O.N.E - March 2008

Page 1

SOUTH ASIA: 'We Can' create gender equity NORTH KOREA: A long winter after the floods CHINA: A teacher, women's rights activist, mother PHILIPPINES: From the army to the 'light of peace' CHINA: Snowstorm in the news HONG KONG: Poverty news poll and Poetry

ch ar M 08 20

Maybe every thing is about the weather.

weather, O.N.E follows the journey of

mark International

a Filipino who has struggled to commit

Women’s Day, which

Here in Hong Kong, most homes

himself to peace in Mindanao after

falls on the eighth of

and offices have no indoor heat, and

years of being an army commander

March, and Oxfam would

in February, people were struggling

there. His transition has taken time and

like to celebrate her life and

with temperatures at about 12 degrees

determination and mutual support.

dedicate this edition of O.N.E to her.

O.N.E celebrates

Today, over 150 years later, inequality

a woman in China

remains: women comprise about 70

named Huang Shuhua

per cent of impoverished people,

w h o s to o d u p to t h e

and domestic violence is the leading

police and courts. After Shuhua’s

cause of injury and death to women

daughter died, with bruises on the

worldwide.

Celsius for three straight weeks. Every

O.N.E also presents a new book by

This edition of O.N.E also celebrates

naked body, Shuhua persevered to bring

day a scarf, and sometimes wool hats

Wong Yuen-ling (1958-2008). Nature

a volunteer in Bangladesh named

the case to court. The trial became very

as we sit inside at the computer. Climate

features in her writing. “Hold me,” she

Beauty Ara who tries to make peace

influential, with huge media coverage,

change is being seen as an explanation

asks the wind in the title poem – Yuen-

and justice by visiting homes where

and significant public support for

for the cold streak, as well as for the

ling always connected self to universe.

domestic violence has occurred. She

women’s rights.

huge snowstorm still affecting millions

She had a strong and beautiful voice in

returns again and again “like a cat” that

The roots of International Women’s

of people in mainland China. The winter

various circles in Hong Kong and Beijing,

may or may not be wanted, she says.

Day date back to the 1850s, when

Madeleine Marie Slavick

in North Korea is also bitter, as harvests

from women’s rights to filmmaking

More than anything, Beauty wants to

women in New York garment factories

Editor, Oxfam News E-magazine

were flattened by floods last year.

and more, and was a colleague at

change the way that men and women

staged a protest on the eighth of March

Oxfam Hong Kong

Oxfam. Her book is being launched to

think about gender and power.

against inhumane working conditions.

emagazine@oxfam.org.hk

For some emotional and political

Please, listen to Beauty and Shuhua and Yuen-ling. Please listen to the voice of peace and justice. It’s the most beautiful weather.

South Asia: POVERTY, VIOLENCE AND ‘BEAUTY’

About 70 per cent of the poor people

in the world are women or girls, and in South Asia, the chance of girls and woman living in poverty is probably higher – with a likelihood of being out of school as children, being illiterate as adults, earning very little cash, if any, for the work they do, living a shorter life than men do, and a life that is full of inequality, discrimination and

Bangladesh: These women all volunteer in Oxfam’s ‘We Can’ campaign against gender-based violence and for gender equity.

possibly gender-based violence. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and


South Asia: POVERTY, VIOLENCE AND ‘BEAUTY’

Beauty as seamstress and campaigner.

Pakistan all rank in the lowest third

Improving the quality of people’s lives

called ‘change makers’, and there

would divorce her if the child was

All around the world – not just in

in the 2006 Gender Development

means working with men and women,

are many repor ts that behaviours

a girl. It was a boy, so they stayed

South Asia – violence against girls and

Index (GDI) developed by the United

together – wives and husbands, children

are already beginning to change. By

together, but his violence soon flared

women is condoned and supported,

Nations.

and parents, teachers and students.

