香港上環德輔道中 181號大新行 17樓 17th Floor Sun House • 181 Des Voeux Road Central • Sheung Wan • Hong Kong 電話 Tel: (852) 2520 4000 傳真 Fax: (852) 2520 4020 www.habitatchina.org

Young students restore old stilt houses ahead of cold front

to bring heartwarming Christmas for low-income Tai O families

Teens from St. Stephen’s help build Homes and Hope with Habitat for Humanity China

Hong Kong, 22 December 2010 – For many who are going to celebrate Christmas this week, homes have been decorated and presents have been prepared. But in Tai O, the mere wish of some low-income elderly families is to have their doors or windows fixed so that the winter chills can be shut out. With voluntary contributions from St. Stephen’s College students, Habitat for Humanity China (HFH China) has come early to ensure that the Tai O residents in need will have a safe shelter to call home. HFH China’s project in Tai O has recently hosted a volunteer build event where students from St. Stephen’s College spent a full day to restore homes for the low-income elderly residents in Tai O, just in time for Christmas as a special and extraordinary gift to the needy. 20 students from the F.4 classes with 4 parents and teachers have helped prepare construction materials by painting water-resistance coating onto the logs of wood that will be used as the stilt houses’ frame and structure. Supervised by trained workers, the students also used metal scraper to smooth the edges of wood. Miners Nicole Valmai Annfielde is one of the participating students and she came to Tai O before for leisure. To her, coming to Tai O again with HFH China is an inspirational experience because she learns about the issue of poverty housing, of the conflict between preserving architectural heritage and fulfilling modern housing and sanity requirements, of the paradox that sometimes people prefer to stay in their own community rather than being relocated to government housing. “I am glad to be able to help these families with my own hands and coming down here, to Tai O, to see the differences that we are making”, said Nicole. At day end of the build, the students have split into two groups to visit home partners Lai Lin and Kwok Ma-kiu families. They sang Christmas carol and presented gifts to the home partners to celebrate the seasons. Launched in May 2010, the Tai O Stilt House Restoration and Community Development Project is a 3-year commitment to help low-income families in Tai O by revitalizing their community through restoration and building a scalable model for sustainable development. Through the project, HFH China will provide safe housing to those in need, conserve the stilt house heritage, enhance environmental sustainability and support community development. So far, HFH China has already restored 24 stilt houses and the goal is to restore 64 more stilt houses, 12 neighborhood walkways, and introduce solar energy solutions and an improved household sanitation piping system by year 2013. HFH China also plans to establish a Habitat Resource Centre to provide job training and community education for local residents, as well as community capacity building activities, such as environmental protection and cultural conservation, to help the lives of people living in Tai O. Donations can be made at www.habitatchina.org.

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