Saturday Solicitors Across from the Library

     The 2 women in this photo are part of a veritable army of smiling Saturday street solicitors you see collecting money for various charities all over Hong Kong.  Their particular cause is the Hong Kong Southern District Women's Association United, a social welfare organization.  The woman in the middle held her shoulder bag out and indicated where I should put money in the slot, which cued the woman on the left in the photo to apply the small yellow "I gave" sticker to my jacket.  Then I took this picture of the next donator right behind me. Saturday seems to be the big day for these solicitors, probably trying to catch shoppers who've just made a purchase and want to get rid of the thick, heavy $HK5 and $HK10 coins that people would just as soon get out of their pockets.  Many people stop and slip at least $HK1 into the money pouches.  There seems to be a strong presence of community service organizations here in Hong Kong, possibly a British influence.  To my understanding, in traditional Chinese culture people care for each other through family and friends, not through community organizations that serve people they don't know.
     I ran into these women right across the street from our neighborhood library, located on the 3rd floor of a newish community building that also houses a "sports center" with volleyball, badminton and squash courts, as well as a fitness center.   Rose, whom I met 10 days ago at a group lunch, thought that I should learn how to get to the local library, so she took me there this morning, pointed out the English language newspapers and books, and then took me to the desk to get a couple forms to fill out once I get my Hong Kong identity card so that I can get a library card and check out books.  Well--OK then!
     Rose herself goes to the library most mornings, she said, and she spends time every afternoon tutoring her primary school-age niece.  She said that one of the reasons she likes to spend this time with her niece is that she thinks that both the school and the girl's mother take too serious an approach to learning for such a young child, and she's trying to put more fun into it.  Rose told me that she formerly was a social worker, specializing in elder care, but she retired early because the stress of the job took its toll on her health.  She criticized the Hong Kong government for underfunding programs for the elderly, mentioning for example, that the government encourages elderly people to live independently and to access home nurse services for health needs, but that 200 is the normal impossible caseload for such a nurse.
     While touring the library we spent some time looking out the huge windows on the hill side of the building.  Rose showed me the new Kennedy Town subway terminal being constructed right next to the community building (2 1/2 years until it's done), she pointed out the 2 public housing high-rises in the neighborhood where a single elderly person can rent an apartment for $HK2000/month ($260), and she gestured toward the Hong Kong University campus up the hill.  I'd read about the Fung Ping Shan history museum at HKU and asked her about it.  She said I'd like it, and we made plans to go there week after next.