2011, We Can wants to have recruited

up again. When the boy was about

tacitly or explicitly. All around the

Only in this way can everyone reach

5 million change makers who will

two, he threw Beauty out of the home

world, there is a deep-seated belief that

their potential.

have mobilised some 50 million other

and she has not seen her son for over

girls and women are fundamentally

people.

fifteen years. Beauty started a new life

less important, less valuable, and less

Worldwide, domestic violence is the single biggest cause of injury and death for girls and women, and in

This holistic thinking is at the heart

South Asia, this violence in the home

of Oxfam’s ‘We Can’ campaign in South

The change makers visit people’s

elsewhere, joined a village committee,

capable than boys and men are, and

can also include honour killings (if a

Asia, an initiative to end gender-based

homes, persuading married couples to

was able to buy a sewing machine and

so therefore the violence is not really

woman is suspected of adultery) and

violence in Bangladesh, India, Nepal,

find ways to address their differences

set up a small home-based tailoring

seen as being so wrong. It is these

infanticide. In fact, the violence can

Pakistan, Afghanistan (for which the

without violence. They go to schools

business, raises chickens and ducks,

misperceptions that Oxfam wants to

begin in the womb: female fetuses

UN has no gender-based statistics)

and talk openly with schoolchildren

and volunteers as an Oxfam change

change.

are more likely to be aborted than

and Sri Lanka (which ranks exactly

about conflict in the family home.

maker.

All photos by G.M. B Akash / Oxfam

male ones are. Amar t ya Sen calls

in the middle of the GDI, at 68 of

One Oxfam change maker in rural

Beauty – which is a fairly common

these millions of murdered people the

136 countries). The Oxfam campaign

Bangladesh named Beauty Ara had

name in Bangladesh – says, “What

‘missing women’ of South Asia.

recruits and trains volunteer activists to

once suffered abuse from her husband

happened in my life, I don’t want

Promoting equality in the South

mobilise their communities to change

for years and years. “The psychological

anybody to go through that, that’s

Asian contex t is not a shor t-term

people’s attitudes and actions towards

abuse was 24 hours a day,” she says.

the reason I talk about it [as a change

task. It is also never about separating

women. These activists, numbering

When she was pregnant with her one

maker]… This violence in women’s

women out for privileged treatment.

over 350,000 in the six countries, are

and only child, her husband said he

lives… Why can’t we change it?”

SUMMER RAINS, WINTER SNOW Nearly every August, floods from the

Text and photo by Wendy Wong

three years.

To see a short video about the Oxfam change maker named Beauty, visit: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam_in_action/impact/ success_stories/beauty_wecan_video.html For more about gender issues in Hong Kong and mainland China, visit: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/categor y?cid=3707&lang=iso-8859-1

supply, so the loss of the harvest had a

“The whole village was washed away,

huge impact on the nation.

our houses damaged, our crops gone.”

Two staff members from Oxfam Hong

The head of one farm said that some

Kong’s Humanitarian and Disaster Risk

families have been sleeping in their

Management Team recently returned

neighbours’ homes for safety and for

from a monitoring trip in the DPRK. It

added warmth.

The crisis was severe, the fax said: the

was the first time that both Oxfam staff

Oxfam Hong Kong began supporting

floods came before the harvest could

members had been to the country. They

projects in the DPRK in 1996, mostly of

For the past thirteen years, North

and washed away over 200,000 hectares

felt that despite the hardship of the

a humanitarian nature. In 2004, when

Koreans have faced food shortages,

of farmland, hundreds of thousands of

floods and the harsh winter, people

we began partnering with KCPIT, the

and this is especially difficult to bear

people were struggling, schools and

were very hearty and thankful, not

work shifted more to rehabilitation

in the wintertime, which is long, with

hospitals and reservoirs and irrigation

blaming anything or anyone for their

and development, with a focus on

six months of frost, and as cold as -30

channels and other infrastructure was

difficulty, and maintaining a positive

improving food production through

Celsius. With the floods of August 2007

damaged or destroyed.

attitude towards life.

sustainable agriculture. From 1996 to

summer monsoon. And every winter, snowfall and snowstorms.

said to be the worst ever, this wintertime

Food was the top priority need,

The team visited three farms, all of

2007, Oxfam allocated over US$2.5

is therefore one of the hardest to

and after negotiations with KCPIT and

which are run collectively in the DPRK.

million on a variety of emergency,

endure.

