bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Jennifer Ngo

Sliding out his new plastic licence card, Jeffrey Andrews swells with pride at the product of four long years of hard work - studying part-time while holding down a full-time job - that identifies him as a social worker.
The licence represents a first - ethnic minorities getting their social-worker qualifications through the local school system, an impossible feat previously because of language barriers.
Andrews, 29, an ethnic Indian, and ethnic Pakistani Arif Abbas, 31, are the first to complete associate degrees in social work at the Caritas Institute of Higher Education, formerly known as Caritas Francis Hsu College.
They got their licences as social workers in September and November, respectively.
"It was extremely tough," Andrews admitted, having floundered for two years, taking part in fights and gang activities, before his wake-up call came in the form of an arrest for stealing.
"We didn't have role models of ethnic minorities succeeding through the local system."
The arrest changed his outlook on life. He found a job working with refugees and asylum seekers at Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui and realised his passion was in helping others.
"I wish I didn't waste those two years," he said. "My mother passed away last year, so she never saw me graduate."
Andrews' break came when Caritas decided four years ago to allow ethnic minorities in its social work programme, after its language of instruction was changed to English.
Caritas lecturer Lai Kin-kwok had pushed for the change.
"It took more than half a year to get the approval" from the Social Workers Registration Board, a statutory body, Lai said.
It had been an uphill battle, he said, from campaigning for acceptance from the board, to persuading Caritas and other schools to accommodate the change and produce English-language study materials.
Finally, however, it all came down to the students' hard work.
"It's very, very hard work for the ethnic minority students, studying part time and working full time, and also having lots of family responsibilities and pressure," Lai said.
Since Caritas began accepting ethnic minorities into its social-work associate-degree course, other schools had started to follow suit, he said.
Andrews' schoolmate Abbas, also armed with the new degree, is now a case worker with ethnic minorities at an NGO.
"I can communicate well with the minorities that use the services," he said.
"Without the social worker qualifications, there would have been many things - like the more vulnerable cases - that I could not handle."
But Abbas said he ultimately hoped to work with all kinds of Hongkongers, not just those from minorities.
"We get weird comments like: 'Why are you so dark? Why are you so hairy?' and it's challenging." But he said he was seeing less discrimination.
"I want to show our younger generation and the Chinese locals that ethnic minorities can also be social workers. We can do it," he said.


New social workers from South Asia a first for their community

Caritas Francis Hsu College grads Arif Abbas (left) and Jeffrey Andrews (centre) with lecturer Lai Kin-kwok. Photo: May Tse

News

Hong Kong

Sliding out his new plastic licence card, Jeffrey Andrews swells with pride at the product of four long years of hard work - studying part-time while holding down a full-time job - that identifies him as a social worker.
