Hong Kong florist helps prisoners send Christmas gifts

Samantha burst into tears when she opened the field from florist Elise Ip on Christmas Day. It was a shock present from her boyfriend, in custody for becoming a member of final yr’s Hong Kong protests.

“She loves canines however she loves me extra,” he had written on a paper slip despatched from a detention centre and relayed to Ip by way of a prisoner assist group organised by former social welfare legislator Shiu Ka-chun.

After studying it, Ip discovered Samantha, who wished to make use of a pseudonym, a cactus within the form of a pet’s head.

“Receiving it is a nice assist to me,” Samantha informed AFP.

“These in custody don’t actually have alternatives to ship flowers or presents to us.”

Samantha is one in all greater than 50 relations and associates who’ve acquired presents ordered behind bars and ready by Ip, who initiated the free “Ship Flowers With You” undertaking in July.

“I hoped it could make folks inside and out of doors the prisons really feel nearer to one another,” Ip informed AFP.

“With each story informed in every supply, I additionally want to remind the world that many have sacrificed their regular and glad life for town.”

Greater than 10,000 folks in Hong Kong have been arrested and hundreds prosecuted for becoming a member of the huge, typically violent pro-democracy protests that convulsed the Asian monetary centre for seven months from June 2019.

The variety of these remanded has been rising, and defending prisoners’ rights has grow to be more and more troublesome after pro-democratic legislators had been pressured out of town’s legislature. Authorities have additionally tightened guidelines round official visits.

Shiu, who used to signify the social welfare sector within the legislature, fashioned a priority group, “Wall-Fare”, earlier this yr.

The group offers companies like pen pal matching, flower and snack supply, and helps contact relations of individuals in jail.