School: St. Paul's Secondary School
    Hong Kong, Hong Kong, HKSAR (China)

6 students, ages 15-18 worked together to complete this CyberFair project on March 23, 2009. They have participated in CyberFair in the following year(s): 2007

Classes and Teachers: Mr. C. Lin, 6AA, 6AS, 4A1, 4S2

E-Mail contact:

Our School's Web Site: http://

1. Description of Our Community

Hong Kong is situated at the southeastern tip of China. As an international financial, trading and business center, Hong Kong is well known for its efficiency, transparency and fairness. Ever since the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997 and became a Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong has become a place to share the Chinese culture with the rest of the world and also a door for China to get to the world.

2. Summary of Our Project

The Financial Tsunami triggered by Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy hit the world badly. Many people including the rich and the poor are afraid that they will lose their business and jobs respectively. Under these circumstances, our trip to Sham Shui Po, the poorest district in Hong Kong, proves all the more worthwhile. We will go to Sham Shui Po and study the people’s lifestyles and find out how the people struggle against life. Even though the tenements, shops and stalls may not look overly crowded

3. Our Computer and Internet Access

A. Percentage of students using the Internet at home:more than 50%

B. Number of workstations with Internet access in the classroom:1

C. Connection speed used in the classroom:dedicated connection

D. Number of years our classroom has been connected to the Internet:more than 6

4. Problems We Had To Overcome

At the beginning of the project, we had too much information regarding poverty. We found them difficult to analyze and summarize. Luckily, we narrowed down the topic to just focusing on the poverty in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is an international financial city, there are still disadvantaged people who still live in caged home and have to queue for an hour for using toilet. In addition, we had problems in creating the flash comics. Apart from technical obstacles, it was difficult for us to convert ideas into pictures which is more readable. Fortunately, we solved the problems by having more meetings, and asked other schoolmates to give us comments.

5. Our Project Sound Bite

Our participation in International Schools CyberFair allows us to learn and practice our critical thinking skills through cooperation and doing project. The CyberFair provides a platform for us to share our ideas and opinions on poverty in Hong Kong to the people all over the world.

6. How did your activities and research for this CyberFair Project support standards, required coursework and curriculum standards?

Nowadays, more Hong Kong people concern about the Liberal Studies which encourages learners to be self-directed, interested in exploring a particular interest or range of interest that span the traditionally disciplines of history, social sciences, and the arts. Rather than majoring in a traditional discipline or subject, students will plan interdisciplinary program combing courses, directed studies, internships, and projects that reflect their own personal and professional view. We applied our I.T. skills learnt in school and creativity onto the web page designing. Through activities and research, we benefit a lot by interviewing famous people. We learnt that we have to be well prepared for every oncoming challenge. For example, before the interview with Miss Sze, Mr Chau and the children, we actually phoned the organization. We had done some research so that we can have a brief idea of what we were going to ask and to achieve a successful and fluent interview; and after the meeting with interviewees, we had got much inspiration from them. We further gathered data based on the interview and what we finally achieved has already gone beyond our expectation. Thanks for the facilities that the school had provided for us to get on the Internet. It offered us a tool for more effective researching, leading us to our destination.

1) What information tools & technologies did you used to complete your CyberFair project?

We used 3 to 5 computers in doing the project. Discussing current issues related to poverty in Hong Kong; gathering information in the mass media, like television programmes, newspapers, magazines and from reference books; interviewing famous people in the city, etc. All these activities had become our daily routine. We enjoyed our process and we made good use of soft wares, like Microsoft Frontpage, Windows Movie Maker, Flash to create an attractive web site; adding video of interview and colourful photos which were taken with a digital video camera to enhance the content of the site.

2) In what ways did you act as "ambassadors" and spokespersons for your CyberFair project both on-line and in person.

We act as ambassadors of global citizens. It is definitely worth to explore the current poverty situation the Hong Kong, especially during the financial crisis. Many people are being challenged by the impact of the financial tsunami, and, above all, have to face different levels of difficulties, such as losing jobs, pay cut and liquidation of business. We have to consider other minority of the society. Stock buyers and property owners stricken by the financial tsunami may lament over their hard luck, but what about those people who have little material comfort in their life? In fact, even thought they don’t have much material comfort, they still live positively and happily. People who are worrying their future and livings, should learn from them that life could be full of flying colors even with little materials. We started our mission by conducting interview with local people. Then, we spread our ideas and opinions with the rest of the world in our web site. We hope this can be impressive.

3) What has been the impact of your project on your community?

Through our web page, the local people will definitely pay more attention to the disadvantaged people. We hope our web page can help our people to think about the importance of helping others, live happily in a simple style, but not just concentrate in materialism.

4) How did your project involve other members of your community as helpers and volunteers?

We interviewed Miss Sze, a social worker and the community organizer of the Society for Community Organization (SoCO); Mr Chau who lives in Sham Shui Po for more than 20 years, and children from disadvantaged families. We first phoned SoCO and requested for conducting an interview. Right after the phone, SoCO accepted our request, and shared with us lots of knowledge concerning poverty in Hong Kong. We were glad and thankful that they had provided us with lots of useful information and advice.