Hong Kong: Aged and Abandoned | 101 East

you respect for elders and their wisdom is a time-honored tradition in many Eastern societies but today in one of Asia's wealthiest cities more and more senior citizens are struggling to survive I'm Steve Chow on this episode of 101 es we travel to Hong Kong to investigate why so many of its elderly are being left behind Hong Kong likes to see itself as the New York of the East this dynamic metropolis of 7 million people never sleep neither do the many elderly who work all hours of the day to keep this city ticking but they're the face of a growing problem in Hong Kong 1/3 of elders here live in poverty one of them is the 66 year old grandmother alle da more that's apply out here tell MA we're Baguio dozen pawpaw or grandma is among the thousands of rubbish collectors working on Hong Kong streets most people retire at her age but she can't slow down um go something that's up knees up boomer so get mind up one year turned up one volume all that's not much il cheese notable pulled out on the horn for we know that's the only other step Martin's so do you want me to give you a hand I can watch it you know yeah let me go Joe okay then alright I won't are you sure all I could get all done I'm from back alleys to the business districts no one takes a second glance at these elderly workers they avoid strangers and fear talking about their lives will bring shame to their families every hour so Amazon idea it's hard to enter their world or even keep up with these old-timers looks like there's some cardboard over all the way so let's go let's go I'm Maya I've been a lot larger oh that's some cardboard let me give you a hug does not honor so how do you do this you tie it down Jania finding rubbish isn't easy you need to be fast and have real street smarts no Santino's you save him sometimes it takes four days to fill up the cart I'm lucky when kind people put it on my trolley or call me on my phone to collect it young lad King we're paid five cents per kilogram but they often cheat us on weight and they pay us less if it status well auntie let's go see if we can find some more car water competition is fierce here pawpaw lived in Hong Kong's poorest neighborhood what are some people where go go I go this place I love yeah my body sandals oh my god damn oh my textbook long life in this neighborhood revolves around an old Griffin Street markets here the elderly haul trinkets or donated goods others survived by scavenging in bins this is a really common sight around the poor neighborhoods of Hong Kong and it's really disheartening to watch it makes you think where's the government and where are their families luckily there are others who'll step up to help this popular restaurant in sham Shui PO serves up cheap traditional fare to loyal clientele the owner Chan Chan Ming subsidizes meals to help for singers eke out their meager welfare pants those over 70 rely on $150 a month to survive the payment dismissively nicknamed fruit money you know your open vowel no or don't work government welfare is barely enough a little Allah and it's really hard to obtain benefits if the elder has children on the son has to sign a paper saying that they don't have the means to look after the parents too many families feel shame in boys and Indian War a dollar and it's not just the families chan explains many elderly are just too proud to seek help from Ghana LD some don't take the welfare because it's shameful in Chinese society to tell someone you are on welfare they're so stubborn that's where Chad and his band of 200 volunteers come in once a week they pack up needles from his restaurant and deliver them to even more poor hungry resin all over he's a dolly Ozzy to government they don't know what's happening but we do they're not at the front line to see what's going on to find out the needs of the poor they don't get the real picture family responsibilities has traditionally been seen as a bedrock in Chinese society but life for families is getting tough in this cutthroat city where the cost of living keeps rising I think there is still a lot of willingness in Hong Kong to look after parents although the large family and the associated large family networks no longer stays dr. Koo Mac is the chairman of the Hong Kong society of the aged a lot of families now only have one child so one young person could face the dilemma or having to look after you know two parents and then grandparents and when when he or she marries even the other half of the family as well far from being cared for by her children tough economic times mean poor poor still supports her family this is a very very small place how many people live here with you well gorge I my two sons and my grandchild Julian gordeyev got together with me that's four people the monthly rent in her small subdivided flat is five hundred and forty dollars but she only gets three hundred dollars in government welfare one guy many old folks face this money problem where welfare doesn't keep up with rising living costs yeah hold or delay it's considered normal look one day she'll hang out well I don't I tried to apply for a higher level of welfare but I can't access it so for now she faces five a.m. starts to collect rubbish it's a tough job made worse because she injured her back while working as a government street sweeper poor poor wasn't able to get compensation and her savings of dwindled stop gaining yoga Gong I paid into my retirement funds for a decade the money seemed okay but now with rising expenses I've spent all my retirement funds within a year of getting it all Hong Kong workers and their employers must contribute to a compulsory retirement fund so everyone has some money in their old age but this system only began 16 years ago and low-income workers like pawpaw have saved little considering the average lifespan is 87 years here it leaves many elderly in a very