我為何要做社工

 

今年是我社工生涯的四十五週年。1971 年，我於港大社工系畢業，投入社工行業，不經不覺四十五載。最近一個部鬥主管訓練課程中，負責人要每個參加者講一件工作生涯中畢生難忘的趣事。我說：「當我大學畢業後，申請香港社會福利署工作，面試時，主考人問我，你為何要選擇讀社會工作。我毫不猶豫地說，因為社會工作系有助學金。這可保證我往後兩年衣食無缺，保證我一定有足夠學費完成大學課程。誰不知，我望見眼前三位老人家臉色一沉。結果，當其他人都被取錄時，我被放入後補名單。」訓練負責人問我，你可曾後悔？倘若有機會重答一次的話，你會怎樣回答？我說，此生無悔，答案始終一樣，因為這是真心話。

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其實，當我回顧這個經歷時，我領悟到我不能什麼時候都說真心話，說真心話是有代價，是要承擔後果的。但最重要的一課并不在此，這個我畢生難忘的經歷，給我上了社會工作學很重要的一課。

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我出生於香港一個貧窮的家庭，兄弟姊妹眾多，物質及感情生活都非常貧乏。父母為了供養這羣子女已經疲於奔命，更沒有精力及時間照顧我們的感情生活。還好的是，父母都知道我們唯一能擺脫貧困的出路是讀書。所以，他們都鼓勵我們要上大學。但是，這些都是主觀意願，實際客觀環境是，我們小學，中學，大學，都要靠免費學位，助學金等完成學業。這是為什麽助學金對我是那麽重要。它給我很大的安全感，使我知道我可以完成大學課程，我可以安心讀書而無後顧之憂。但是大部份能夠大學畢業的人，包括給我面試的三位老人家，亦包括部門主管培訓的負責人，都不能明白此點。在他們眼中，選科應該有高尚理想，要服務人羣。為區區助學金？是說笑？是對主考官的大不敬。太不成體統！

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社會工作一個很重要的概念，也是非常難學的功課，是同理心 (empathy)。這個概念很難翻譯為中文。其中一個我最喜歡的翻譯是「神入」。意思是你的精神要進入對方的世界，所以你要小心聆聽，明白，及發出共鳴，而且要全神投入。倘若做不到，你跟受助者可能相隔十萬九千里遠。你會不明白他為什麽這樣做，為什麼這樣傻，就像那三位主考官，與及那位培訓負責人。這是中產階級大學畢業社工與低下階層的受助者之間的鴻溝。

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1971年7月，我因為考不進社會福利署，便考進了香港戒毒會。當時入戒毒會最怕的，是要入石鼓洲戒毒中心。因為要住進這個小島戒毒所，是二十四 小時工作，二十四小時接觸戒毒者。上班第一天，錢總監把我們七八個新上班的帶到一個房間，要我們抽籤，輸了那一個就入石鼓洲。結果我輸了。錢總監把我帶出去見所有同事說：「廖先生很有專業精神，他自告奮勇入石鼓洲，請為他鼓掌。」

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石鼓洲戒毒中心是我的社工生涯的第一步。我懷着戰戰兢兢的心情踏上這個小島戒毒中心。但當我與個别人仕接觸，細心聆聽，發覺每個人都有一段的掙扎奮鬥，每個人都有不同程度前路茫茫的感覺。在談話當中，我感覺到曾幾何時，這條路我也曾經走過。同理心 (empathy), 就是我能夠對他們的掙扎奮鬥表示讚賞，對那茫茫前路一同感覺到人生的無奈，舆他探討如何走出這個困局。不多時，很多院友都主動的找我傾談。從中擴闊了我的眼界，體驗有血有肉的人生。正是因為這樣，我無悔地留在這個專業差不多半個世紀。

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1990 年我移民加拿大，1991 年我進入加拿大藥癮研究中心做小組輔導，再次體驗那有血有肉的人生。還記得有一次一個街頭惡霸談到自己身世時，這個大男人突然熱淚盈眶，哭訴說他並不喜歡打打殺殺，他這樣只是為了要能在街頭上生存。另一次，一位女士梨花帶雨地哭訢以前如何被人強姦欺負，最後流落街頭。突然，另一位男組員跑回宿舍，帶回一本聖經，給她誦讀詩篇23 篇。全組人都大為感動。

