11 minute read
Jobseekers and employees
Professionals with responsibility
Three stories of people with jobs they love, coping with COVID-19 and never giving up. They respond to life with resilience, perseverance, solidarity and compassion. Lee Chun-ho, chosen to represent Hong Kong at the Olympics, faces another challenger. Chiang Pui-king, a paediatrician dedicates herself to the isolation wards.
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Lee Kam, a country parks craftsman finds peace with hikers amid life’s uncertainties. • 疫情下， 本港各界人士持守專業、守望相助，永不 放棄。 • 他們跟讀者分享抗疫期間展現出的堅持沉著、 團結 關愛。 • 香港空手道代表李振豪為本港首位確診專業運動 員，他跟我們分享了未來預備奧運的挑戰。 • 蔣珮琼醫生跟讀者分享她在隔離病房工作的點滴以 及她跟家人的相處。 • 郊野公園技工李錦熱愛工作，視山野為家，樂意跟 山友分享如何愛護大自 然。
Lee Chun-ho: fighting for the future
“I became Hong Kong’s national karatedo champion in 2010. My mum was so happy and I decided to focus on sport and aim for the Olympics. But my fight this year was not in karate. It was against COVID-19.”
In the hospital, Lee heard only the air-conditioning, the fan and the machines. “Once you catch this virus, you can do virtually nothing, no matter how fit you are. The rest of your world disappears.” His doctor said his lung function was reduced by 20%. Determined, he kept moving, holding on to strength and stamina.
Holding on, fighting back
Other patients arrived, and then left hospital, but Lee stayed, till one day the nurses told him he was nearly well enough. “My spirits soared, but it was too soon. The virus came back and I screamed with frustration.”
Lee posted his updates on Facebook. Others, comforted by his news and his shared feelings, thanked him for expressing difficult thoughts. “Perhaps it gave us all the positive energy we needed to keep fighting the virus.” When he made a video asking people to stay home. “The doctors and nurses thanked him. It touched my heart to know how much it meant to them.”
Lessons for life
Lee never forgot he was an athlete. Whether in karate uniform or hospital uniform, people cheered him on for fighting. “Knowing that they looked to me for help made me fight my fear and act responsibly.”
When Lee finally left hospital two months later, the city looked fresh and bright. Finally, he could prepare for the future, for the Olympics. “I’ve lost a lot but I’ll get it all back.”
Talking about karate makes his eyes light up. “I used what I learnt in karatedo to fight the virus: endurance, patience, focus, perfection.”
Chiang Pui-king: children’s doctor
“You never see fear here. All you see is passion,” says Dr Chiang, a young paediatrician on the COVID-19 isolation ward. The only goal is to beat the virus.
She remembers feeling sad when her roster was confirmed. “It was the second day of the Lunar New Year and I knew it meant being away from home for weeks and not seeing my little boy for a long time.” But she buttoned up her white coat and got back to work. She knew it was crucial. 100% attention on the fight against the virus, that was what she needed.
No excuse, no options
It was like SARS all over again. Another terrible disease, but this time with Dr Chiang on the front line. Phones ringing all day long, constant life and death decisions. “I had to put everything else aside. It was the only way to keep up team morale.”
“We wore protective gear like armour,” she says. “It gave us strength for the war we were fighting. We needed to both attack and defend.” But the essential gear was in short supply and healthcare workers had help each other preserve what they had. “Once, a colleague helped me get ready. That had never happened before. When things get tough it helps so much to know you can rely on one another.”
Dr Chiang took care of patients aged from under two to 17 years old. “Luckily, they were physically stable but they were just children and needed a lot of emotional support, especially because they had no visitors.” Dr Chiang remembered to stop and chat, and she encouraged them to have family video calls.
Coping under pressure
After her nine-hour working day, Dr Chiang always called her son. “All I could talk about was the virus. When I told him my worries he simply told me to take care.”
In her son’s eyes, Dr Chiang was a strict mother, but he was growing up fast and understood how brave she was. He was proud when she finished her duty and came home again.
For Dr Chiang, it has been both stressful and strengthening. “I had to stay calm. I had no option. It has taught me I can cope, no matter what.”
Lee Kam: breath of the hills
Lee Kam takes care of Hong Kong’s country parks. He smiles whenever he talks about the hills. He loves them as children. Unlike most Hong Kong people, he looks forward to going to work every day.
“Work in the hills has changed this year,” says Lee Kam. “Used masks, empty bottles and lunch boxes everywhere. I clear them up so my plants can breathe.”
He is happy to see more young people appreciating the charm of the hills. “There are more and more hikers because of the virus, enjoying fresh air at a difficult time, but I wish they understood about leaving no trace. People and wild things should live in harmony.”
He gives the hikers a kindly reminder. “Please take your litter home.” He is gentle when he tells them and never gets angry. Most people listen and take his advice. Working with flowers and trees has taught him the value of patience and peace.
The pandemic is a symbol of all life’s uncertainties. “Our world is changing and we have to adjust to get by - just like plants that change to fit in with their environment.”
Lee Kam hopes that one day the hills will not only be a haven for people like him but for everyone. “I hope they will see this as a place to treasure and protect, a place where their hearts can to take break, where they can breathe again, a place like home.”
