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“Invest
in Youth by building Partnerships.” Welcome to
the fifth issue of The Hong Kong
Federation of Youth Groups’ e-newsletter.
Aimed
at all those who are interested in young people, their problems
and concerns, hopes and aspirations, Invest in Youth, share
stories, information and news. We welcome you your suggestions
and comments,
but ask you also to take the time and see how you might be
able to join us building up partnerships. Please show your
support
by joining our mailing list to receive Invest in Youth every
week.
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Dr. Rosanna Wong, DBE, JP
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Building
up Civic Responsibility
On November 23rd, Hong Kong goes to the polls to elect her
District representatives. The District Council elections
provide the perfect opportunity for the people to demonstrate
their civic duty by voting.
Young
people in Hong Kong have not shirked away from using
these elections as an occasion to get involved.
On polling day, Leadership 21 of The Hong Kong Federation
of Youth Groups, along with the Federation's Youth S.P.O.Ts,
will gather a large number of young people to go to the
booths and vote together. This is planned in conjunction
with having special coverage of the elections on the
Federation’s web site, so that every young person can
keep abreast of developments. This simple, yet inclusive,
method of encouraging peers to exercise their franchise
responsibly is I believe a very commendable effort.
Too often young people complain about the government
and officials not being able to gauge their needs and
concerns. These can only be empty complaints if one does
not make the effort to vote. This is because voting is
an act of participation and is extremely important to
building up civic responsibility. It is only through
the voting process that young people, especially as new
voters, become socially aware and learn what it means
to be committed to our communities. Voting instils a
taste and tradition for involvement in the political
process, which in the long term can only help in encouraging
young people to become full contributing members of society.
Thus, The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups encourages
young people to get out on November 23rd and vote!
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Informing
Youth about the Safety of Health Products
The
Federation and the Consumer Council joined
together to raise the awareness of young people about the
safety of
health and slimming products.
A youth poll will be conducted to investigate the attitude
of youth towards these products. The results will be released
at a seminar called “Beauty from Within: Do Health and
Slimming Products Really Work?” to be held on November
15. To further
spread the message about the safety of health supplements,
a new information section will be added on the Federation's
youth website, u21.
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Getting
into the Spirit of Halloween
181 young
volunteers of the Federation spent October by participating
in the Hong Kong $10 “Trick or Treat” Campaign. The Campaign,
which took place every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 3rd
to 31st October at Ocean Park, helped to raise funds for
The Community Chest of Hong Kong. The volunteers encouraged
tourists to make donations into a box shaped like a giant
pumpkin.
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Showing
Support through Donation in Kind
Donations can take different forms. Apart from
financial donations, corporations can also demonstrate
their support to the community through donations
in kind. In early October, J.P. Morgan Chase
and Co. donated 13 used computers to the Wang Tau Hom
Youth S.P.O.T., illustrating its commitment to the
positive development of young people. The Federation
hopes that more corporations will follow this example
and contribute suitable products, which could be
of use and interest to youth.
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Social
Pressure to be Slim
A recent
survey conducted by the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association
found that half of the respondents who said that they were
trying to slim down were females aged between 16 and 25.
The youngest reported case of someone on a diet was an
11-year-old. Eager to lose weight quickly the little girl
started by dieting, but ended up with an eating disorder.
The father later found that his daughter had kept a 3-inch
thick folder full of health food and weight loss advertisements.
Four years, at 15, the girl still needs the help of psychiatrists
to help her resolve her eating problems. Find out more
here.
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Children in Hong Kong need More Exercise
Children in Hong Kong are becoming couch potatoes, a
survey has found. The Millennium Sports Study, commissioned
by the Hong Kong Sports Development Board, revealed that
only 19% of children, aged between 5 and17, engaged in
enough physical activities to benefit their health. About
half of the children preferred to watch television in
their leisure time. What was most alarming was that the
Study found that the sedentary levels of young people
were even higher than that of the adults. A very worrying
finding, given that Hong Kong is already at the bottom
of the world in terms of the number of adults who participate
in sports. Click here for details!
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Reduction
of Secondary School Classes
Due to a
continuing decline among secondary school students, the pressure
to reduce classes is on the rise. The five districts in Hong
Kong, which are facing the most severe situation, are Tai Po,
Tuen Mun, Wong Tai Sin and Hong Kong Island East and South.
Tai Po District is the most affected, and will see a 40% drop
in the student population over the next 8 years. Click here to
find out reactions to this worrying situation.
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Youth
Career Skills Challenge
The U.S. Department of Labor initiated an innovative competition
called “Youth Career Skills Challenge” for young people
to test their academic and employment skills against one
another for national recognition. From July 30 to August
1 2003, over 200 youths from around the United States gathered
in Washington, DC to compete in events ranging from enhancing
their career vocabulary, to learning how to set out business
plans, to public speaking and mastering the skills of employment
survival. Besides competitions, the youth challengers were
also given an opportunity to attend career workshops and
fairs to broaden their horizons. Sound interesting? Click
here to learn more.
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Disabled
Freshers to Share the Ups and Downs
For
four weeks, the BBC website that reflects life as a disabled
person, “Ouch!”, followed three disabled students who were
starting university for the first time. Each week, they
posted diary entries of their experiences, including how
it was to live away from home, their social lives and the
high and low points of accessibility on campus, in their
accommodation and for study resources. Read the diaries
of Ruth, Ciaran and Sara now! This will certainly help
us all to understand the challenges faced by disabled students
much better.
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Minimum
Voting Age
The
minimum age of voting varies from nation to nation and
often depends on the type of election. The most common
age when a person can exercise his or her franchise is
18. This is true also of Hong Kong, which was lowered
from 21 ever since the 1995 Legislative Council Elections.
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Australia...
the minimum voting age is 18. In Australia voting is compulsory |
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Iran...
at 15 for presidential elections, Iran has the lowest voting
age |
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Brazil... has a minimum voting
age of 16. Until you are 18 voting is voluntary, then it becomes
compulsory |
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Ireland... the minimum voting
age is 18. |
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Britain…
has a minimum voting age of 18. |
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Japan... you have to be 20 before
you can vote |
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Croatia... everybody gets the
vote at 18, but if you are 16 and in full-time employment you
can vote |
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Singapore... has a minimum voting
age of 21 |
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Germany...
you have to be 18 before you can vote in national elections,
but in some local elections anybody who is 16 or over can vote. |
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USA...has
a minimum voting age of 18. |
Source:
Heads Up, Britain |
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Getting Young Adults to Vote
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Make
Political Participation Cool
Many young people around the world think formal
politics is dull and boring. Celebrity endorsements
have become a common strategy to encourage young
people to vote. In Hong Kong, the Government had
been encouraging young people to come out and vote
in the forthcoming District Board Election, by a
series of celebrity television commercials. In the
United States, a non-profit organization called Rock
the Vote was founded a decade ago to engage youth
in the political process by incorporating the entertainment
community and youth culture into its activities.
Leading musical artists like Madonna and Robbie Williams
also worked with Rock the Vote. Visit its website!
See how cool political participation really is!
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Using Mobile Phones to get the Youth Vote
Considering
how popular mobile phones are among young people, would voting
by mobile phone be one possible way to boost voter turnout among
youth? During the British General Election 2001, a survey was
conducted to see whether young people would be more willing to
cast their votes if they could do it through their mobile phones.
The answer was very positive. Read the findings here.
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Encouraging Young People to Vote
With the District Council Election Day coming up
on November 23, the Federation's Leadership 21
has initiated a pre-election campaign to encourage young people
to vote. Click here to
learn more about the campaign.
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To
view the previous issue, simply click here |