finding an appropriate supplier of non-

They saw the devastation caused by the

training, rehabilitation and community

The 2007 floods hit the country from

genetically modified food (which is a

floods and observed that humanitarian

projects. Recent assistance has included

the 7th to the 14th of August. On 15

requirement by the DPRK Government),

assistance from Oxfam and other

bio -fer tilisers and bio -pesticides,

August, Oxfam Hong Kong received a fax

Oxfam sent 100 tons of nutritious

agencies, and the government too, had

sheeting for crops, diesel oil for tractors,

from the Democratic People’s Republic

soya bean oil across the border from

definitely helped people get through

and small machinery for collecting and

of Korea (DPRK) government through

mainland China. The beneficiaries were

the crisis. Food was not aplenty, but it

grinding grain, particularly corn and

our counterpart, the Korea Committee

thousands of farmers in Hwanghae, one

was sufficient, and Oxfam knew that

rice. Productivity had improved before

for the Promotion of International Trade

of the hardest hit areas. Hwanghae is

the crisis could have been much worse.

the August 2007 floods ravaged the

(KCPIT), an organisation in Pyongyang

part of the ‘Cereal Bowl’ that normally

Farmers said, “I have never experienced

land, and farmers are looking forward to

we have been working alongside for

provides most of the country’s food

such a devastating flood before” and

replanting and then the next harvest.

in North Korea

Wendy Wong is a member of Oxfam Hong Kong's Humanitarian and Disaster Risk Management Team.


His name is Haji Quirino L. Oranto.

this movement after a group of about

of Mindanao, but it too had needed

I call him Haji, as his friends and

100 military men stormed his village in

time to develop, having been formed

colleagues do.

1974 and shot many of his neighbours

only after three years of community

Later, I learn that the term ‘Haji’

dead. His instinct was to fight back,

development and peace advocacy

is a title of respect given to devotees

and he thought he would always be

work supported by Oxfam Hong Kong

who have made the long, and often

fighting. He was so opposed to the

and other NGOs. Seven core member

expensive, pilgrimage to Mecca. Yet, in

Marcos government and so dedicated

organisations of Sindaw are strategically

the first few minutes of meeting I had

to the MNLF that he was fearless, even

located in different peace zones set up

already felt him to be a man committed

when his relatives were in danger.

by local governments, so the alliance

to a cause.

Even when family members were taken

can reach far and wide: Sindaw has

A devout Muslim, he is also a

captive, Haji did not give in. “Why

facilitated constructive dialogue among

determined pacifist. Haji works with

would I be afraid? I was so used to the

the Philippine government and the

an alliance of peace advocates in

sound of gunfire, it was like music to

separatist groups, empowered various

Mindanao called Sindaw Ko Kalilintad,

me,” he says with a bitter smile.

stakeholders in Mindanao to take up

Gradually, he found it harder and

Peace’, and when I interviewed him

harder to justify the war with the

in his office, he said that one of the

military. The military was taking lives,

Haji feels at ease these days ,

happiest times of his life was at the

which they do not have the right

peaceful. He has a new set of skills

International Peace Conference in

to do, but what about us, he asked

as a peace advocate than as a soldier-

Guangzhou, China, in 2006. Meeting so

himself, we are also taking up arms

commander. “I have learned how to

many people working for peace was a

and fighting, sometimes killing. Do we

organise people to uphold our rights

very emotional experience, he said. He

have this right? So, Haji left the MNLF

for peace and security, and I learned

felt part of a large movement for peace

in the early 1990s. But when a spate of

how to do this in a sustainable way,”

The following court case is one of the most influential cases in China, with

and human rights, and felt happy to be

bombings in 1998 killed civilians and

he said. He has learned to integrate

widespread coverage, particularly on the Internet. Although Huang Shuhua lost

able to contribute in his way.

destroyed public facilities, his response

peace into many areas of his life, for

the case, and nearly lost herself with the years of fighting in her daughter’s

to the chaos was to pick up the gun

himself, his family, the community and

name, in the name of all women, and for women’s rights, she has won the res-

again.

the next generation, too. He regrets not

pect, admiration and support of many people throughout China and the world.

