Listen to #Hashtag Hong Kong every Sunday morning at 8.15
Focussing on issues affecting civil society, we'll hear from representatives of NGOs, associations, statutory bodies, and non-profit groups.
(Sundays 8.15am - 8.25am)
Good morning everyone. The Zubin Foundation is an integrated service provider for the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. We are a registered charity that seeks to improve the lives of ethnic minorities.
In 2019, we started a pilot project to develop native language counselling for low-income ethnic minorities by qualified counsellors. In 2024, the project became an initiative of the Health Bureau of the Hong Kong government but continued to be operated by The Zubin Foundation.
The Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre has now expanded to all non-Chinese Hong Kong residents who are 18 years of age and above offering free one-to-one counselling services in English, Hindi, Urdu and Nepali. In the last 5 years, over 400 people have received the counselling support from our centre. Indian, Pakistani, Nepali and Filipino are currently the largest ethnic groups that come for counselling.
Over 60% of our clients score severe or extremely severe in one of the scales of depression, anxiety and stress when they first approached us for counselling. Many of them have suffered from mental health issues for years but have not talked to anyone about their issues before. There is a need to raise the awareness of mental health in the ethnic minorities’ community and address some barriers they face as seeking mental health support.
In our outreach work, we see many individuals have accepted their sadness, anxiety and excessive stress as a normal part of their lives. Often times, unlike dealing with their physical health symptoms, they do not see a need to address them even if they have been suffering for a long time.
Usually even if they become aware that they need help, many are concerned about the stigma surrounding mental health in the community; worrying that people will perceive their mental health issues as being crazy, violent or weak.
Sometimes ethnic minorities are concerned that their personal issues will become known to others in their community, resulting in shame, loss of honour or loss of ‘face’ not only to themselves but also to their families, which further hinders them from seeking support.
Language and cultures are other barriers for Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities in seeking help for their mental health. Many of the mental health practitioners in Hong Kong are ethnically Chinese and do not speak the native languages of the ethnic minority communities in Hong Kong.
This can create challenges for mental health practitioners to be able to fully understand the situation of the clients and the possible underlying cause. For example, many go to the doctor stating they are experiencing fatigue, not sleeping well, getting headaches or having stomach ache and not realizing that there may be underlying mental health causes or issues. The practitioner may therefore focus on treating these physical causes without being fully aware of the person’s situation.
While use of translators can help address the language barriers, some ethnic minorities may be concerned to speak about their personal issues in front of the translators as they can be from the same community.
The most common presenting symptoms we find from our clients at the Ethnic Minority Well-being Centre are anxiety, depression, stress, self-harm tendencies, low self-esteem and anger management.
But what causes these issues? Triggers include family conflicts especially intergenerational conflicts such as differences in values between traditional parents and children who are born and brought up in Hong Kong. Other factors include differential treatment between boys and girls, lack of communication or even forced marriage. The differences can create conflicts like the way the children should dress, compliance to religious practices, values towards education and work and views on marriage.
We also see many clients coming in marital conflicts. This is due to power imbalances, as many cultures are still patriarchal. The responsibility of the children and household falls on the mother while providing financially falls on the father, and he is also the main decision maker. Sometimes conflicts arise because of different views of household finance and raising children. The responsibilities of managing large families can also be a contributing factor towards mental health concerns. Sometimes these conflicts can get more evolved and lead to domestic violence.
Also notably being a minority in Hong Kong, we do see clients struggling with discrimination at work, their studies or even their daily lives.
We may all be facing different challenges in lives. For those who have been suffering low mood or issues of managing their emotions for a prolonged period of time, we encourage you to consider talking to a professional. It provides you with a safe space for you to talk about your issues, understand yourself and the situation bothering you, and it helps you think about ways to cope with your issues and manage them better.
If you are a non-Chinese, Hong Kong resident, 18 years of age or above, comfortable with speaking English, Hindi, Urdu or Nepali and would like to consider counselling, call or WhatsApp us at 96823100 or visit our website at emwbc.zubinfoundation.org to find out more about our service.
This morning I would like to dedicate a song called “Love You Zindagi”, which is a Hindi language song and is sung by Amit Trivedi, Jasleen Royal and Kausar Munir. “Love you Zindagi” translates to love you life. It is a song that talks about ups and downs in life and how to embrace it with a smile because you know that tough times don’t last forever and there is always a way out. Also this song is from a movie where the main character seeks counselling and understands that her childhood’s trauma has led to many decisions that she is leading in her current life.
