Connecting people in a worldof need

A Man of Few Words

Chi Man is a man of few words, but is rarely without a smile. The 29-year-old was born with an intellectual disability into a family of 5 brothers and sisters, all similarly disabled.

“If people with intellectual disabilities can’t work,” says his supervisor, “they simply live at home on their welfare allowance. Giving them a job helps them integrate into society.”

Since 2011, Crossroads has employed Chi Man and two others as our on-site cleaning team. We found Chi Man through a creative Hong Kong social enterprise that trains and finds jobs for intellectually disabled adults. It is a privilege to have him: his cheerful presence is a delight to all he meets and greets on the job.
In Hong Kong, social enterprise is increasingly seeing small businesses developed that are employing people who might not, otherwise, easily find work. Crossroads is committed to being part of this movement. Social enterprise is one of the tenets of our ethos. As, Jacqueline Novorogratz, CEO of Acumen, puts it, aptly:

“It’s about all of us, and the kind of world that we, together, want to live in and share.”

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

The Power of a Pen

For those used to well equipped schools, it is hard to picture life in parts of rural Gambia where students sit quietly, waiting their turn to use a pen. The idea of having one each, much less a traditional ‘pencil case’ with a set of pens and pencils, is a world away from these students.

The need is widespread. We have been asked for stationery supplies by almost every one of our partners who work with children. Supplies have been running low, though. So, when Hong Kong stationery manufacturer Cartorama offered a large quantity of school stationery, we leaped at the chance. The donation itself left us flabbergasted: 12 pallet loads of cartons containing felt tip pens, piles of school notepads, beautiful new backpacks, erasers, folders and more.

We shipped these to Gambia, hopefully making a huge impact on those little who had previously shared a single pen. We had enough, too, to send to children in Uganda, orphans in Moldova and children here in Hong Kong.

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Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

Keeping Up With Online Education

The boys and girls at Aplichau Kaifong Primary School face more challenges than most. Many of their families rely on welfare and the kids, often, don’t have the same computer advantages as their Hong Kong peers.

The Rotary Club of Hong Kong South approached Crossroads, wanting to help upgrade AKPS’s computer systems. Like students everywhere, the kids pick up IT skills at lightning speed, but their computers had not been supporting the needed software, their Principal, Fung Pik Yee, told us.

Crossroads was delighted to partner with Rotary and AKPS to supply refurbished, up-to-date sets of computers and monitors, network equipment and a new firewall for security. “The children use them for reading programs and exercises,” Principal Fung. As soon as the computers were installed, the eager students began working them to the maximum.

If you are upgrading your computers, at home or at work, please let Crossroads know. We may well be able to use your older computers, if they are still relevant to current usage, to help change the learning experience for more students like these.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

‘Marrying to Survive’ in Uganda

Madina, 17, faced a wretched set of options as a refugee in Uganda. She and her family fled the war in southern Sudan but there was little by way of support for her or the four younger sisters who needed care. Her mother asked her to marry so that the bridal price would help. Madina did not want to marry for that reason alone and sought to alleviate their need with income from occasional work.

As a refugee, though, without much education or training, she couldn’t hope to get a good, steady job.

Crossroads sent a shipment to the town where Madina lives, and she was identified by our local partner to benefit. They gave Madina a ‘start up package’ of things she could use to begin a small clothing business. Now, she owns a mobile business selling clothes door to door.

“You are different”, she told them, with gratitude. “You have made me feel loved in a foreign land. With this new business, I will be able to provide for my mother and pay school fees for my sisters instead of marrying. You are changing our lives.”

Also included in the container was furniture for three schools, along with provision for many of the most impoverished families in the community.

“You have helped put a smile on many of these faces,” the NGO told us. “You have helped restore hope to those that had lost hope.”

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Uganda Snapshot

Population: 37.58 million
Capital: Kampala

Uganda is a fertile, land-locked country in East Africa, in the Africa Great Lakes region, with a tropical climate.

Great progress has been made in fighting HIV in Uganda, but 1.5 million people still live with the disease, and there are 1 million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

39% of girls are married by the age of 18. 37.7% of people in Uganda live below the international poverty line of US$1.25/day.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

Hero of Hope: Haiti Earthquake Victim Becomes Olympic Athlete

He had to be one of the least likely candidates in London’s 2012 Paralympics.

In 2010, Haiti’s massive earthquake had robbed Leon of his wife, eight children, home and mobility. Our Global Hand UK director, Ben Solanky, met him, soon after, while visiting the devastated area to follow up on a Crossroads medical support shipment.

Starting new life, as a paraplegic, was tough. As one observer put it, “If you are handicapped, you are a nobody in Haiti.” In response, the hospital caring for Leon came up with a bold idea. What if Leon could be trained for the London Paralympics? Might he become a hero of hope, a champion for those with disabilities?

It was, clearly, a dream. The resources needed were massive and Haiti, already a struggling economy, was stretched to capacity by the earthquake damage. The hospital team rated their chances of success at 1%.

Undaunted, though, the group called their project ‘The Dream’ and looked for partners. Ben’s team responded. It seemed a good fit given for Global Hand: given our stated goal of being ‘the partnership people’, those who bring together partners to make a difference. Ben and his UK team joined The Dream and brought together a range of parties. Companies included the international legal firm Hogan-Lovells and Virgin Unite. Committed individuals included a UK based family who had lost a son, a UN worker, to the earthquake.

Leon received the care, the training and the massive international support to qualify. One week before the Olympics, he heard he would be going.

