Leaving no one behind – a commitment to serve at all times
The Salvation Army has always been responding to the community needs actively, and supporting those in need across Hong Kong with all our hearts during the most intense pandemic days. With or without the pandemic, the Army is dedicated to serving everyone with no exception.
Have you experienced being tested positive or put in quarantine during the pandemic? It could make us feel abandoned and the loneliness could be unbearable. But have you ever noticed that there are always people who are ready to support and help you?
‘The boys in our home once thought that the pandemic was so far away from them. But they realised it was not true, as they saw their roommates began to show symptoms or tested positive one by one, then our colleagues who took care of them were infected, and finally they themselves needed to quarantine as well.’ That was an unsettling period for the boys according to the Superintendent of The Salvation Army Wan Tsui Home for Boys.
Wan Tsui Home for Boys provides accommodation mainly for young people aged 11 to 18 who are in need. In the fifth wave of pandemic, the Home’s colleagues were under great pressure as they needed to take care of the boys and ease their anxiety and worries. Despite the lack of manpower, colleagues insisted to accompany the unwell boys to the emergency room and went through many hard nights together, doing their best to maintain the operation of the Home. When panic buying began to spread in the community, the Home’s team tried their utmost to keep enough food stock, ensuring every one of the boys could have nutritious breakfast and balanced intake. Later, when the pandemic eased, the team prepared healing diets to help the boys to have a quick recovery; they also nudged the boys to do homework and helped them to catch up on lost learning.
‘In the past, these boys were prone to throwing tantrum. But after the fifth wave of pandemic, they can feel they are deeply cared for and loved, and they have become willing to accept care and actively work with us, which is very encouraging for us.’ The colleagues of Wan Tsui Home have always been devotedly keeping the place as a safe home for the boys, the home they all cherish greatly.