This year World Wetland Day's theme is "Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future". It is crucial to recognize the vital role wetlands play. Water sustains life and wetlands make our existence on Earth possible. Moreover, they contribute to climate adaptation by absorbing and storing stormwater. They are key components of the Earth’s climate system and store more carbon than any other ecosystem.
Wetlands are highly productive and biodiverse. They serve as nurseries for many fish and shellfish populations that are important for ecological balance and commercial fishery. 40% of all known plant and animal species live or breed in wetlands, including many endangered species. However, they are among the most threatened ecosystems. At least 35% of the wetlands in the world were lost since 1970 and the rate is accelerating. This has led to 25% of all wetland species facing extinction.
The largest wetland system in Hong Kong is in Deep Bay in Northwest New Territories. It is part of the Pearl River estuary with Shenzhen River and Kam Tin River empty into it. It is very shallow and vast expense of mudflat is exposed during low tide. A belt of mangroves grow along its shore. When the Sung Dynasty immigrants settled in the area, they converted some of the marshland into paddy fields to grow rice.
In the 1940’s, villagers started turning coastal marshes into tidal shrimp ponds called gei wais. A sea wall was established using the dug out mud. A sluice gate connecting to the sea was built. By opening it during high tide, shrimp larvae, fish fries and nutrients were flushed into the gei wai in which they grew naturally. Shrimp harvesting was conducted at night during low tide by putting a net across the opened sluice gate. Fish was caught in the winter when the gei wai was completely drained. This man-modulated tidal habitat supports many aquatic animals, water birds and the Eurasian Otter. Several new-to-science invertebrates have been recorded. The most recent discovery was a box jellyfish named in 2023.
In the 1970's, many of the paddy fields and gei wais in Deep Bay were converted to fish ponds to supply freshwater fish to the growing urban population. Fish ponds are artificial system that relies on stocking of fish fries, adding feeds and aerating the water. During harvesting, the pond would be drained gradually and the small fish and shrimps in the shallow water became easy prey for water birds. However, import from mainland China has made fish farming less profitable. Many of the fish ponds are now inactive or abandoned.
Over the years, the Deep Bay wetlands face many threats. In 1970's and 1980's, pig farm waste together with industrial effluents polluted the lowland rivers and Deep Bay. The water quality has laregly improved in recent years thanks to new regulations, water treatment facilities and coordination between Hong Kong and Shenzhen Governments.
Urbanisation on both sides of Deep Bay has reduced the size of the wetland system. To counter that, HK Government and Green Groups have acted to conserve the remaining wetlands. A key achievement is the establishment of the Mai Po Nature Reserve in 1983 driven by WWF-Hong Kong. Together with the Shenzhen Futien National Nature Reserve, they give protection to the Bay. Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay was designated as a Ramsar Site in 1995 because of its importance to migratory waterbirds. In addition, the Hong Kong Wetland Park was opened in 2006, allowing visitors to learn about wetlands. Government also provides funding support to management agreement schemes to preserve traditional fish pond practices.
The Northern Metropolis poses a challenge to the future of the Deep Bay wetlands. Another challenge is climate change that is causing sea level rise, more intense rainstorms and stronger typhoons. These exacerbate the flooding risks of the whole area and affect the hydrology of the wetlands. Is it possible to maintain or even enhance the many values of the Deep Bay wetlands?
The Mai Po and Deep Bay wetlands shows success in optimising the ecological, educational and fisheries values through active management. The Northern Metropolis provides an opportunity to elevate that as Government promises to conserve and manage the remaining wetlands through the new Wetland Conservation Park system.
Now that the water quality in Deep Bay has improved, tidal wetlands in the form of gei wai should be restored so that the rich fisheries can be utilised. Technology should be applied so that water inside can be easily drained in advance of an incoming heavy rainstorm or tidal surge. This nature-based solution can increase the stormwater storage capacity and reduce the flooding risk to the nearby human habitation and infrastructure.
The world is facing a double crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. The wise use of Deep Bay wetlands by our predecessors created a combination of natural and man-made biodiverse habitats that also provides food and livelihood to the people. We can make them contribute to the climate resilience of the Northern Metropolis and offer plentiful opportunitities for people to enjoy. What is needed is to see the Deep Bay wetlands as a unique asset crucial for our future.
This morning I would like to dedicate a song “Sometimes when it rains” by Secret Garden to you all. I chose this song because rainfall is very important to us and also important to the wetlands. On the other hand, wetland is also important to ensure that we have plentiful and stable rainfall.