Children affected by poverty is one of the worst social evils of Hong Kong, believes Vanessa Pong.
'In such a prosperous community it is a disgrace that there are children who do not have enough to eat and cannot afford to buy school books,' says the 35-year-old teacher.
She has been tackling the problem in an unusual way, organising better-off students to form support groups offering friendship and help to children whose families are below the poverty line.
In the spring of this year she organised Project Sunshine, which, with the help of actress Michelle Yeoh and other celebrities, took the children on outings while a benefactor provided tokens for them to buy the school books they needed.
'It is not just giving financial aid. In this way we hope that these young people will be the agent of change and transformation that will eventually abolish poverty from our society,' she says.
The second Project Sunshine is now under way. Students will be taken to visit underprivileged children in remote areas of China such as Liannan, Shantou and Xinjiang , and also to hospices and homes for handicapped children in Hong Kong.
For Ms Pong, it all began in 2003 when she embarked on a project to help the Esquel Foundation with their work for children in Xinjiang province.