Overview

Participants try to earn enough to survive by making paper bags out of newspaper and home-made glue. They must earn enough to pay for rent, food, sanitation, medical needs and, if they are fortunate, education. Those that cannot make it end up in the hands of a loan shark. This simulation programme throws participants into the hopelessness and intricacy of the poverty web.

Available Booking Schedules

We run our programmes at our site across two booking-slots daily, Tuesday to Saturday. They are as follows:

 Morning option:

09:45     Arrival, bathroom break, name-tags

10:00     Introduction to the programme

10:30     Simulation

12:30     Visit to our Fair Trade Café and Shop

13:00     End of programme

 Afternoon option:

13:45     Arrival, bathroom break, name-tags

14:00     Introduction to the programme

14:30     Simulation

16:30     Visit to our Fair Trade Café and Shop

17:00     End of programme

Please email us if you are interested in booking this programme as an off-site, either at another location in Hong Kong or overseas.

Practical Information

• Booking: Participation is by booking. If you would like to make a booking, kindly fill in our online booking form.
• Language: For students, this programme is available in English, Cantonese, and in a dual-language format. Our staff can assist you in choosing the right language for your group. For all other groups, this programme is only available in English.
• Suggested Group Size: We tend to suggest a minimum number of participants of 35 and a maximum of 100. It is, on occasion, possible to combine with other groups in order to participate if your group is smaller.
• Programme fee: There is a programme fee for this programme. Please email us for a quotation.
• Suggested age-range for programme: 14 – Adult
• Please check out our Booking FAQ’s for details on:
  • The terms and conditions of your booking (including our cancellation and weather policy, and what happens if your number of participants changes)
  • What to bring when you visit
  • Directions to our site
  • .. and more

How do people respond?

One of our Global X-perience participants has become a strategic partner in helping Nepal’s earthquake victims re-start their lives.

When Pankaj from Nepal took part in our Struggle for Survival X-perience back in 2010, he wasn’t expecting to learn much. “I remember telling myself this is for people who have lived all their life in a developed country. As I had seen poverty every day, I assumed I could empathise. I could not have been more wrong.”

The x-perience began to impact Pankaj, when, along with the group, he took on the persona of a slum-dweller. He had no option but to force his ‘children’ to work, and was confronted with the decision to ‘sell’ those children to survive. By the end, his empathy had deepened and, he said, his priorities changed.

Pankaj has since returned to his home country of Nepal. “I understood poverty as a web that traps one,” he says. “So I co-founded a start-up NGO, the Institute for Suitable Action for Prosperity (ISAP), working to economically empower resource-poor people through entrepreneurship and a market based approach. We aim to provide stepping stones to help them climb out of poverty.”

Crossroads is not the only reason Pankaj begun his non-profit work, but he says it “did provide me the impetus to do more and guide me how I do work. Whenever I am designing programmes, I constantly relate to the poverty simulation and try to visualise how such a programme would help me if I was making paper bags for a living.”

When the first Nepal quake struck, Pankaj reached out to Crossroads for help. His NGO, ISAP, has been responding rapidly to the need in neighbouring villages in the Dhading district in Nepal. Thanks to our donors, we have been able to assist ISAP with finances, which they have used to provide transitional shelters and relief materials along with assistance in the planned re-construction of homes better equipped to combat disasters.

So you’ve done Struggle for Survival! What next?

Almost one in ten people around the world are surviving on less than USD 1.9, but nearly half the world’s population lives on less than USD 5.5. Organisations around the world are working to find sustainable ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty. Providing shelter and dignity to the homeless, helping farmers sell their produce at a fair price, improving access to health care and clean water, are all ways through which the lives of communities are being transformed.

Here are a few ways you can help people in need:

Help Through Crossroads

• Shipments. We regularly ship to groups helping care for people in poverty around the world. You would be welcome to help sponsor the costs of such a shipment. Please contact our team at enquiries@crossroads.org.hk for more information.
• Struggle for Survival. You may like to be an ambassador for the Struggle for Survival simulation itself and tell others about this opportunity to x-perience what it can be like to be in need. A booking can be made by clicking here
• Collection Drives. We regularly take high quality goods that Hong Kong no longer needs and redistribute them to people in need, locally and internationally. If you are in Hong Kong, you can even organise a collection drive. Click here for more information
• Good City App is a Hong Kong city wide service that helps to bridge the gap between those who want to donate items and those in need of them. Learn how you can get involved here
• Global Handicrafts Marketplace. We have hundreds of colourful items for sale on a fair trade and social enterprise basis that see a fair income go to artisans and producers who are living in economic need. Purchasing on a fair trade basis can make a big difference! Feel free to ask our Global Handicrafts manager for help when you shop, or to email the team at marketplace@crossroads.org.hk

 Help Through Other Organisations

• Kiva By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, anyone can help a borrower start or grow a business, go to school, access clean energy or realize their potential. For some, it’s a matter of survival, for others it’s the fuel for a life-long ambition. Make a loan at kiva.org
• ImpactHK believes in the importance of kindness in addressing the problem of homelessness in Hong Kong. The Kindness Walks they organize have evolved into a powerful humanitarian movement. See how you can help at impacthk.org/volunteer
• Oxfam Gifts helps you give a gift to a loved one while also helping someone in need. The gifts could range from providing someone in need with a pair of chickens to helping start a farmer’s market to digging a well; all at the click of a button! To learn how your gift can make a major impact, click here
• Two Presents is a Hong Kong based invitation platform where individuals can invite guests to contribute towards your gift and your chosen charity, including Crossroads. It’s a simple way for children and adults alike to get their dream gift and support a good cause at the same time. Learn how to make your celebration more meaningful here

(Any product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks or images featured or referred to within the Crossroads website (https://www.crossroads.org.hk/) and/or on any social media forum are the property of their respective trademark holders. These trademark holders are not affiliated with Crossroads Foundation or its website. These trademark holders do not sponsor or endorse Crossroads Foundation or any of its products or comments.

Should you have any questions or concerns please contact Crossroads Foundation at https://www.crossroads.org.hk.)