vulnerable position Hong Kong is one of the most expensive property markets in the world and if you're old and poor there's not a lot of options even if it's still working most of these elderly aren't homeless but what passes for a dwelling here is quite startling I'm meeting an elderly man who works as a lowly paid contract laborer and does what he can to survive I bring it hey nasty lamb why call lives in a small apartment that's been subdivided into even smaller rooms to cram more people even he first shows me his friends room ten people live here with lamb each have a tiny room like this one and all share an equally tiny shower and kitchen youngji kiya see a gun who is young up to have to adjust each other schedule did you because so many people are staying here the space is too tight we can't all cook together I usually eat very large what if on we are young what you fun how do resonance carp come while you're seated comer this is what I do I'll exercise huh well what does a were you you don't need a lot of space so this is what I do I'm not sure I could ever get used to living in such cramped conditions but lam it seems is used to much worse Jeeva Gordo the high wall enjoy this room is very small but my space is evil small bank will not do ah so please come with me let me show you my what let's have a look you do hold on Woggle there's Michael up there you do fall on wood my scarf is up my new son Tyler oh are you this L no time come on up and see what Goldie yeah that poor young boy stumble one step two step high three steps like that okay shut up hi mama Louisville oh my goodness hi hi hi oh my goodness so this is law that's where you live I don't think yes it's very tight up here it can't really accommodate two people in Hong Kong this space is crudely called a coffin home a few minutes up in this attic makes me claustrophobic but Lam has ensured these conditions for a decade with his son and wife he moved here from China ten years ago because they wanted a slice of Hong Kong's prosperity but when the struggle got tough Lambs wife left him and now his son rarely visits dude oh c'mon Gua Al Abbar when my son was eight he told me this room has no TV no radio but then it didn't even have a fan he said it was like a prison cell even though he was so young I knew what this place was I felt really embarrassed but although life inside here may not be easy at least it's better than sleeping by the road Lam only has three days off work a month so he says he doesn't need much space lift up in the only thing you just bear it when you're on a low income you have to choose between eating better meals having a bigger space I don't care about nice clothes I just try to get to decent angles I work for 13 hours a day so all I need is a place to sleep lamb is frugal with food choices because his earnings are modest but the 66 year old says his body is struggling to keep up with his physical work so he'll have to give up the job soon are you worried about your future Yong Yong you dumb one I am worried because my retirement fund is only $1,800 it's not a lot because my income is so low I'll probably use it up with your two years and I'm not expecting to win the lottery the wealthy and set aside savings but I can't done five you Hong Kong has saved over 400 billion dollars in a sovereign wealth fund this is the world's top finance hub where the number of multimillionaires keeps rising so it's no wonder there are more rolls-royce per capita here than anywhere else in the world yet despite this pot of gold Hong Kong has struggled to introduce a more generous pension scheme so why are so many elderly citizens left a struggle in poverty is agreed a lack of money or indifference I've talked to some of the very rich people Hong Kong about this I think they've always believed that these go of all people they really deserve this kind of poverty because they have not prepared for their old age I'm meeting Nelson Chow in Sun who is a leading professor specializing in Social Welfare last year Nelson was the chief architect behind a proposal to give every elderly resident a monthly pension of three hundred and eighty dollars this triple of what they are getting at the moment I mean they make a difference for dishes about 300,000 elderly while the government would fund most of his plan Nelson recommended citizens donate some of their retirement funds and businesses pay an additional 1% income tax do you think the government has enough money to provide this universal pattern I'm sure Oh government is the richest government in the world I think the government have the money for it whether we're prepared to pay for his and other thing but I'm sure we have the money but Nelson's proposal was controversial the city state government quickly dismissed his recommendations and he's now joined the ranks of the retired basically say question of ideology because they think the scheme is to sort of this and they are though they're Hong Kong sa tablished Society and they think that a universal pension will turn Hong Kong the Welfare Society Hong Kong's politicians can ignore such solutions but poverty is not disappearing anytime soon Dominick Lee is a newly elected young voice from a right-wing party that is against a universal pension I believe the Hong Kong is heading to direct direction of a welfare state resources should not be just a handout should not be a entitlement people have to be accountable for themselves for their own family and if we are having too large of a welfare then that's not going to be healthy education in the u.s. Dominic is the son of entrepreneurs who built their family company here from scratch he says Hong Kong's low taxation system attracts vital foreign investment and white-collar workers and introducing more taxes for welfare schemes or drive big businesses away we're facing tremendous competition from other Asian countries like Shanghai