Brian's 340 Blog

  Community Connection: Fighting Homelessness One Step at a Time Our mission, beyond providing necessities to the homeless population in Hong Kong, is to establish a human connection with the people we serve Hong Kong faces many problems, but one that is becoming increasingly prominent, and not getting the attention it deserves, is that of homelessness. To illustrate how seriously overlooked this problem is, let me introduce you the the term: McRefugee. This term was coined by Hong Kongers as a result of the high number of homeless people living in 24-hour McDonald restaurants due to astronomical rent prices and lack of resources being provided by the government for homeless people.  There is a saying for students in Hong Kong that you must “study hard or end up as a beggar”. I know it sounds wrong, but I never thought of it as anything more than a way to encourage students to remain diligent in school. In hindsight, I see a big problem with this statement. While it may not ha...

Growing up in Hong Kong has been a very eye-opening experience. On one hand, Hong Kong has exposed me to a diverse group of people and opportunities, but on the other hand, it has also shown me to an abundance of political, environmental, and social injustices from an early age. Nonetheless, my love for this city remained unwavered and my hope has always been to return to Hong Kong in the future to contribute to the local community in some way. Two of the most prominent issues, and ones that I am most familiar with, in Hong Kong today are air pollution and homelessness.  Let me speak about my experience with witnessing homelessness in Hong Kong first. During senior year of high school, I decided to sell all unwanted items of mine to free up some much-needed space. It wasn’t much, but I was able to make some cash from what I had to sell. At first, I was unsure what to do with the money and was thinking about donating it, but my aunt suggested I do some hands-on charity work with it....