Encounter with poverty
I could not help being sadly amused by Anson Chan Fang On-sang's discovery of poverty in Laos ('We are fortunate, says former chief secretary', September 29).
You say Mrs Chan was 'deeply struck' by the poverty in Laos, where children walk four hours to school and often have little to eat. She did not 'expect the people could be poor as such'. But they are, madam.
To the rich and famous who really wish to understand poverty, may I suggest a visit to my native Africa where millions of kids are dying of disease and starvation every year and have no schools to walk to.
But this is not Hong Kong's problem, and never has been. As Mrs Chan says, we should consider ourselves lucky. Budget deficit, negative equity, unemployment - huge problems indeed, but not exactly life-threatening.
KEN KAMOCHE, Lantau
Transit passenger