Yet, in the past, Haji was a fierce fighter, a commander of an army. In the

peace advocacy, and has mobilised

China: A Mother Devoted to Women’s Rights

which can be translated as ‘Light of

peace zones to carry out their work.

1970s, he explains, when the country

He did not fight for long. Around

attending his daughter’s graduation

was led by Ferdinand Marcos, the

the year 2000, Haji committed himself

from kindergarten and considers that

government infrastructure was corrupt,

to peace and to monitoring the ceasefire

as one of the saddest mistakes of his

martial law was enforced, and many

that had been officially negotiated, but

life. “I don’t want to miss my beloved

innocent people were massacred. The

was proving hard to implement. Being

daughter’s school graduation again

Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)

involved in the Sindaw peace alliance

because I am fighting in the mountains,”

was established in 1972, soon after the

has been a big part of Haji’s life ever

he says, tears filling his eyes.

beginning of martial law, and led the

since.

Haji is endearingly popular among

armed resistance for an independent

Sindaw is now a leading peace

youth, and is frequently asked to talk

Islamic state in Mindanao. Haji joined

advocate in the conflict prone region

with university students around the region. When he shares his life story, he makes sure he always says, with a forceful peace, “War makes everyone a loser, and civilians lose the most.”

Haji in the office of the peace alliance, Sindaw, telling Holly Chan of Oxfam Hong Kong his life story of giving up guns for pacifism. Upstairs is where he and other Sindaw members pray, five times a day.

“Huang Shuhua is an ordinar y

enormous attack from some sections of

teacher. Like tens of thousands of

society. She was threatened and beaten

Chinese women, she had expected to

by people related to the suspect, but she

live a normal life, giving her daughter a

refused to give up….

new family, watching the growth of her

Huang Shuhua’s effort eventually

grandchildren, leading on to aging and

bore results. On June 2, 2003, Jiang

death. However, the unexpected and

Junwu was detained by the police as a

mysterious death of her daughter has

suspect. He was arrested on July 8, 2003

made her into a “well known” mother.

with a charge of rape. To her dismay, the

Huang Shuhua’s daughter, Huang

Procuratorate did not accept the reports

Jing, was also an ordinary primary

by Nanjing University and Zhongshan

school teacher in Xiangtan, Hunan

University. In April 2004, Jiang Junwu

Province of China. On February 23, 2003,

was released on bail after nine months

Huang Jing died in her hostel after her

in detention.

For another O.N.E article about peace-making in Mindanao: http://www.oxfam.org.hk/one/200708/index.html

boyfriend came to spend a night with

Huang Shuhua did not give up...

her. When discovered, she was naked

the Supreme People’s Court sent five

Holly Chan is a member of the Archipelagic Southeast Asia team at Oxfam Hong Kong. She was in the Philippines for a disaster management workshop and to meet with organisations involved with conflict resolution.

lying on the bed with many bruises to her

experts to Xiangtan to re-examine the

lower body and private parts. The next

cause of death… On July 2, 2004, they

day, Huang Shuhua received a call from

reached the conclusion that ‘Huang Jing

her daughter’s school. She rushed there,

died because of the abnormal sexual

but nothing could bring her daughter

intercourse by Jiang Junwu.’

back. Knowing her daughter well, she

[On 7 December 2004], more than

believed that the school was keeping

600 days after the death of Huang Jing,

something from her. The fact that Jiang

the People’s Court of Xiangtan started

Junwu, her daughter’s boyfriend, had

to process the persecution of Jiang

spent the night in Huang Jing’s bedroom

Junwu on the charge of rape… [On 10

and had left the next morning at 7 came

July, 2006, the Court found Jiang not

to light only later….

guilty.]

