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

Laura Westbrook

When Mehreen Hassan first heard of a Christmas cracker, she imagined it was a biscuit.
“I thought it was something to eat, but it’s not,” the 15-year-old Hongkonger of Pakistani descent recalled with a laugh.
She not only found out about the Christmas novelty over the summer, but also became part of a project that designed, produced and sold more than 30,000 crackers for charity.
The profits went to the Zubin Foundation, a charity that supports the city’s ethnic minority communities.

Mehreen was among 21 students who took part in a six-week programme organised by the foundation and the Irish Chamber of Commerce, with corporate sponsors, to teach teenagers business skills.
More than 20 business leaders volunteered as instructors to show the group how to create a product from scratch, moving from the idea stage to design, factory production and marketing.
The participants, aged 15 to 18, included seven ethnic minority students from public schools, including Mehreen, as well as students from international schools.

For their project, they used sustainable materials such as recycled paper made in Hong Kong. The crackers were made locally at a social enterprise factory and packed in boxes sourced from mainland China.
Christmas crackers, which make a snapping sound when pulled apart to reveal a mystery trinket or joke inside, are popular over Christmas in Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
The crackers went on sale in October, and exceeded the group’s target when more than 30,000 were snapped up at Christmas fairs and stores such as Bookazine at the Grand Hyatt hotel, and by local companies. They cost HK$250 (US$32) per box or HK$200 each for two or more.

Irish chamber president Ray Porter, who designed the programme together with chamber members Peter Darley and Aisling Keane, said the organisers were surprised at how quickly the items sold out.
“We helped the students and allowed people an opportunity to give back by buying something for charity,” he said.
For 18-year-old Aesha Ijaz, being part of the project allowed her to meet business professionals.
“I really took that opportunity to heart, because being from an ethnic minority in Hong Kong makes networking pretty hard,” she said.
I don’t experience that, and to hear that someone my age goes through that is insane. It really opened my eyes
South African Jess Boa on racism experienced by a programme member
A global health and development student at the University of Hong Kong, she said the initiative aligned with her dream of working for an NGO and making an impact in society.
It was also the first time that some ethnic minority teenagers and international school students, mainly children of expatriates, interacted.
Zubin Foundation CEO, Shalini Mahtani, said: “There were a couple of really big ‘aha’ moments.”
One was when a Muslim girl wearing a headscarf, or hijab, described how people often move away and do not want to sit next to her on the MTR.
“There were moments which I thought were equally beneficial to both sides, because I don’t think international school students realise that they live in a bubble,” Mahtani said.

South African Jess Boa, 16, who arrived with her family in Hong Kong when she was six, said she did not know much about the background of Hongkongers from ethnic minority groups, and was shocked to hear the story of the girl on the MTR.
“I don’t experience that, and to hear that someone my age goes through that is insane,” she said. “It really opened my eyes to what other people experience.”
She has since become friends with the ethnic minority girls in the programme, she added.
Hong Kong has an ethnic minority population of about 263,000, or almost 4 per cent of the city’s residents, excluding foreign domestic workers. About 80,000 are South Asians, including Indians, Pakistanis and Nepalese, according to official data from 2019.
Ethnic minority children ‘invisible victims’ of Hong Kong’s mental health crisis
Children from ethnic minority groups have long struggled through school, not least because of their lack of Chinese language proficiency, and faced difficulty getting jobs.
Porter said the programme was a way to expose the business community to a more diverse group of young people who might be potential employees, and he hoped to do another run in future.
“There are people in the minority groups whom I would hire in a heartbeat,” he said. “I would recommend them because of their mindset, their attitude and their hunger to get to another level.”


South Asians have a unique place in Hong Kong

Celebrating Christmas amid news of war, climate change and tragedy – is it possible?

Why Hong Kong’s youth must be key part of city’s mental health support

Hong Kong’s religious communities unite in prayer to mourn Tai Po fire victims

Ethnic minorities in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Christmas cracker project teaches teens about business, gets ethnic minority and international school students working together

Students Aesha Ijaz (left) and Mehreen Hassan with the Christmas crackers their team produced through a Zubin Foundation project. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The six-week programme, organised by the Zubin Foundation and Irish Chamber of Commerce, brought together teens from Hong Kong’s ethnic minority communities and students from international schools. Photo: Handout

Teens in the Zubin Foundation programme brainstorm on a project. Photo: Handout

More than 30,000 of the Christmas cracker boxes were snapped up, with the profits going to charity. Photo: Handout

Mehreen Hassan (left) and Aesha Ijaz, working on a project with fellow programme members, say it gave them the opportunity to meet business leaders and learn how to create a product from scratch. Photo: Handout

What are Hong Kong’s charities, businesses doing to help the needy? As inflation amid Covid-19 pandemic bites, do-gooders band together in bid to lighten food burden on city’s poor

Illustration by Lau Ka-kuen

Chung Kee Congee restaurant hands out free congee to the elderly every fortnight. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Viet Street restaurant in Yau Ma Tei gives away more than 200 hot meals daily to those who are struggling. Photo: Lea Li

Ian McLeod, chief executive officer of DFI Retail Group, which runs the Wellcome supermarket chain. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Wellcome has promised to donate 50 HK cents to Foodlink from every kilogram of rice of its house brand Yu Pin King sold in the coming year, with a target of raising HK$5 million. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The Oil Price Watch mobile app allows consumers to monitor petrol and diesel prices across the city’s five main fuel retailers. Photo: Handout

Cricket helps kids from Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities learn Cantonese and integrate into society

Manoj Dhar, co-founder and CEO of Integrated Brilliant Education Ltd, with the children at their centre in Jordan. Photo: Edmond So

The winning Indian team celebrate their victory in the RCS Commonwealth Cricket Cup. Photo: Sylvana Lee

The consulate teams pose for a group photo at the Kowloon Cricket Club before the Commonwealth Cricket Cup. Photo: Sylvana Lee

Hong Kong’s fallen Indian, Nepalese soldiers honoured at Remembrance Sunday event at restored cemetery

Volunteers who worked to restore a cemetery for Indian and Nepalese soldiers were joined by dignitaries for a memorial service on Remembrance Sunday. Photo: Sam Tsang

Volunteers do a final clean up of the cemetery ahead of Sunday's memorial service.  Photo: Handout

Consul-General of India to Hong Kong SAR Priyanka Chauhan was among those who attended the memorial service on Remembrance Sunday. Volunteers who worked to restore a cemetery for Indian and Sikh soldiers who fought in World War One hold a memorial service on Remembrance Sunday. Pictured at Hindu Temple at Happy Valley.    14NOV21.  SCMP / Sam Tsang

Volunteers who worked to restore a cemetery for Indian and Sikh soldiers who fought in World War One hold a memorial service on Remembrance Sunday. Pictured at Hindu Temple at Happy Valley.    14NOV21.  SCMP / Sam Tsang

Hong Kong-born Azan Marwah spearheaded the volunteer effort to restore the cemetery ahead of Remembrance Sunday. Volunteers who worked to restore a cemetery for Indian and Sikh soldiers who fought in World War One hold a memorial service on Remembrance Sunday. Pictured at Hindu Temple at Happy Valley.    14NOV21.  SCMP / Sam Tsang

News

Hong Kong

Society


Lessons from business leaders help students design, produce and sell more than 30,000 crackers
Project by Zubin Foundation and Irish Chamber of Commerce helps teens from different backgrounds interact



Lessons from Hong Kong business leaders help students design, produce and sell more than 30,000 crackers, raising funds for Zubin Foundation.


Christmas