girls in Yuk-Wak‘s school. From a humble beginning eight years , ., this primary school, now recognized by _ government and supported by voluntary c ._ tribution, has growu to include more than : | children. Of these, 130 live at the Hot l because of inadequate home conditions. M: of them are orphans. A clinic attends to health of the pupils and often takes in ' parents as well. The life of the school cent around the Christian church where child; and parents attend Sunday School and SE ices. For the pupils who live at home, a m, est food supplement is provided and mothers may be helped to use wisely the li: food they have. Two case workers and a devoted s: assist the Reverend Richard Tsang who is . moving spirit behind this splendid school. though a full-time medical officer in Kowlo- Mr. Tsang finds time to know each child the school personally and to lay plans fOi wider extension of the work of St. Pen particularly among the elderly. While inspecting the modern classrooms a building recently completed, we learr that a few older children could now be ; mitted if sponsors could be found. “Where 1 the sponsors come from?" we inquired, at in answer were invited into the small rot» which does duty as reception, emergent; store-room and office, in order to see i ourselves. Looking through the card ind for the names of child and sponsor, we we amazed to find over forty of the spouse with an address in Ontario. Most of the, were the representatives of Women’s Institu branches whose money, channelled throng the Canadian Save the Children Fund, is di ing so much to provide schooling and adequu‘ care where both are sorely needed. We were happy to see in this distant con munity these results of the efforts of dedicati workers and generous sponsors of the Can. dian Save the Children Fund. At the don stood a bus whose lettering indicated it to be gift to the school from C.S.C.F. Supplies the store-room included Canadian canned port milk powder and nutrient, gifts in kind iron the same fund. Although these foodstuffs wet for use as a supplement to the children’s diet some of them were shared (under strict super vision and with permission from the Canadian Director) with the mothers Of those familie. HOME AND COUNTRY