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Mary Ann Benitez

Outreach group hopes to help 360 troubled youngsters
Meet Watermelon. 'I like green, so I call myself Watermelon,' says the 18-year-old, pointing to his sparkling new lime-green and white trainers. He was uprooted from the mainland at 16 and felt out of place at his new school.
Meet Janet. She left school in Form One, became pregnant at 15 and gave up her newborn baby at 16.
Or Bobo, 18, the son of a single mother who left school in Form Four and wanders the streets wondering what he wants to do with his life.
Or Hoi, also 18, who felt he was never good academically and stopped school for a while after failing to get the minimum 14 points in the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination.
They have different stories, but these four youngsters found meaning in street dance and hip hop. They say they feel they can perhaps begin to dream of bigger things.
But there's a catch: street dance has no formal recognition, despite its popularity.
The four teens now work as part-time dancers while acquiring an education  or skills at the Youth Outreach School of Hip Hop, one of this year's 13 beneficiaries of the Operation Santa Claus charity drive.
Youth Outreach was established in November 1991 as a crisis intervention centre for troubled youngsters. Its School of Hip Hop, the only one in the city, was set up in 2004. Through funds raised by Operation Santa Claus, it plans to launch a 'Dancin' to Healthy Life' programme, using street dance  to make a difference to 360 at-risk youths in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long and Tung Chung.
The four youths hope the city will recognise street dance as a form worthy of professional training at the Academy for Performing Arts, said project manager Ling Chan Ka-ling, director of the School of Hip Hop.
Hoi said he tried dancing for a year in a class.
'My confidence improved. I also found myself. I want to be a famous dancer,' he said.
Ms Ling said hip hop, break-dancing and street dance were not part of the academy's curriculum.  'So, in auditions for the academy, they cannot pass because they have no formal training,' she said.
Hoi added: 'The education system has let some youngsters think they are failures.'
Janet said she would like to go back to school. 'It was a very confusing time,' she said, referring to her pregnancy. 'Before I learned dance, my life was a mess. After I learned dance, everything is in place.'
She now dances part-time when she's not learning to do secretarial and clerical work at Youth Outreach.
Watermelon said there were no barriers at the School of Hip Hop. 'I am very relaxed here compared to school because I cannot speak good Cantonese. For me, dance is not just dance. I can have personal growth.'
Youth Outreach said more than 70,000 teenagers run away from home every year, the average age being 12. It said the city's young were 100 per cent worse off today than 10 years ago.
Organised by the South China Morning Post and RTHK, Operation Santa Claus, now in its 21st year, will aid 13 groups. Part of the funds will also go to the Post's Homes for Hope project to help victims of the Sichuan  earthquake rebuild their homes.
Wish list
Aim Youth Outreach School of Hip Hop wishes to run 'Dancin' to Healthy Life' from January to September to help build at-risk young people's self-image and self-confidence, reset their life goals and raise their motivation to study or work. Some 360 youth in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long and Tung Chung will benefit. Each district will hold 15 sessions of dance training. Moral education and counselling by social workers will be included. An 'inter-district showcase' will cap the programme.
Funds needed HK$242,305
Amount raised so far: HK$1,773,643



At-risk youths to dance their way to a healthy life