Operation Santa Claus: Hong Kong centre offers free care for disabled people ‘from cradle to grave’
- Some of the Home of Loving Faithfulness residents such as Fung Tai and Fu Fu have spent more than half a century there
- HOLF saw a HK$1.2 million drop in donations last year compared with 2021 after long-time donors either died or left Hong Kong.
Fung Tai*, a 72-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, held on to a red leather purse as she sat in a wheelchair at a facility for people with disabilities in Hong Kong.
She broke into a radiant smile as soon as she saw acting coordinating superintendent Gretchen Ryan and senior manager Wenda Wong Pui-ying of the Home of Loving Faithfulness (HOLF) in Sheung Shui walk into the common room.
“She always has her handbag,” Ryan said. “A long-time volunteer brought back a Christmas gift for her recently. I’m holding it for her, and it will be a handbag.”
The home’s oldest resident has been living in HOLF for 57 years. That is not unusual.
Next to her in a wheelchair sat 55-year-old Ping Tsui*, who is blind, has cerebral palsy and has been there since the age of five.
Che Kin*, 53, was also aged five when admitted to the home with Down syndrome.
But HOLF’s longest resident is 64-year-old Fu Chen*, who suffers from cerebral palsy and requires 24-hour care. He has lived there for 58 years.
