South Asians were in Hong Kong since 1841. Sikhs soldiers participated at the flag raising ceremony at Possession Point, Hong Kong in 1841 when the Captain Elliot declared Hong Kong a British possession. Sikhs, Parsis and other South Asians made many contributions to the well-being of Hong Kong.

Many trace their roots in Hong Kong as far back as when most of the Indian subcontinent was still under British colonial rule, and as a legacy of the British Empire, their nationality issues remain largely unsettled. However, recently an increasing number of them have acquired Chinese nationality.

Nepali people in Hong Kong are mainly the children of ex-Gurkhas born in Hong Kong during their parents' service with the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas, which was based in Hong Kong from the 1970s until the handover. Large groups can be found in Shek Kong, Yuen Long District, Jordan and Yau Ma Tei one of the main bases of the British army. Many ex-Gurkhas remained in Hong Kong after the end of their service under the sponsorship of their Hong Kong-born children, who held right of abode. They often work as security guards. The average pay of a security guard is between HK$33 (US$4.25) an hour and HK$28 (US$3.60) an hour.

A 2009 statistics report shows there are as many as 30,000 Nepali living in HK. Perhaps 10,000 without proper government paper to stay.

Other than security guards, some may work as drivers, cleaners, domestic helpers or in restaurants - most are in very low income group. They are in a constant battle of fighting off discrimination, language barrier and poverty. Many times the Hong Kong Government had used TV media to promote harmony in society, promoting social inclusion and integration among the minority groups in Hong Kong.


In March I was approached by Sodexo Hong Kong to be part of their Stop Hunger Program Food collection and Distribution. I looked into a few possibilities, taking up to meet the needs of Nepali community is in line with Hong Kong Government’s policy to show caring towards the Nepalis, I approached S K Godwin who runs a ministry calls Shanti (means Peace), a mercy ministry that serves and helps South East Asian minority groups in Yuen Long and Kam Tin. They help with the children school works, visit families in need, help them to know and access essential public services and resources. After conferring among all the groups, we decided to serve the Nepali community in Kam Tin.

Sodexo’s SERVATHON – collecting food to STOP HUNGER began in April among the International Schools, Corporate clients, International clients and Sodexo staff members.

Mid April Result : Collected 387 items of food – including tin goods, milk powder, cereal, rice, peanut butter, cooking oil, noodles, biscuits etc.

The Final result at the end of April was really impressive and outstanding – 1,861 items or 685 kgs of food were collected totally. With such a large quantity of food collected. We were able to prepare 136 bags of food, each bag weight over 12lb of food a bag. Each bag included 3 tin goods of meat, vegetable and beans; 2 kg of rice, 600 gram of cereal, 4 small packets of instant noodles, 1 large packet of rice noodles, 2 packet of biscuits etc.

	Business Units 分店	Total(number of food items) 分店總數	Measurement Unit(gram, liter, bag, etc...) 計量單位（克、升、袋或等..）	Remarks 備註
1	International Schools 國際學校	840	390kgs	Rice, oatmeal, sardine fish, peanut butter, instant noodles, luncheon meat, vegetable soup, oil, biscuits and beans
2	Corporate Accounts 公司客戶	780	226 kgs	Rice, noodles, beans, corn, luncheon biscuit, rice vermicelli, condensed milk, luncheon meat, meat, and corn
3	International Large Accounts 國際大客戶	155	44 kgs	Instant noodles, peanut butter, corned beef, baked beans and pork meat
4	Head Office 總部辦公室	86	25 kgs	Peanut butter, beans, rice, corn, instant noodles, luncheon meat, cereals, pasta
	Total 總數	1,861	685 kgs

Before we arrived, Shanti sent out leaflets to the Nepali residents to invite them to come on Saturday 29 May 2010 for some games, fun sharing, dancing and music and to take home a packet of food, they even put out a banner to invite people to come to Kam Kwong Nepali Christian Church.


