HONG KONG - Digging through stinking heaps of garbage in one rubbish bin after another, a small boy stops occasionally to pluck out a prize - bunches of old newspapers or cardboard.
"I'll be able to sell them for a few Hong Kong dollars (20-30 U.S. cents)," said the skinny eight-year-old, who identified himself only by his middle name, Chun.
"If I don't do this, how can we have enough money for milk powder for my brother and sister?"
Chun is not picking through garbage dumps in India, the Philippines or Bangladesh, but in Hong Kong, one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
Not far away, state-of-the art skyscrapers gleam along its scenic waterfront and a shiny parade of chauffeured Mercedes and Rolls-Royce limousines deposit captains of industry at their offices, hardly drawing a second glance from passersby.
Not long ago, many people in the financial center dreamed of becoming the city's next tycoon, wheeling-and-dealing their way from rags to riches like Asia's richest businessman Li Ka-shing.
Now, many would be happy just to get a real job or, like Chun, have a little money in their pockets to help feed their families.
Despite signs of recovery in recent months, years of economic stagnation have widened Hong Kong's rich-poor gap and unemployment levels remain among the highest in Asia. With more poor mainland Chinese settling here, poverty is potentially a growing social problem in the territory.
Social workers estimate nearly one in seven people in the city, or almost one million people, are living below the poverty line, including nearly 400,000 children.
"Poverty is seriously affecting children in Hong Kong, leading to problems such as malnutrition. Our situation is a bit like that in third-world countries or developing countries," said social worker Sze Lai-shan.
"Poverty undermines children's health and academic achievement.
Consequently, these children are likely to remain poor when they grow up. That is a vicious cycle where the poor will always stay poor and a social burden," she remarked.
CHILD LABORERS ABOUND
Sze estimates there are thousands of child laborers in Hong Kong, including hundreds picking through junk piles. Child labor is illegal in the city, but many elude the police by saying they are merely helping out their parents.
"I'm not happy when I'm picking garbage. I'm afraid people will laugh at me," admitted Chun.
Chun's father is in jail. His mother is from mainland China and is not allowed to work in Hong Kong, but manages to stay by repeatedly renewing her tourist visa.
Chun has to help take care of a three-year-old brother and a baby sister.
Crammed in a 100-square-foot flat, the family live from hand to mouth on monthly welfare payments of some HK$6,000 (US $770).
That is well below the per capita poverty line which Sze estimates at about HK$2,650 per person per month in the city, one of the world's most expensive places to live.
KIDS ARE HUNGRY
Many children from families on the dole get only half of their required daily energy intake, according to a recent survey by Sze's Society for Community Organization (SOCO).
In a recent survey, some said they picked through discarded food at markets looking for something to eat while others said only that they have obtained free food from various sources.
Wai, a 10-year-old boy who would not disclose his family name, says he regularly takes free packs of ketchup from a fast food chain.
"I mix it with rice," said the pale lad, whose family is too poor to afford dishes to accompany rice every day.
Rice is the staple food for Chinese and is usually eaten with dishes of meat, fish and vegetables. "I also put ketchup on bread," he added.
Unlike many of his peers who are better off, Wai has never eaten at McDonald's. To him, even fruit is a luxury that he seldom gets to eat.
Wai wore the same school uniform for three years before his mother bought him a new one.
"Carrying a heavy schoolbag, he walks half an hour to school and back every day to save transport expenses," said his mother Ho Siu-fong, who is chronically ill and unable to work.
The pair live on HK$4,000 of monthly welfare payments.
About 290,000 households in Hong Kong scrape by on social welfare and housing assistance. But the government, battling a ballooning deficit, has been cutting expenditure, including welfare payments to each claimant.
Social workers fear the government will announce cuts in welfare payments in its 2004/05 budget presentation on March 10.
"We're concerned about insufficient payments to families with children. We keep lobbying the government for rises. But there's some opposition from the public to such increases," said Law Chi-kwong, the lawmaker representing the social welfare sector.
Story by Carrie Lee
Story Date: 10/3/2004
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