like Singapore and and we're losing out of this battle in the past few years and when cooperation look at where they do their investment in taxation is a huge part interestingly though many of Dominic's constituents are elderly and his office is very close to poor areas like sham Shui PO what do you think when you see old ladies pushing carts of rubbish down the streets of Hong Kong on a personal level I'm very as I sympathize them a lot I think the government need to do things to help them on the policy level when we're making policies we've got to be careful that we don't let personal emotions get in the way of making good judgment because resource says that I used to help one person is resource that that could be used to help other people but Hong Kong's future leaders are facing what's been dubbed the silver tsunami the aging population is living longer but the workforce will start to shrink from next year that means more families under pressure more welfare required for all people and more examples of elderly poverty on Hong Kong's streets if you think about it very soon there will be one person about 65 in every three people so you do expect a younger person to look after somebody about 6065 they're just not enough but pop you dr. knack says that Hong Kong is short of doctors and nursing homes for the elderly because of the fast growth of elderly population we find that we cannot build elderly homes fast enough every year we add a certain number of beds but there are actually more people waiting then there are additional beds so the waiting list is three three and half years and could be a bit longer for certain people with special needs the sad reality is that most elderly have to fend for themselves for an 82 year old nak Shui Geun is quite the athlete she plays basketballs and mornings to combat high blood pressure Oh so what do you like basketball why not Tai Chi let the other ladies leave me and I like you because you don't have to learn how to play ball Tai Chi you have to study and I'm too old a bit dumb now to learn new things I'll go you for me it's not playing cool it's just an exercise it's not basketball take away staying fit matters because she's the primary carer for her husband of 60 years go go Bella bond doll my husband has so many illnesses I can't name all of them he's got a weak heart he's got clogged arteries is incontinent it's not uric acid the doctor says he's just too old for operations just leave it you're gonna leave me old people don't have any hope except for looking after ourselves going on if I can't look after myself then it's bye-bye or do I bye-bye luck hole our dome will work ah ah come on the couple can't afford a care home or a nurse to help them in their apartment hey ma do something go on okay go some people die before they get a bed in a nursing home hiring someone is expensive too and people need to visit you frequently in nursing homes otherwise you just rot and die from their teens till their 70s they worked hard their whole lives in the same Factory it's where they fell in love they saved a little nest egg in that time but being thrifty has meant they now don't qualify for welfare despite contributing to Hong Kong success they don't expect much go go live sold up go we paid our taxes we made our contribution Golden Goal when we first arrived in Hong Kong this place was just a moldy little Mountain do you go mom out or whether we have a relationship with our government like a mother and son mother is boss and if the mother says don't walk just sit the government's policy is like this you can't really force them to change but there are many of their peers who think they can make a difference they may be old they may be poor but they still have a voice and with 1 million Hong Kong residents over 65 that is getting louder I think they will not take to the street as far as I know they would express their anger in a different way I think there will be swift of the support of the elderly from those who support the government to those who are against the government that is a political consequence of in the government must stay into consideration I for one yes I see do I have no idea what happen to me in the future or the elderly hope for is to get assistance from the government we need her to help us didn't allow you I'm hoping the government will look into taking care of the elderly I want them to give us some home bug for our future lives I need one guy yelling did today for lamb why co there's a glimmer of that hope after years of living in a coffin home he has finally been allocated a government flat it's his birthday tomorrow and it's an unexpected gift is this the best birthday present you could have hoped for hmm what do we always I'm like watching this is the happiest time since I moved to one I really wanted to go now I have room I can buy bigger things like a washing machine and when my son comes to visit it will look like home do a long walk our come judge I'm grateful to the government but I hope they'll speed up the process for other elderly so they can enjoy their twilight years for now Lam sees new possibilities but half a million other elders continue their struggle on the streets of Hong Kong here in one of the world's richest cities life is far from perfect for those aged and abandoned

Channel: Al Jazeera English

Views: 831,372

Keywords: documentary, full documentary, Hong Kong, human rights, Health, Al Jazeera English, al Jazeera, poverty, elderly residents, silver tsunami, China, elderly, retirement, aljazeera, aljazeera english, Abandoned, elderly people, senior poverty, elderly housing, parents, capitalist society, pension, retire early, ageing population, rolls royce, singapore, shangai, policy, al jazeera hong kong, hong kong al jazeera, hong kong population, UNHCR, nursing house

Id: TmDBixQZ_Io

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Fri May 06 2016