Hanging out near theInternational Finance
Centre on the waterfront of Hong Kong`s central districtrevealed to me how rich and modern the former British colony is. The centreconsists of two skyscrapers and the 55-storey Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong.Based on its structural heights, the centre is the eighth-tallest officebuilding in the world.
I happened to be right therein June 2014 all the way from the heart of Africa in Rwanda. As I enteredinside the centre, I found myself in a “rich man's world” environment. It was my first time of discovering one placefilled with shopping malls representing the major world class brands.
IFC is alsohome to banking services which Hong Kong is well known for but also theright place for avid shoppers with big budgets.
People inside the IFC aresmartly dressed and are all rushing somewhere busily checking their smart phones.I was just overwhelmed by the people and the place I was contemplating. As Iwas touring the building in awe, I unexpectedly discovered another world whichbrought me back to reality. To my surprise not everyone inside the building washappy enjoying the best that life has to offer.
One floor of the IFC wasoccupied by a number of tents with a number of chairs around them. Placards with theinscription “Refugees Occupancy Central to fight corruption” were hanging allover the floor.
I concluded that this is definitely something I needed to findout about as a curious visitor. I approached the group of asylum seekers from Africaand Asia to introduce myself.
As I was a new African facein town, they mistakenly thought that I was looking for information to applyfor asylum. I found myself speaking with Peter Maina from Kenya so it was easyfor me as we started talking in Swahili, a language widely spoken in EastAfrica.
He told me that asylum seekers undertheir umbrella organization "Refugee Union" were occupying the InternationalFinancial Centre to protest against “end of corruption in Welfare services”.
On 2014 World Refugee Day, asylumseekers protested for the “end of cruel and inhumane treatment, sufficientwelfare and the right to work, end to exploitation by International Social Service–Hong Kong".
They told me that they were not happy with incarceration of asylumseekers as they were gearing towards asking for respect of refugees' rightsfrom the Hong Kong government.
As I was enjoying my stay at Ramadahotel, I kept reminding myself that not everyone in Hong Kong is enjoying life, but I decided not to focus my attention on asylum seekers because I had nopower to change their plight. I instead turned my attention to the main purposeof my visit.
I had gone to participate in the 2014 New Now Next Media conferenceat Hong Kong University. The first function I attended was as a foreign club correspondentwhere I had an opportunity to meet famous journalists from CNN, Wall StreetJournal and BBC Asia.
We concluded that night having a Chinese dinner whichtasted 'yummy'!
After my one week stay, I went back homewith a sense of joy mixed with a sentiment of sympathy towards Hong Kong asylumseekers. Most of them left theirhome countries to seek protection and hopefully a better life. Instead theirdays were filled with anger and uncertainty. I concluded that unfortunately Hong Kong wealth andprosperity is not for everyone to grab.