Lee Kam’s spirit and soul are in his work. “The hills are my home and I give myself to them as I give to my family. I will work as hard as I need to, just to protect them.”
These extracts have been translated from the original touching stories about Hong Kong people, working to combat COVID-19, helping each other in difficult times, seeing how it changes lives.
Title Care Beyond Professionalism – Ten Stories of COVID-19
Publisher HKFYG
ISBN 978-988-79951-8-0
Price HK$160
Orders
Jobs on hold
• Four young adults describe changed lives. • Unemployment looms for several. • Working from home is not always feasible. • Part-time work or unpaid internships have become attractive.
• 四位青年跟讀者講述他們生活的轉變。 • 失業率攀升令人憂心。 • 在家工作非理所當然。 • 疫情下有兼職或實習機會已經不錯。
Ashley, in her early 20s, is lucky. Despite the pandemic, she still has a job.
Ashley has been on 60% of her usual income ever since February, thanks to the government’s pandemic Employment Support Scheme. “It covers all my basic needs,” she says. As a member of the airport’s ground staff since spring 2019, she was told to work from home as far as possible.
“Actually, there is almost nothing we can can do from home except check updates on aircraft operations and airline company policies in different countries. The situation changes constantly and that make me feel very unstable.”
By staying at home, however, Ashley does feel she is helping to control the spread of the virus when she would otherwise be working in a packed office.
“I can do some professional training while I am on standby,” Ashley continues, “but it does seem as if many people have less energy.”
“I wish the government would provide more job-related courses that I could do while I am furloughed. It would mean I had a chance to work in another field if I lost my airport job. While almost nobody is travelling, I feel vulnerable. I think we could be replaced by a stateof-the-art automated system at any moment.”
For the future, Ashley says she wants to do a part-time degree, maybe in tourist and event management or maybe in aviation, and then look for work in customer services. For now, she feels motivated by a health incentive offered by her employer. It encourages her take exercise. “Staff who take a daily walk of up to 8,000 steps each month get a little gift.” Thomas, also in his 20s, was not so lucky: he lost his job with Hong Kong Airlines.
“In February, I had just enough saved to begin paying off my student debts. Three months later, I had nothing left. I had to borrow from the bank to pay off the student debt and now I have to pay off the bank loan.”
Commenting on government wage subsidies, he says he doesn’t think he would have been eligible and was so low-paid that, “60% of my income would have been very little anyway.”
Now, Thomas has no option but to take even lowerpaid jobs. He has one that means up to four hours of commuting every day. “I get up early and take a 6.30am bus to avoid the rush hour but I can’t help but wish I could work from home. It would be so much more efficient.”
Asked what support he would most like to see from government, Thomas thinks of the “sandwich-class” as the neediest group.
“We barely make a living but still pay tax, rent and bills with hardly any of the subsidies we would be entitled too if we were poorer. Instead, we have had to reduce outgoings on everything. Rich people have nothing to worry about. They are still making money. It’s the people in between who suffer.”
Thomas thinks that the minimum wage has done nothing to help people like him. “Instead of protecting the low-paid, it has damaged the free labour market and created more unemployment. I believe the minimum wage has been used more as a political tool than a government support measure.”
On the other hand, unpaid internships are good, Thomas says. “I would do one, if I could. They give people the chance to learn something new and maybe change their occupation someday. The more skills you have, the more opportunities you get.”
Chloe is unemployed and finding life hard.
“First a waitress and then an administrative assistant, I was happy to have a new job lined up. It’s seven months since I should have started but it was postponed indefinitely. In the meantime, I have tried applying for a few part-time jobs but the business downturn means wages have dropped a lot. Anyway, I haven’t had any job offers.”
While some young people think that the government’s wage subsidy should be given directly to employees instead of employers, Chloe’s view is that even if she had been eligible it would not have been enough. “In general, my income has been around $14,000. Of that, I expect to spend at least $10,000 on basic needs.”
Working from home, should a job offer that in future, doesn’t appeal to Chloe. “It would mean too much close contact with my family. That would cause arguments and when I tried to focus on my work, they would disturb me.”
For now though, the real stress is seeking employment. “A lot of companies can’t even hold interviews, let alone offer jobs. I realize that I just have to keep on trying, make contingency plans and accept the possibility that I will only ever be a part-timer. It would be better than having no job at all.” Fion had just been hired when the COVID-19 outbreak started. Her life is on hold.
“I had just started my first job when the virus outbreak happened.” Furloughed even before her work began, preemployment training stopped and her position was put on hold. “I have had no income for over half a year.”
Fion would be happy even with an unpaid internship or a placement, at least it would earn her some work experience, she says. But so far, she has been unlucky. “I have been stuck at home instead. Faced with the pandemic, people just try to stay away from each other. Everyone just wants to be alone with no communication with anyone. It is a cheerless existence.”
Nevertheless, she wants to try to make the best of the time available to try something new. She talks of the “bad atmosphere in our society” and thinks that people have become more anxious than ever. “So I must try to make the best of it to experiment with something I never had the time to try before, Drawing perhaps, or finding out about something new. There is a lot to learn.”
