Tag: Volunteering

As attendance at Hong Kong's traditional protest rallies wanes, one pro-democracy group is trying to win hearts and minds in a more pragmatic way -- through plumbing, electrics and household repairs. Resident Mr Wong said volunteers from the group had fixed his television. A volunteer was fixing a broken strip light in his apartment when AFP visited. He told AFP he was too preoccupied with daily struggles to join any of the group's activities, which range from barbecues to political campaigns, but did not mind the volunteers' pro-democracy ideas. - Community breakdown - Fixing Hong Kong was formed by activists who ran a recycling operation at protest camps set up during the massive 2014 Umbrella Movement rallies, which called for free and fair leadership elections in Hong Kong. Fixing Hong Kong is one of the best-known community groups to have grown out of the rallies. The trend also taps into young people's desire to reconnect with their surroundings as private housing estates and shopping malls erode a sense of community living, adds Wong, who researches social movements and identity in Hong Kong. Fixing Hong Kong member Leung says group activities such as reclaiming public spaces for community events may not be directly related to the wider political system, but are still "everyday politics". Ultimately democracy is like that too, to regain control of the place we live in," he told AFP. "If we don't make the first step, then nothing is possible," he told AFP.