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(Chinese Only )半世紀的成長路：住宿兒童的照顧點滴

當年她第一次照顧的嬰兒，今天已成了約50歲的中年。一份工半世紀，三言兩語應從何說起？「照顧小孩是很忙碌，記得當年每天密密手，停不下來，時間很快過，雖然很忙碌，但見到小朋友反應，心也會暖起來。當年因工時長，同事規定要在局內住宿，一個家舍幾個同事固定照顧，這裡就成了我的第二個家。」「第二個家」，除了是蘇主任的形容，相信也是眾多住宿兒童的心聲。「感恩小朋友在遇到困難時，在保良局這個家能夠吃得飽穿得暖。與小朋友的相處令我很難忘，這也是我能夠在同一份工四十六年的原因，很高興能夠看著他們成長。」難忘機場送別一刻談及最難忘的回憶，蘇主任想起每一次機場道別，令她深刻的是那份喜悅的心情。「我最難忘是每一次有海外領養，我送小朋友到機場，看著他們大，這刻目送他們離開，不知道這生有否機會再見。雖然有不捨，但我有更多的喜悅，因為知道他們會有更好環境更好出路，得到領養父母的愛，會活得很好。」一切從諒解開始照顧小孩這工作的特別之處，是即使經過半世紀，環境有變照顧方法有更新之處，但核心的挑戰與成功之道，仍然歷久常新。蘇主任分享照顧小孩之道，放諸當年或今日，仍然受用。「來到保良局家舍的小孩，都因家庭問題而情緒會受影響，容易情緒波動，他們已承受很多，我們的工作就是要了解及諒解他們傷痛，縱然他們有時會不聽教，會令自己有挫敗感，但也要有耐性，陪伴他們同行，多教幾次，多認識他們的獨特性。我們從心而發去愛錫他們，他們是會感受到的。」依附關懷天使計劃讓關係更密切近年，保良局住宿服務在原有服務以外，也創新不同的支援項目，當中亦因著善心企業的支持，讓更多貼心支援項目可以推行，其中一個就是依附關懷天使計劃。「感謝同事創作這服務，讓同工在原有家舍工作以外，擔任多一個身份，成為局童的『親親』。」每一個局童也會配對一個「親親」，「親親」會額外與他們相處，體驗不同活動，建立更親密的關係，讓局童更感受到愛與關懷。疫情下同心應變能夠在忙碌工作以外，常時創作貼心的服務方案，蘇主任歸功於一眾滿有愛心的同事。尤其在疫情期間，常時要調節服務迎接新常態，同事多走一步更顯重要。「我很感謝一眾年輕同事，他們的IT知道更豐富，在疫情期間，幼童要留家中上網課，同事們就各按其職，陪伴局童渡過這個疫情多變時期。」這個「第二個家」，有資深的也有新的同事，他們來自不同年齡層，有不同的創意也有經驗，但同樣有著愛心與同理心，守護著一眾局童成長。「回望四十六年的服務，你有什麼說話想同第一天到保良家舍的自己說？」「當日本身只是打一份工，沒想過一做就四十六年，如要跟當天的自己說句話，我會說慶幸你當初沒有離開，小朋友很需要一班穩定的、有同理心的人照顧著，給他們安全感，給他們第二個家。」

Let the life on life interaction continue - JACKY

But for Jacky, he chose to stay at the service unit after work and taught teenagers dance till midnight, so as to inspire them to pursue their dreams of being dancers. Jacky was once a rebellious teenager that had run away from home. After reconciling with his family and returned home, Jacky decided to devote his future career to navigating youths for their directions in life. Later when he joined the Po Leung Kuk F.S.F.T. Children and Youth Development Centre, he discovered that the youngsters in the district were lack of love and care, caused them wandering the streets, and turning into non-engaged and at-risk youths. Jacky believes that these youths are talented. Many of them are great street dancers. He then tried to encourage them to reach their full potential through joining the Centre’s dance workshops and dancing with them till midnight. His dedication eventually opened their hearts and put them back on the right track. The youngsters at last won the prizes in the “Dream Stage” Dancing Competition. Some of them has also joined the Po Leung Kuk family afterwards to serve other teenagers at the Centre, and let the life on life interaction continue.