The Public Security Bureau issued

As a mother, Huang Shuhua has

three separate autopsy reports res-

unfulfilled tasks and unceasing sorrow.

pectively dated February 25, March

Her life has changed, so have many

19 and June 8, 2003. They all came to

others. ‘The latter half of my life is to

the conclusion that Huang Jing died of

be devoted to public welfare. I have to

sudden physical illness.

work on protecting the rights of women,

Huang Shuhua knew her daughter was an active athlete and was physically

and to repay so many people who have helped me.’”

fit with no medical problem. She and her family members could not accept the conclusion that her daughter had heart disease. She believed her daughter was

PHILIPPINES: One Man’s Way to Peace By Holly Chan

Holly Chan (centre) with some members of the Joint Monitoring and Assistance Team, consisting of Bantay Ceasefire (a community monitoring group), International Monitoring Team – Mindanao and other groups. Genela Buhia (2nd to right) manages Oxfam Hong Kong’s Philippines programme.

murdered and the murderer was Jiang Junwu. So she turned to experts and scholars for assistance…. Professor Chen Yuchuan of Zhongshan University, an expert in forensic science, conducted a fourth autopsy on August 14, 2003. The report showed that the police did not have sufficient evidence to substantiate their claim of sudden physical illness. Because she took up her daughter’s case, Huang Shuhua came under

The interview excerpted here first appeared in PeaceWomen Across the Globe (a profile of 1,000 women nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005) and Colours of Peace (featuring 108 nominees in and around Hong Kong). To order the books, and related DVDs: www.1000peacewomen. o r g , w w w. 1 0 0 0 p e a c e w o m e n - h k . o r g , a n d www.1000peacewomen-china.org. Oxfam Hong Kong supported Garden in Heaven, a film which documents Huang’s long pursuit for justice: NGOs and universities use the film, and it has also been a powerful policy advocacy tool for judicial reform. The director Hu Jie says, “The film is the people’s history. I allow people to copy it freely.”


What can people do about

For two weeks in January, Oxfam Hong Kong and the Ming Pao, a leading newspaper in Hong Kong, ran an on-line poll (in Chinese) to determine what the public saw as the most important poverty news in 2007. These ten news items received

Climate Change: food and water shortages will result if temperatures rise by 4.5 C, according to a report by the IPCC o

the most votes.

1

522 votes (8%)

WTO: poor countries at risk as governments of wealthy countries use regional and bilateral trade deals to get what they could not get through multilateral WTO-regulated deals

3

Floods across South Asia:

UN Millennium Goals:

Millions of people affected, particularly in India and Bangladesh

18 million more teachers needed toreach the goal of universal education by 2015 (72 million children out of school now)

4

421 votes (6%)

Hunger in Iraq:

15% of the people face food shortages, according to Oxfam Intermational

7

5

374 votes (6%)

413 votes (6%)

Homless in the Democratic Republic of Congo:

8

1.3 million people have fled their homes for safety during the armed conflict

332 votes (5%)

Patents in India:

courts protect India’s right to produce affordable no-brand medicine, dismissing the lawsuit by pharmaceutical giant Novartis; India is the leading manufacturer of low-cost medicine

9

268 votes (4%)

251 votes (4%)

Rising Food Prices: people demonstrate around the world

Climate Change and Poverty?

2

Please tell us at: http://forum.oxfam.org.hk/?c_lang=eng

481 votes (7%)

Inflation in China: poor people at great risk with inflation at an 11-year high (November)

6

339 votes (5%)

Cyclone in Bangladesh:

at least 3,260 people die and 40,000 injured when super-cyclone Sidr strikes the country, according to UN

10 222 votes (3%)

OXFAM HONG KONG WEBSITE www.oxfam.org.hk

OXFAM BOOKS Oxfam Hong Kong has created more than 30 books, some in Hong Kong, some in Taiwan, some on the Mainland, some in Chinese, some in English, some bilingual, and some

The worst blizzard in 50

day marking the new lunar

used for blankets, coats,

– that the snowstorm may

mostly with images, which cross all

years brought much of China

year, trying to get supplies

food and other basics.

be indicative of the extreme

languages. Through publishing the

to a standstill in January

through to people who need-

Oxfam is equally com-

weather patterns related to

voices of poor people around the

and February. News stories

ed it most. It has not been

mitted to the rehabilitation

climate change. Adaptation

world, we want to change the way

have mostly focused on the

easy, with snow and ice on the

and rebuilding ahead: there

to climate change will

people think about poverty. We

power cuts, the collapsed

roads and rails. The HK$10.4

will be a lot of work to do,

need to be a component of

want justice.

