Macao refugees swim from China

By DOUGLAS DAVIS
THEY come in junks and sampans. Some even swim. Refugees . . . men, women, their children and babies. Some are old and disabled, others hungry and diseased. They come from China to a tiny Portuguese peninsula just off the Chinese mainland.
Macao. Five square miles of decay and squalor. Once it had a population of 50,000. Today it is crowded with more than a quarter of a million people. Every month about 1,000 refugees attempt to swim or smuggle their way across the Chinese patrolled waters-only about 300 survive.
The few who do manage to scramble ashore in Macao are directed across a plaza of ancient cobblestones to the heart of Macao-to the unpretentious compound of Casa Ricci where a Jesuit priest, Fr. Luis Ruiz, has established a refugee relief centre.
Here, they are registered and supplied with a few basic items: A blanket, a bar of soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, some clothing and a tenday ticket for free meals.
In 1961, Fr. Ruiz made his first appeal for aid to Oxfam; by the end of the year he received a grant for £1,500, At the time, refugees were streaming into Macao. Many were old or disabled or blind and could not work. The children could not work and neither could many of the women.
Even for those who could work, employment was scarce in Macao. There was little industry and few opportunities for jobs. For the able-bodied and skilled, work became a privilege which few were able to enjoy.
For many years the main industry in Macao has been the manufacture of fireworks. This is largely a domestic industry and many of the older women and widows make the fire-cracker cases in their tenement slums. Hundreds of other refugees arc introduced by Fr. RD1z to bead and sequin work and embroidery for the Hong Kong and American markets.
For many who cannot find permanent employment, there are fruit and vegetables, newspapers, magazines, ice creams and sweets to be sold on street
corners. Some work at shoe cleaning stands and others hire out bicycles and pedicabs.
Fr. Ruiz has helped with the initial capital for most of these activities and has also assisted the blind who sell peanuts and brushes. He has helped buy tools for itinerant cobbler s, tinkers, knife grinders, masons, painters, as well as equipment and medical supplies for doctors,
Yet, in this small enclave on the south China coast, hundreds of letters continue to pour into Casa Ricci: "Dear Fr. Ruiz, I am a sick and old old man, 70 years of age. Both my legs are soft and I cannot walk. I cannot work and have nobody to depend upon, therefore my living is in desperation. I cannot appeal to anyone for help except to you. Please have mercy on me ...'' Another letter, this time from a small boy. told Fr. Ruiz simply that "Mummy is sick for more than one and half months, she cannot work to support our living. Daddy died long ago and nobody supports us. Our living is very difficult and hardship. Please help us . ."
Typical, too, of thousands of refugees in Macau, is Lau Tuem Lam. Lau is 39 years old. married and has five children. Lau is also blind and has to earn his "living" by begging and singing on street corners. This, according to Fr. Ruiz, "is most unsatisfactory
and not at all lucrative in Macao."
The blind who are physically fit are sent to the blind training centre to learn to make rattan ware, fire-crackers and knitted articles. For some who have been trained, jobs are found in industry, but for the untrained, the struggle to live is long and difficult,
Since 1961, Oxfam has assisted Fr, Ruiz with about £30,000 in keeping tens of thousands of refugees alive by giving them temporary relief in the form of basic economic needs . . . food, shelter and clothing.
But while this is vital for keeping people alive, it is not sufficient to sustain them. Something more is needed to supplement this: Development programmes and education programmes are just as vital to give security and skill to the destitute and unskilled so that in the future they will be self-sufficient without relying on aid and charity.
Another Jesuit priest and colleague of Fr. Ruiz had just this idea when he was sent to Macao from the United States in the early 1960s.
"The bread hand-out and alms are necessary for the helpless, sick and old and as emergency relief," said Fr. Patrick Shaules. "But as a charity programme to relieve the poor. it went out with the horse and buggy."
Fr. Shaules' plan for teach ing "personal responsibility and human dignity" has now become a reality. In 1962, he sent his first request for aid to Oxfam, asking for £400 to start a small workshop so that the destitute refugees would have a chance to work and be trained, The local government in Macao had given three rooms free of charge which were ideally situated in the refugee reception centre. Soon, piecework was obtained from a number of local firms and a short while later, knitted garments, crochet work, babies clothes and woodwork were being produced.
The pilot scheme was so successful that after six months, 60 trainees were busily employed and some American Government f unds were approved to help with the running costs of the expanding workshops.
By the summer of 1964, new orders were arriving and new working capital was needed. Oxfam made a further grant of £3,570 and by the end of March 1965, the number of trainee workers had jumped to 500.
A few months later an electronics section was added with 15 new students and many more on the Waiting list. By the end of 1965, three years after the first workshop was started, over 1,000 refugees had been made self-supporting.