By our 4DE English SFC students
As part of the English and Geography programs, our 4ème students from TKO participated in a workshop about Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Hong Kong, led by Mr. Innocent Mutanga, who arrived from Zimbabwe 8 years ago as a political refugee. Innocent is a pioneer. He is the first refugee to be allowed to attend university, and have been fighting for years for the right for all refugees to study at university.
Here is what our students learned from this exchange:
Why do refugees leave their country? Refugees have to leave their country because of civil wars, wars in general, or even because of dictators (which is the case of Innocent). They don’t usually want to leave their country, but they have to if they want to survive or if they want to live a normal life , out of prison.
Why Hong Kong? Refugees choose Hong Kong over other countries because for many nationalities, Hong Kong is a visa free country.
What are the living conditions in Hong Kong for refugees ? First of all Hong Kong doesn’t recognize them as refugees but as Illegal Immigrants, Overstayers or Unestablished people. That’s because Hong Kong didn’t sign The 1951 Refugee Convention.
Countries that signed this convention must allow refugees in their country and not classify them as criminals.
Refugees are not allowed to work . To survive in Hong Kong, all they receive from the government is a monthly allowance of HKD 1200 in Park and Shop vouchers . The government also pays up to 1500 HKD to a landlord. If a child is a refugee, they will earn half the amount an adult makes.
Why did Innocent come to Hong Kong? Innocent comes from Zimbabwe. When he was younger, a lot of traumatizing stories happened to him: multiple times, he had a gun pointed at him; kidnapped but escaped, and all of this because of the dictature that was going on in his country… After being chased by the police because of something he “wasn’t supposed to say”, he arrived at the airport and took the first flight to a country with a free visa: Hong Kong. He arrived in his new place in 2013 with not that much money, and without anywhere to live. In the streets of Hong Kong, he learned about society. ‘You learn best about society when you’re at the bottom of it from looking down at it’, he told us. Then in 2017 he finally got a student‘s visa.
Innocent now works in finance and is also the founder of the African Center in Hong Kong.
Education as a refugee is difficult because people over 18 years old were not allowed to go to school. That also makes it hard to get a job as you need a good educational background.
What did Innocent manage to change for refugees in Hong Kong? Innocent made it possible for refugees to access university to study and get good jobs. It is very important because then refugees can lead a better life and contribute positively to their new country.
Years later he founded a business called African Centre Hong Kong. Innocent also works in banking for Goldman Sachs. Today, Innocent is inspiring a lot of young children, refugees and many more.