houses, people relocating to

million in donations from the

including with livestock

any disaster management

To order books: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore/list?lang=iso-8859-1

safer areas, and the frenzy

Hong Kong public and the

and forestry. Oxfam is also

response, in China, and

of the millions of migrant

Hong Kong SAR Government

concerned – along with

around the world.

workers tr ying to return

(as of 19 February) is being

meteorologists in China

home but getting stranded and sometimes trampled at train stations. There has been less cover-

CHINA: Working By Feng Ming Ling through the snow

For more on the snowstorm, visit: http://www.oxfam.org.hk Feng Ming Ling is a member of the Oxfam Hong Kong rural livelihoods team. She is based in Kunming, China.

OXFAM in the NEWS CHINA: Oxfam Trailwalker was nominated for a 2007 Rhino Award in recognition of the pioneering nature of the global event and its environmentalism. Oxfam Trailwalker began in Hong Kong and

age of all the livestock that

is now also held annually in Australia, England,

have died: animals which

Japan, New Zealand and in mainland China in 2009. Thousands of people challenge

provided a food and income

themselves to walk, or run, 100km of often mountainous terrain, and to raise as

source for millions of rural

many donations as possible for Oxfam. Oxfam Hong Kong holds the ‘world record’

people. All the farmed trees

of raising over HK$27m at the 2007 event. The Rhino Awards are presented by China

that have cracked and fallen

Outdoor Adventure Magazine (

have also been a huge loss,

外探 险 雜志), which is well read among hikers. See

www.oxfamtrailwalker.org.hk for more.

but less reported. Oxfam Hong Kong is assist-

MOKUNG

ing thousands of people in three provinces through the crisis. Emergency relief teams

Oxfam Hong Kong publishes this quarterly

worked through the Spring

magazine in Traditional Chinese. Mokung,

Festival, China’s major holi-

which means both “no poverty” and “infinity”, Straw brings a better grip in snow and ice

highlights a different aspect of development in each issue. The Editor is Tung Tsz-kwan. The

Poem and Person

April 2008 edition looks at the poverty news poll in Hong Kong.

O.N.E remembers Wong

Beijing. She made many

her poems, with visual art

Yuen-ling (黃婉玲) (1958-

contributions to social justice,

by Wong Yankwaï (黃仁逵).

To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/public/bookstore

20 0 8 ) who worked with

in her very own creative and

Here is the title poem, in

/?lang=big5

Oxfam Hong Kong’s educa-

open-minded and open-

the original Chinese, with a

Mokung is online at www.oxfam.org.hk/public/contents/category?cid=1017&lang=big5

tion team and with several

hearted way, and a circle

translation by Jacob Wong

other organisations and art

of friends is celebrating her

(王慶鏘), and the painting

groups in Hong Kong and

life by publishing a book of

‘Tea’ by Wong Yankwaï.

坐下來寫封信

Think I’ll Sit down and Write a Letter

沒有紙就托付風

Since there’s no paper, I ask the wind

擁抱我

Hold me

言語之前敞開的世界

The world before the beginning of speech

此時呼吸最是回事

Here, breathing is everything

生命之流起伏

The ocean of life rises and ebbs

還是讓我坐下來寫封信

Think I’ll sit down and write a letter

靠近你

To get close to you

從時間領土裡

To pluck from the realm of time

摘下文字的花串

A garland of words

讓風帶給你

And send to you on the wind

ONE O.N.E – Oxfam News E-magazine – is uploaded at the beginning of every month at www.oxfam.

Launched for International Women’s Day 2008, the book (in Chinese only) is available on-line http://www.cp1897.com.hk/Index?Page=1 and at various bookshops in Hong Kong.

org.hk/one. To receive a copy in your inbox, please subscribe – it is free. To subscribe: www.oxfam.org.hk/one/subscribe.html

Hong Kong

17th Floor, 28 Marble Road, Northpoint, Hong Kong O. N .E, published in the middle of each month, is also online:

www.oxfam.org.hk/one//

COVER: Madeleine Marie Slavick

POVERTY NEWS


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