Help for youths on tightrope
Renowned Canadian entertainers Cirque du Soleil will teach troubled Hong Kong youngsters acrobatic skills, including tightrope walking, to help keep them on the straight and narrow.
Youth support group Kids Everywhere Like You (Kely) has teamed up with the Quebec-based troupe to reach out to local children with a wide range of problems, including drugs and alcohol.
Kely will benefit from this year's Operation Santa Claus, an annual South China Morning Post /RTHK fund-raising effort.
The Kely group already runs regular sessions of its Circus School, enabling it to reach troubled youngsters in an informal manner.
Outreach worker David Simpson said young people took drugs to seek thrills and escape everyday stress. 'These people find something in the Circus School because they are already walking on a tightrope,' he said.
'Kely does a lot of workshops at schools and can reach a lot of people there. In order to reach the age group that is not at school, we need something that is not perceived as academic or boring,' Mr Simpson said.
Under the circus' international programme, Cirque du Monde, two of Kely's outreach workers will fly to Melbourne in March to be trained in skills such as basic acrobatics and juggling, which they can pass on to the youngsters. Circus trainers will also come to Hong Kong to teach young people acrobatic skills.
