Reaching out making good S
uk-yee met Fan Ka-lok and Chan Ka-hei when they were both teenagers back in the early 2000s. She took charge of their rehabilitation after arrest. Once at risk of becoming hardened criminals, instead, their lives were transformed. Outreach social workers like Ho Suk-yee know about juvenile delinquency. When she met Kalok and Ka-hei, they were both just 13. They had been arrested when Ka-lok got into a triad fight and Ka-hei was friends with the gang leader. “They were both referred to the Police Superintendent's Discretionary Scheme and HKFYG was a collaborating partner,” explains Suk-yee. “The scheme involves two or three years of rehabilitation and if the young offenders comply, they don’t get a criminal record. Most of the cases I handle are for shoplifting. About a fifth involve assault but we rarely get a triad-related crime like Ka-lok’s.” One day, Ka-lok met Suk-yee at Castle Peak Police Station. “I’d never met a social worker before,” he says. “She seemed very kind, not fierce or anything. I guessed she was trying to help me but I didn’t really listen and said nothing.” Ka-lok and Ka-hei were at the same secondary school but not close friends. It was Suk-yee’s job to explain the Police Superintendent's Discretionary Scheme to them both and tell them to stay out of trouble.
Young people like them get bored. That’s how they get involved in crime. When Ka-hei met Suk-yee she was more communicative than Ka-lok. “I was only watching the fight when we got arrested and I thought I’d done nothing wrong so I wasn’t scared at the Police Station when I met Miss Ho, as we called her then. Actually, I was really surprised. She was so different from what I expected and I had the feeling that she might know how to get me out of trouble.” Suk-yee’s job was to stay in touch with the teenagers, to call them and meet up regularly. “Young people like them just get bored. Nobody really looks after them properly, sometimes they feel forgotten. They have nothing to do and are easy prey for bad influences.” Suk-yee had no trouble with Ka-hei. She invited them both to start voluntary community work and Ka-hei 9
