In the last few months, the 5th wave of COVID overwhelmed our city and turned our lives upside down.  Now memories of tragic images start to fade as our lives have resumed some normalcy.  Yet, as we celebrate, the future of millions of vulnerable children in Hong Kong and around the world is hanging in the balance.  What we are seeing is that children’s health, nutrition, learning, and wellbeing have been devastated.

To Save the Children, the COVID crisis is a children’s crisis.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has forced schools around the world to shut their doors to over 1.6 billion learners at its peak. For the first time in human history, an entire generation has had their education disrupted. We have also witnessed the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic, which has no doubt pushed more families into poverty.  For too many children, a parent losing his or her income means children go hungry, and increased pressures and stress on families mean that children may experience more violence.

In Hong Kong, one-fifth of our children live below the poverty line.  Parents from grassroot families who live in sub-divided flats have told us that they are struggling to make ends meet.  They are most worried about children’s education as their limited physical space and access to digital technologies are not conducive to online learning.  They also worry about their children’s social and emotional health with home confinement.  The Social Welfare department’s figures show an increase of 45% in the number of child abuse cases from 2020 to 2021, a worrying trend for all.

For the most deprived children around the world, the impacts of the pandemic threaten to be catastrophic and life-altering.  Save the Children conducted a large-scale survey with over 45,000 parents and children across 46 countries in 2020.  The results were devastating:

• More than two-thirds of households reported a loss of more than half of their income since the start of the pandemic; Out of these, four in five were struggling to pay for food;

• More than 8 in 10 children felt that they were learning “a little” or “nothing at all” during school closures;

• Nearly one-third of the households had a child and/or adult reporting that violence had occurred in the home, including physical or verbal abuse

The most vulnerable children include those that have been pushed into poverty, refugee children who live in overcrowded camps, adolescent girls who now face an increased risk of gender-based violence, and children with disabilities who already struggle to access inclusive education opportunities.

Here’s what some children have told us about their experience with COVID-19:

• A Form 6 student in Hong Kong: “We haven’t learned much at all this year.  First, there was the protest and school was interrupted.  Then after Chinese New Year, schools are closed again with the COVID outbreak.  I’m nervous about the DSE exam.  It’s life and death for me.  If I don’t do well, my future will be ruined.” 

• 12-year-old girl in Colombia: “My family and I are on the streets because we don’t have money for rent, and my parents don’t have money to feed me and my siblings, especially my younger 3-year-old brother who is still small and needs to eat.” 

• 17-year old disabled boy in Indonesia: “When my teacher informed me that the school is closed because of COVID-19, I thought it would be holiday time. Then I realised that I misunderstood the message. Deaf children like me have difficulty understanding new words or sentences. I couldn’t read people’s lips when they were explaining about COVID-19 as they wear face masks.”

• 12 years old girl in Kenya: “Worried about learning, the fear of being infected, fear of being married if school closure continues.” 

At Save the Children, we believe that every child deserves a future.  Children need our help now more than ever.  My dear fellow Hong Kongers, we all have the power to make a difference, no matter how big or small.  Thank you for your generosity.  Thank you for caring for the most vulnerable children in Hong Kong and around the world.