Timely donation for "Breakthrough" Project
"Operation Breakthrough", a police
project to provide guidance to
children-at-risk through vigorous sporting
activities, has received a much needed donation of $500,000.
The donation will provide adventure-training courses for children from Wong Tai Sin (WTS),Yuen Long (YL) and Tuen Mun (TM), many from under-privileged background, who otherwise would not be able to afford such
training.
The funds have been raised through a boxing event organised by Mr Roger Perrin, a local businessman who is also a member of the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) and leader of the Scottish Business Group. The BCC has also rendered assistance to the boxing event.
Chief Superintendent Ian Seabourne,
Superintendents Danny Lawley and Barry Smith, and Senior Inspector David Ng spawned the initiative of "Operation Breakthrough" in Tuen Mun District in 1998. All of them have remained the mainstays of the project to this day.
At the outset, boxing was taught but this has now been enhanced by rugby coaching through the efforts of Senior Superintendent Roderick Colson, Superintendent Matthew Lindsay, and Mr Robbie McRobbie (former officer). An Executive Committee chaired by Mr Seabourne now oversees the project, which operates in WTS, YL and TM districts.
Initially the children-at-risk were selected after completion of a weekend adventure-
training course at Tai Mei Tuk run by Mr
Lawley and Mr Smith in their free time, assisted by about 15 serving police officers and social workers. However, given current force
exigencies, and the fact that other sports are being developed involving many more children, this option has become untenable. Therefore, as a result of a re-evaluation of the scheme "Outward Bound" Hong Kong was brought in to conduct adventure training. Children are only selected for this parts of the scheme after
participation in sports for three months. Police officers still attend these courses to hold mentor sessions with the children to continue to build relationships and steer them from a life of crime. However, these courses are very expensive to run costing $5,000 per child for a 10-day course, so the Executive Committee sought private sponsorship.
In WTS District, 25 boys have been
identified to participate in the scheme. They meet at WTS Police Station each Wednesday and are escorted to PSRC where they join boys from YL District and are taught rugby by the HKRFU staff. In the summer, a number of these boys will be selected to attend Outward Bound courses. Reports from teachers indicate that there has been an improvement in the attitudes of the boys attending "Breakthrough" in WTS since the scheme commenced. Schools in the district have been very supportive of the "Breakthrough" project.
Undergoing rugby training