Starting out
The BESA began from humble beginnings thanks to an ambitious re-housing planintroduced by the Hong Kong government more than two decades ago.
The Comprehensive Redevelopment Program launched in 1988 was aimed atimproving the environment and living standards for tenants in government-ownedproperties. The largest estate to undergo redevelopment was Tsz Wan Shan, whichcomprised of 63 blocks and about 80,000 residents at the time.
Law Ying was one of 18,000 people aged 60 and over on the estate back then. Likeothers living alone, she said moving was a daunting prospect. “I was worried about how Iwould be able to re-house all by myself,” said the 81-year-old.
To solve the problem, a group of volunteers, social work students and universitylecturers was formed to help more than 100 single elderly people move. That group becamethe BESA in 1989.
“In 1995, they helped me move the furniture into my new apartment, covered thefloor and fixed the lighting - all free of charge,” said Law.
Like many of fellow migrants, Law was born in neighboring Guangdong province.
Life was arduous before she arrived in Hong Kong in 1976 to join her husband, leavingher only son in her hometown.
“My husband died just four years after we were reunited. My son was only 12 yearsold at the time,” she said.
The widow then took on two jobs, working in an electronic industry during the dayand helping out trimming garment ends at night, and sent money home to her families inthe mainland.
Contrary to the common belief that all elderly people want to stay with their childrenand grandchildren, Law said she is reluctant to join her son in Guangdong after havinglived alone for more than three decades, except the occasional visits during festivals.
“I won’t go back, even they carry me in a sedan chair,” she chuckled, although sheadded with a sigh: “Many of my longtime friends have already passed away, gone back totheir old homes or entered care homes, so I don’t get to see them very often.”
About 151,300 people aged 60 or over live alone like Law in Hong Kong, accordingto official statistics released in 2009.
Meaningful experience
Lee Kwan, a 96-year-old living in the same building as Law, is also grateful for helpshe has received from the BESA.
Born in 1914, Lee spent her youth on a farm in Guangdong province but a visitto Hong Kong in the 1940s changed her life forever. A rich family hired her as a live-inhousemaid, a job she performed for four families until her back pains prevented her fromworking in her mid-60s.
One of the traditions of live-in maids back then was to remain single, said Lee,explaining why she never married. She also has no family in Hong Kong, although herniece from the mainland sometimes visits for three-month periods.
Asked if she felt regretted sacrificing the chance of marriage for her job, she repliedwith a firm “no” before adding: “All my employers treated me well. I was happy workingfor them.
“One of my employers gave me six tickets for Ocean Park (a popular marine wildlifeattraction) and persuaded me to go for a visit,” she recalled. “But I gave the tickets to somepoor families whose kids were more willing to go. I’ve still never visited the Ocean Park yet.”
Law and Lee are just two of the hundreds of pensioners who have benefited from therelationships they have built with volunteers from the BESA.
Ruby Yeong Pui-shan has worked part time for the group for more than a decade.
Among the clients she visits is an elderly cancer patient who is receiving treatment inhospital.
“He told me that he has no family and that he is not sure what his life would be likewithout us,” said Yeong. “I just tell him he has nothing to worry about. All the BESAvolunteers are his family now.”
For volunteers who also hold down full-time employment, the greatest challenge ispreventing fatigue from affecting their performance.
“After a whole day of work, I am very tired, so the angel of good has to fight hardagainst the devil of laziness,” said Yeong with a smile.
However, the sympathy she feels for her clients always wins out. “If I didn’t go (to seethem), who else will?” she said.
“Helping to arrange funerals is undoubtedly important but looking after lonely elderlypeople is far more meaningful,” she added. “It’s not about the moment of saying goodbye.
It’s about their trust in us before their last breath.”
BESA is now expanding its services from covering Wong Tai Sin district to the entirecity in an effort to serve more elderly people.
“Now my funeral has been taken well care of by the BESA volunteers, I have nothingto worry about,” said Lee.
Final resting place of the unknown
By MING YEUNG
HONG KONG - Nothing is certain in life except death and taxes, asBenjamin Franklin once famously wrote. Yet, for those people without families,preparing for the inevitable and ensuring they get a proper funeral can be difficult.
In Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region’s food and environmentalhygiene department handle all unidentified or unclaimed bodies. Officials collectthem from mortuaries and hospitals and arrange for their burial or cremation.
People who die in the New Territories and Kowloon are taken to KwaiChung Crematorium, while those on Hong Kong island go to Cape CollinsonCrematorium. Alternatively, bodies are also interred at Sandy Ridge Cemetery.
Sandy Ridge is famous for housing the city’s poorest citizens. Many homelessand single elderly have their graves there, although their tombstones carry nonames. The deceased who were buried in the cemetery were only assigned anumber for identification purpose, rather than have their names inscribed onto theplaques.
As many unclaimed bodies are usually unidentified, officials explainedthat all bodies are logged as numbers, with any names kept on record. SandyRidge Cemetery is a communal grave, so the plaques only record the number ofdeceased people in a given year rather than the name of each person buried there.
