************************************************************
The Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, visited the HOME Support Service Centre for Ethnic Minorities (HOME Centre) in Yau Ma Tei this afternoon (December 20) to take part in exchanges and a New Year celebration with ethnic minority children. The HOME Centre is funded by the Home Affairs Department (HAD) and operated by the New Home Association (NHA).
Mr Tsang was first briefed by a representative of the HOME Centre on the services and activities provided for ethnic minorities. He then joined a tea party to celebrate the coming New Year and enjoyed storytelling and decorating a drawing with the ethnic minority children, during which he presented the children with gifts and wished them excellence in studies and a happy New Year. He also expressed his appreciation for the efforts by the NHA to assist ethnic minorities.
He said, "Hong Kong is a city with diversified cultures. People of different ethnic origins care for one another and live in harmony. Ethnic minorities may encounter difficulties when living in Hong Kong due to language barriers and cultural differences. The HAD will continue to collaborate with local groups and non-profit-making organisations to provide appropriate services for them."
The HAD now provides support services for ethnic minorities, which include commissioning non-profit-making organisations to operate five support service centres and two sub-centres to facilitate their early integration into the community.
Among these, the NHA established the HOME Centre in Yau Ma Tei and a sub-centre in Sham Shui Po in December last year. Since then, they have provided over 9 000 people from ethnic minorities with a variety of support services, including Chinese and English language classes, tutorial classes, interest classes, employment support service, integration programmes and counselling service.
Ends/Friday, December 20, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:43
NNNN
