Volunteers tackle Hong Kong bedbug horrors pros won’t touch, and don’t charge a cent to clients poor, old, or ill – and desperate
With government washing its hands of bedbug infestations and private pest control unaffordable for the sick, elderly or poor, a secret Hong Kong army deals with the worst cases for no fee, but they only touch the tip of the iceberg
It’s a rainy Saturday afternoon, and a group of volunteers in overalls storms a flat on a public housing estate in Hong Kong’s Tuen Mun district. An overpowering stench, detectable even through a face mask, hits them as soon as they enter. One reaches for the light switch, but that proves futile: there’s no light bulb in the socket.
Fortunately, natural light streaming in through the window is strong enough to illuminate the unpleasant scene before them. The walls are covered in tiny black spots – bedbug droppings. One part of the flat is piled high with rubbish, and the floor is stained and caked in grime. The most sickening sight, however, is the bed, which is crawling with bedbugs. Hanging from its metal frame is what looks like a hornets’ nest but is actually a cluster of bedbugs, with their excrement, eggs, and shed skin casts.
The scene is not for the faint of heart, but the volunteers face it calmly and get down to work. The flat is in bad shape, but not the worst the team has seen since it took on this job in June 2017.
Bedbugs (Cimex hemipterus) feed on blood and can be found in all types of homes, clean or dirty, big or small. They breed rapidly and even interbreed, which increases their resistance to pesticides.
The Hong Kong Housing Department says it logged 86 complaint calls about the insects last year – fewer than in 2015 or 2016. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department recorded only five complaints in 2017. However, not everyone affected will call the government, because of the stigma attached. Also, the government’s position is that pest control is the responsibility of the affected residents, who can call on the services of private companies to help them.
The free pest control services were started by Joe Li Hin-man, a project director for a renovations company, and Poon Kwok-hin, a structural engineer. They were initially organising a network of volunteers – named Foot Print Voluntary Team and Build & Wish Voluntary Team, mainly delivering second-hand furniture and offering home repair services to the underprivileged. One day they got a call from a social worker inquiring whether they could treat bedbugs.