<
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/1/2/cost-of-living-no-future-for-asylum-seekers-in-hong-kong>
"Hong Kong – Slouched against the lone, grime-covered, grated window of his
tiny apartment in the working-class neighbourhood of Sham Shui Po in Hong Kong,
there is a look of despair in 41-year-old Rana’s brown eyes.
One of his feet, visibly swollen, is angled high up against the wall of
peeling, off-white paint as the asylum seeker from Bangladesh recalls the
recent accident that left him unable to walk for several days.
“I was on a construction site carrying some tools and a metal girder fell on my
leg. It hurt so much. I am lucky it didn’t snap anything,” he says.
For decades, many of those like Rana seeking refuge in the former British
colony have been forced to scrape by in extremely challenging conditions, from
substandard housing to harsh limits on daily activities.
Most asylum seekers in Hong Kong are banned from having jobs, so he was
technically breaking the law when he was injured. But he feels his family’s
desperate financial situation left him with no choice.
“Sometimes I have to do work, even though I know it’s illegal,” he says,
folding his arms with a grimace.
In lieu of paid work, each asylum seeker is given roughly 40 Hong Kong dollars
($5) a day for food by the government via e-cards. But that is only a little
more than the 37.50 Hong Kong dollars ($4.82) hourly minimum wage for workers
in the city.
The daily stipend is barely enough to get by, especially in what was until
recently the most expensive city in the world."
Via Tess.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