As Leon finished his hand cycle race, seventh on the international stage, he told The Times: “If my family were here they would be proud of me. I raced this for them.”

Ben Solanky concludes, “We believe partnerships are powerful. Seeing The Dream achieved was a wonderful illustration of this principle.” Global Hand is all about bringing strategic partnerships together to change lives.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

Kazakhstan: Baba Nina

Nina is 78 and one of Kazakhstan’s elderly poor. Her only family is a daughter, with whom she has a broken relationship, and she’s almost completely blind. Nina’s back was badly injured when she fell many years ago, cleaning windows. She rarely leaves her small apartment. “I’m so lonely – sometimes I forget my Russian words,” she told a Social Welfare officer.

When, not long ago, her upstairs neighbour’s water pipes burst, the water flooded Nina’s kitchen and damaged her cupboards. A team from our Central Asian partners had already been visiting Nina regularly, through their Community Care program, encouraging her and meeting her needs. So, when they heard of her need for a new cupboard they knew they could help.

“We heard her before we saw her,” said one of their staff. “We brought her new cupboard up the stairs and though she couldn’t see us, she could hear us. She stood, bent, both hands upon a short, wooden stool for support. When we put the laminate cupboard in the kitchen, Baba Nina began her inspection. She stopped a moment. She put her head on the benchtop, smiled and said, ‘I could fall over with joy.’ As we watched, we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

Even as Baba Nina, disabled and almost blind, experienced friendship and practical help from their team, her story is multiplied many times over in Central Asia, where we regularly ship containers of goods from Hong Kong to help the region’s poor, lonely, unemployed and disabled.

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Kazakhstan Snapshot

Population: 17.9 million
Capital: Astana

Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country by land area and ninth largest country in the world. The climate is continental, with warm summers and colder winters.

The GDP per capita is US$12,950 or around $35 per day. In Hong Kong, the GDP per capita is US$33,534 or $91 per day.

kazkhstan

Christmas Joy for Ebenezer’s Blind Students

Life’s brighter for Hong Kong’s visually impaired kids, thanks to the rich education they can access at Ebenezer School for the Visually Impaired. Crossroads was delighted to partner with the school and to bring a smile to scores of little faces, by donating toys for their 2012 Christmas party.

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

Esther: Helping Sighted People ‘See’

Esther, of Hong Kong, wasn’t born blind. She was three years old when an episode of measles took most of her sight, but it wasn’t until she was an adult that glaucoma claimed the rest.

“At the beginning, I couldn’t accept that this happened to me. I was scared. I didn’t dare go out,” Esther says, “but then I realised that if I stayed home for the rest of my life, it wouldn’t help.”

Upon receiving the bitter news ten years ago, Esther decided to undergo skills training. Today, Esther is one of four guides we employ to run our Blind X-perience. She leads thousands of business people , students and others from the community. When they first step into the darkness, people feel afraid,” she says. “But they tell me, as soon as they hear my voice, they feel comfortable and safe.”

Esther is painfully aware of the employment challenges facing people with visual impairment. “I know many blind people who can’t find a job,” she says, “even if they are university trained.” Having this part time job in the Blind X-perience is more than just welcome extra income, though. Esther loves letting visitors ‘x-perience’ the challenges of visual impairment, and the empathy that comes from stepping into those shoes for just 45 minutes.

“People tell me after this experience that now they understand blind people a lot better,” Esther says.

She also gives participants a glimpse of what life is like for the visually impaired in poorer parts of the world. For blind people in a Nigerian village, upon which the Blind X-perience is based, there is no such thing as special schools for the blind, talking computers, braille books or even proper canes.

Esther’s outer eyes may no longer work, but her insight is profound. We are deeply grateful for this talented, dedicated woman and her fellow Blind X-perience guides. She does a brilliant job opening the eyes of those of us who already thought we could see.

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BlindX now!

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

‘Honourable’ Work

Life had not done the ‘Honorable’ thing by the young African boy of that very unusual name. Young Honourable was born into a very poor Nigerian family and despite a bright, active mind, he couldn’t afford to go on to college or university.

Crossroads’ West African representative, Bona, saw potential in Honorable. “He’s one of those kids kid that breaks your heart when they can’t get more education,” he said.

Bona, though, was in a position to do something about it. Some years before, he had set up a training centre with computers from Crossroads. Bona enrolled Honourable in the centre and, when Honorable graduated, helped him establish his own ‘Business Centre’, with another Crossroads computer.

The business centre started small, as a place where customers could get basic photocopying and word processing services, but thanks to Honorable’s computer training and a good head for business, it soon began to turn a profit. With it, he invested in 5 more computers and, in turn, set up a computer training centre of his own.

Today, his new centre has trained more than 1,000 young underprivileged youth, many from his own home village. From one donated computer, a tree of opportunity grows, bears fruit and continues to flourish! An ‘Honourable’ outcome indeed!

Give Now!

Donate to a shipment like this one.

Donate Goods!

Want to donate goods for a shipment like this one?

Hope after incarceration: Zambia

“I was doing Grade 7 when my father was sentenced to life imprisonment,” recounts Bodiao. “Life came to a standstill as...

Liberia: Youth empowerment

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? Liberia as a nation is still suffering deep social and economic wounds from a civil war that ended...

Syria: Aid and empowerment for refugees

Shipment Feedback: The conflict in Syria continues to devastate lives and communities, with thousands of people still displaced and living in flimsy...

Cameroon: Educating and rebuilding

WHO IS THIS SHIPMENT HELPING? When we first started working with our Cameroonian partners in 2010, they were planning and working on...

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