The General Attendants of the Po Leung Kuk Kindergarten-cum-Nursery - Auntie Fan and Auntie Kwan

Who is the most unforgettable person in your few years of kindergarten life? Teachers? Classmates? Or if you can remember, the General Attendants who made relentless effort to prepare your diets and clean up the kindergarten premises? The work of Auntie Fan and Auntie Kwan, the General Attendants of the Po Leung Kuk Kindergarten cum Nursery, is just like any other attendants with the same duties, they are always the earliest staff arriving the school. Before lesson starts, they need to clean up all classrooms and teaching aids to ensure everything the toddlers touch are clean. After students coming back to school, they need to assist the chef in making refreshments, take the kids to toilets, as well as get the children to sleep and cover them with blankets during nap time. Auntie Fan and Auntie Kwan both joke about their roles are just like the kids’ mothers. Full-time kindergarten students need to spend almost whole day at school. Therefore, their development and growth greatly rely on school education, in which General Attendants can fill in the gaps to the tasks that teachers do not have time to manage, such as leading the students through toilet training, tutoring them how to use chopsticks or washing hands. All the trivial tasks performed by the General Attendants create a more comfortable learning environment for the children. Even though the work is busy, Auntie Fan and Auntie Kwan are still satisfied with their jobs. It is because witnessing children’s growth is a beautiful thing for them.

Sum Miu, Welfare worker

Comprehensive residential care services bring colors to children’s life. “Why do the children need to be suffered at such a young age? Every child deserves proper care.” Po Leung Kuk offers a variety of residential care services to children with family difficulties. One of them is the “New Comers’ Ward” at the Headquarters, which is the only gazetted place of refuge in Hong Kong providing urgent and short-term residential care for children who are under family crisis. It is common that children would feel nervous and anxious when they entered the new environment. The support and companionship of our frontline caregivers are therefore important to create the warmest shelter for the children. Sum Miu is one of the welfare workers who has been working in the Ward for 3 years already. She has looked after more than 300 children with inadequate family care due to sudden family crises, divorce /decease /imprisonment / hospitalisation of parents, or child abuse. “Sometimes police rang the doorbell at 2 or 3am and brought the kids around. The top priority at that time is to prepare sufficient food and bed to meet the children’s physical needs.” Emotional support is another crucial duty of the staff. Sum Miu pointed that the Ward has set up the “Golden 2 Hours” system. Each new-coming child will receive exclusive child care by a specific staff as their ‘Buddy’, who will answer their concern for living in the Ward so as to soothe their anxiety. Emotional and behavioral problems are often found in the Ward’s children with complicated family background. It requires substantial effort to open up their hearts and educate them. “Patience is the key. For instance, if they were in temper, we will teach them to clench their fists, stand aside and try to calm down. Afterwards we will explain the reason to them and solve the problems step-by-step. I hope the children can leave with the knowledge learnt from the Kuk and develop the proper attitude to get along with people.”

Cheung Sir

25 is simply the golden age of everything, some people work hard for their career, while some people are getting prepared to form their own families. But for the 25-year-old Cheung Ka Fai, he is already the “dad” of 14 boys. This Cheung Ka Fai is not the renowned actor we see on screen. He, dubbed as “Cheung Sir”, holds a Master of Social Work and is the “parent” of the Po Leung Kuk’s dormitory in Children Section, responsible for taking care of 14 “sons” regularly. Cheung Sir needs to take care of 14 boys aged between 6 and 18 living in one of the Kuk’s dormitory. Every day, Cheung Sir the “dad” needs to wake up his sons for school, ask them to brush up and get dressed, make them breakfasts, tidy up, pick them up after school and teach them homework. But his role is not only limited to “dad”, when he got along with children in secondary schools, he treats himself like their “brother”, who can chit chat and joke around with them, or confide in each other, and built up their relationship in a comparatively casual way. Cheung Sir is also like a “tutor” in after-school care class, guiding them to study and finish their homework in the self-study periods. During weekends, he then turned himself into “fitness coach” to train up their physique and supervise them to do more exercise. Being the parent of the dormitories need to work long hours, but the wish of spending more time with the new generations has triggered Cheung Sir to move from a student discipline teacher in secondary school to the big family of Po Leung Kuk. Children living in the dormitories cannot receive adequate cared for by their families due to various family problems, and often lack father’s care during their growth. Therefore, Cheung Sir hopes to give them care and love by the identity as a “dad”. He also mentioned that each child has a unique background underlying different family issues, it is necessary to adopt different tailor-made approaches to get along with each child, so as to establish relationships with them, gain their trust and give them a sense of security; but at the same time need to ensure everyone is being treated equally, in order to let them realise the common standard in dealing with serious problems. Helping the children to understand themselves, explore their dreams, discover their ways of life, and among all to learn to be a good boy, are all the meanings for him to be a “dad”.