On 29 May 2010, 4 from Feed the Hungry and 8 from Sodexo came together and travelled to Kam Tin. We were entertained and welcomed by the Nepali children, who were so excited to see visitors. They have prepared songs, dance for us. And we got ourselves a special treat by Master Beauty Ministry on creative art performance as well.





Despite the yellow thunder storm warning was posted by late afternoon, none of us were dampened by the hugh down pour of rain, we were enthusiastic from the beginning till the end. We were glad we came to know this community, and to hear the needs and also how well they are doing.


Happy recipients – We never saw so many happy smiles before.


It was a happy occasion!

A big thank you to Sodexo’s employees, clients, friends and supporters – it was a good wrap up! Thank you Jesus!



Servathon Food Donation by Sodexo索迪斯食物捐贈行動

Sodexo out of awareness of social responsibility, to give back to society, decided to raise food donation among their employees, clients and friends, to help those have needs in our community, to extend their hands of care and support. Cheering this and other similar group on. 實踐對本地社區作出「抵抗饑餓」的承諾

STOP Hunger mobilizes the employees of Sodexo to work in their communities and engage with local partners to help fight hunger and malnutrition. Participation can be very simple, such as spending a few hours volunteering at a local hunger relief organization, organizing a fundraising activity, or conducting a food drive. Through the service spirit of thousands of Sodexo employees, our STOP Hunger activities have spread to 30 host countries throughout the world.
「抵抗饑餓」行動鼓勵員工在當地社區工作，聯同本地組織，合作對抗饑餓和營養失調。參與方法可以十分簡單，例如在當地的饑餓救濟組織義務幫助數小時、籌辦募捐活動、或經營食物儲存庫。索迪斯數千名員工憑服務精神早已把「抵抗饑餓」行動傳遍全球30個東道國。

All food will be donated to the local branch of Feed the Hungry, a global hunger relief organization. In addition, members of the Sodexo Hong Kong senior management team will volunteer outside working hours to distribute the food to the community and share some quality time with them.
我們鼓勵各員工捐出各種不易變壞、罐裝和妥善包好的食物捐贈給美膳會的本港分會一國際饑餓援助組織。另外，索迪斯香港高級管理層成員更會在辦公時間以外為美膳會的本地活動作義務及外展工作。

Result so far - (as at 18 April 2009 collected from 4 collection locations)

Business Units 分店	Total number of food items 分店總數	Measurement Unit (gram, liter, bag, etc...) 計量單位（克、升、袋或等..）	Remarks 備註
International Schools 國際學校	139	33.1kgs	rice, oatmeal, sardine fish, peanut butter, instant noodles, luncheon meat, vegetable soup, oil, biscuits and beans
Corporate Accounts 公司客戶	72	51.7kgs	Rice, noodles, beans, corn, luncheon meat, and corn
International Large Accounts 國際大客戶	42	11kgs	Instant noodles, peanut butter, corned beef, baked beans and pork meat
Head Office 總部辦公室	28	11.3kgs	Peanut butter, beans, rice, corn, instant noodles, luncheon meat, cereals
Total 總數	387	107.1kgs

Shanti (means peace) focus on the community work on local ethnic minority group in Yuen Long and Kam Tin area. Every Saturday free tutorial lessons are given to children in Kam Tin Nepalie Christian Church. Most of the South Asian children go to local school where they learn Cantonese and Mandarin; but these kids’ parents cannot speak the language and some cannot read or write. Local volunteers who come and help them, not just give tutoring in Chinese homework but also other subjects such as mathematics and English.

Most of the Southeast Asian families work as construction workers, security guards or cleaners. Their salaries are around HK$8,000-$10,000 a month. Due to their low income, they have no choice but to find cheap places to live. Some of the Southeast Asian refugees that live in Kam Tina and Yuen Long live in old buildings which are smelly, dirty and scary to the residents, some of the buildings have cracks.
There is a group with refugee status, and are being helped by the Social Welfare Department but their allowance is not enough for food and for a decent place to stay. Most of them cannot find a job or a decent place to stay. During winter, their “homes” are cold and don’t even owe warm blankets, jackets or proper shoes to wear to keep warm.

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