November, 2008

Show Me Respect, Don't Show Me the Money:
A Study of “Urban Mud Larks” in Hong Kong

Mark Li

（The author is Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Work of Hong Kong Baptist University）

Two years ago, Wofoo Social Enterprises invited the Department of Social Work of Hong Kong Baptist University to explore why senior citizens are collecting used paper and other waste materials in the streets. Initially, we regarded their situation as a poverty issue. Later, we found something more interesting: their behavior is a reflection of their values and strengths.

How We Started

The pilot study began in late 2006, when we identified and recorded around 20 individual cases. Then, we designed a questionnaire for larger scale data collection in 17 districts. By the end of spring 2008 we interviewed a total of 358 individual citizens.

We named our research project “Urban Mud Larks” because the people we met are humble, modest, reasonably optimistic senior citizens who try their best to remain self-reliant. They are willing to work, can live with minimal resources, and blame no one for all the hardships in life. Like mud larks they live a tough but respectable life. In a modern, affluent, capitalistic city-state that values money, power and status, it is respect and dignity that matter for them. These senior citizens appreciate it when we show our respect, not money.

Our First Story

Our first story is about a 75-year-old woman who started to collect used materials when she was only seven. Her father, a gang boss, was shot in the streets. When her mother went away with another man she was left alone, unsupported, in Hong Kong. She survived, however, by collecting used paper and clothes, accompanied by a nine-year-old girl who was also living alone. She earned a living the hard way, but survived even World War II. After the war, she and her companion worked in a factory, each eventually marrying and having children. She went back to her first trade several years ago when her adult children could not finance her daily living due to unemployment. She received no welfare grant from the government except for the Old Age Allowance, a nominal allowance for senior citizens of HK$700 per month. She said she did not want to depend on others, and her story inspired us all.

What We Found in General

We interviewed 357 others like her, of whom 70% are female. More than 61% are aged 65-years-old or above; the oldest one is 92 years old.

More than 65% of our respondents have only primary level of education. Most of them, 67%, are public housing residents, while about 2% are street sleepers. 40% live with spouse and children, 18% with children only, 14% with spouse only, and 20% live alone.

Around 40% of our respondents have a household income of less than HK$6,000 per month, ranking them in the lowest 20% (quintile) according to income in Hong Kong. Yet 86% of them are not social security recipients, and 44% of them get only Old Age Allowance.

About 74% have been engaged in collecting waste materials for less than five years, while 14% have worked for more than ten years. The favorite materials they collect include cardboard, newspapers, cans, second hand electrical appliances, and furniture from housing estates, supermarkets, backstreets, shopping centres and small shops in the community.

Reasons for engaging in such work include the need to support family, the search for meaningful activities, the desire for independence, and the will to demonstrate ability to work. Most individuals interviewed (84%) go about their work alone; more males than females tend to work together with friends (20%).

They do not earn much, though. Around 56% of respondents earn just HK$100 or less per week for collecting used materials. About 24% earn between $100 and $200. Only 7.3% get more than $400. Male respondents tend to earn more, probably because of the variety of collected goods.

Despite their age, 56% wish to work or continue to work. Reasons include the need to take care of family members, the desire for independence and the search for meaningful activities. More than 76% regard work as a source of income, a means to assuming caring responsibilities, and an indication of personal ability.

Money gained from collecting used materials is mainly spent on foodstuffs (86%). Fewer females than males feel bad about collecting used materials. Only 28% of them express that they often feel bad about their work. Males, on the other hand, tend to feel bad about it, probably due to the decline in their income and status.

Despite their hardship in life, 64% of all respondents say they have not used services provided by the government and social welfare organizations, mainly due to personal choice or self-reliance (22%), judgment that services are “not too helpful” (23%), judgment that they “do not fit the criteria” (14%), or because of “too many restrictions” (12%). More of them use community services for senior citizens as well as the food bank. They need these on rainy days when they simply cannot collect anything from the streets.

Our Other Stories

There is a trend that in low income communities, middle aged, rather than senior, mud larks are now actively engaged in collecting used materials. Increasingly they are males who have stepped down from full-time employment. Because of this, some of the older female mud larks in the same communities have been pushed out and must work in farther districts. A second trend involves single parent households engaging in collection of used materials as supplementary income.

We also found some senior citizens working in teams to collect used materials just so they can have additional income for their community centre activities. Fees charged for activities in the centres are beyond what they can now afford.

Key Issues for Us

In general, our findings reflect a poverty issue with gender elements. More female senior citizens are living in poverty or in declining quality of life due to lack of networks and/or access to service information, as well as a strong desire for independence or resistance to social labeling associated with use of public services.

Our primary concern is to identify this group of citizens marginalized by main society, alienated from formal services. These hidden seniors are likely to be female, 65 or above in age, living alone or with spouse, in a public housing estate, receiving Old Age Allowance, and not connected to any social welfare organization except for the food bank in their community.

It is necessary for community centres to reach out to these citizens and render the requisite services. More collaboration between service organizations and the Hong Kong government, as well as more efforts from the government must be initiated to minimize the labeling effect of using government or public services. Local food banks are an essential resource for their survival in tough times.

Improvement of the non-means-tested Old Age Allowance may help as an interim measure, but reform of the social security system in the long term is needed.

Editor’s Note

Hong Kong Christian Institute would like to express our season’s greetings to our readers.

“Glory to God in the highest heaven and
on earth peace among those whom He favors.”

（Luke 2:14, NRSV）