This weekend will see a Christmas celebration for one of the Federation's most successful sponsored outreach programmes. Project Pretty has been running since 2006 with the backing of Operation Santa Claus. This pioneer, custom-designed plan has benefited nearly 200 girls at risk. The idea was to really concentrate on this sensitive, vulnerable group, often neglected by other outreach programmes.

They were offered training in cookery, beauty and makeup, free health checks and sex education, courses on photography, juggling, kick-boxing and hip-hop dance. These gave them basic skills, helped them see where career paths might lie and boosted self-confidence:

I didn't want people laughing at me kick-boxing, then I realized I was quite good at it… said Trista.

Young girls like this often lack self-confidence and direction, commented Lam Yin-wah, a Federation social worker at Tin Yuet Youth SPOT in the now notorious 'City of Sadness'.

Many of them think nothing of a night on drugs leading to casual sex without contraception. When things go wrong they look for alternatives to legal abortion:

There is no doubt that the specialized programmes of Project Pretty could rebuild the teenage girls’ self confidence and self image. They can regain their sense of self worth through participation and by performing in various shows in the community. This was the precious path they followed towards reintegration.

A survey of 509 young people aged 12-29, was conducted from 29 November to 8 December this year. It found that 17% would go on a one-night stand during the festive season. This was particularly true of older, working males in the sample group. Close to 42% agreed that Christmas should be spent with their intimate partner.

Federation supervisor, Hsu Siu-man, said the Christmas party atmosphere could relax young people and fuel their desire for intimate contact:

Some teenagers might offer sex as a Christmas present to their partner […but…] they really should know the consequences of their acts before making any rash decisions.

Every Christmas, the Federation’s hotline receives about 350 calls about pregnancy, sexual diseases and relationship problems, over triple the number of such calls during the rest of the year. The Youth Counselling Centre is running a new service over the holidays to try to cope with the demand.MSN will be the medium and in the first week alone there have been almost 100 questions.

About 30% of the poll survey respondents said they found the idea of breaking up during festive season either "unacceptable" or "totally unacceptable" with most saying that they did not want to spoil the festivities or be irritable during the holidays. Nonetheless, more than 60% thought it was all right to break up during the festive season, with most of these saying that one could break up a relationship anytime it felt right time to do so.

Concerning the best method of ending a relationship, more 41% said that they would do it in person. This was the largest group of responses. However, almost 15 % thought sending an MSN or email was the most painless way of breaking up.

When asked who they would turn to if they had love life issues which they could not handle, almost three-quarters said that they would turn to their peers for help. Only a very few would ask for help from family members. Moreover, even though over half said that they would talk about their love life to their family, over 40% would not do so.

On the subject of buying presents to show their affection, close to two-thirds expected to buy presents for their partners as an expression of love and affection this Christmas. The majority said they would spend less that $500 on such gifts.

However, just over a quarter of the respondents took the view that, 'the more expensive my present, the more precious I am to my partner.' 19% also agreed that if they bought a more expensive present for their partner it would send a message that he/she was more precious to them.

When asked to rate the importance of "money" in sustaining love, respondents gave an average of 5 points out of a possible 10.

Chinese press release at: http://www.hkfyg.org.hk/yrc/chinese/yr-p169c.html