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這正是社會工作吸引我的地方。它讓我體驗有血有肉的人生，讓我在罪惡當中，能見到人的真善美。當那個組員誦讀詩篇23篇的時候，刹那間，我在人的罪性，人的軟弱當中我見到神的形象，神的榮光。

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我感謝神，沒有讓我一生一帆風順，卻給我荊棘滿途，讓我能存謙卑的心，讓我接受生命的不完美，讓我能欣賞人在不完美的人生中的掙扎，奮鬥，能夠在人的罪性軟弱中瞥見神的恩典。

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感謝神賜路旁玫瑰，感謝神玫瑰有刺！

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寫於 2016 年

錄自 廖廣源著 《摘星足印》

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Why Did I Choose Social Work

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Recently, the Organization organized a staff development program for department heads.  The facilitator asked everyone to talk about an unforgettable incident in their career.  I told them that when I grauated from the university, I applied to the Social Welfare Department of the Hong Kong Government.  At the job interview, one of the interviewers asked me why I chose Social Work.  Without any hesitation, I told them it was because the Social Work Department offered me a bursary.  With the bursary, I was sure that I would have enough resources to finish my University education.  But apparently, my answer scandalized the interviewers.  As a result, when everyone were hired, I was put on the waiting list.  The training facilitator asked me if I ever regretted what I said and if I were given a chance to answer this question again, what would I say.  I said，"I have no regret! The answer will be the same, because what I said was true."

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When I looked back, I realized that there were times I cannot tell the truth.  There is a price to pay for telling the truth.

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But this was not the most important lesson I learnt.  This unforgettable experience taught me a very important lesson in Social Work.

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I was born to a poor family in Hong Kong.  My parents had eight children.  Putting food on the table was already a big challenge, never mind attending to their emotional needs.  Fortunately, my parents knew that the only way for us to get out of poverty is to have a good education. So they encouraged us to get to the university.  Nevertheless, this was their subjective wish.  The objective reality is, we all have to depend on government subsidies and bursaries to finish our elementary school, high school and college education.  That was why the bursary was so important to me.  It gave me a sense of security.  With it, I was assured that I could finish my university education.  I could concentrate on my studies without worries.  However, most of those people who could afford finishing university education couldnot understand this.  This included the training facilitator and the Social Welfare Department interviewers.  To them, I should have a high vision in choosing Social Work.  I should tell them that I chose Social Work because I wanted to serve the community and to serve the poor.  Choosing Social Work because of that small government grant?  I must be kidding.  It was so disrespectful to the interview and the interviewers.

 

There is one very important concept in Social Work that a lot of students found it difficult to grasp - EMPATHY.  That means you have to get into the world of your client.  You have to listen very carefully, to understand and to give your sympathetic response.  You have to totally immerse into the client's world.  If you can't do this, you and your clients will be a world apart.  You won't appreciate what they are doing, why are they doing stupid things.  That's just like the Social Welfare Department interviewers and the training facilitator.  That is also the big gulf between the middle class university graduate social workers and the lower class clients they serve.

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In July 1971, because I failed the Social Welfare Department interview, I got into the Society for the Aid and Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers (SARDA).  For new graduates, one thing they don't like SARDA is that you may be assigned to the Shek Kwu Chau Rehabilitation Centre, which is situated on a remote island.  That means it is 24 hours work.  You have to face the residents 24 hours a day.  On the first day at SARDA, the superintendent called all the new recruits into a room and asked us to draw lots.  The one who lost would go to Shek Kwu Chau. Unfortunately, I lost.  The Superintendent took me to all the staff and said to them: Mr. Liu is very professional.  He volunteers to go to Shek Kwu Chau. Let us give him a big hand.

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Shek Kwu Chau was my first step in my Social Work journey.  When I first stepped onto this island rehabilitation centre, I had no idea what lied ahead of me.  But when I talked with individual clients, and as I listened carefully, I discovered that each of them had a unique history of struggle.  Each of them had a feeling of loss on their journey.  During the conversation, I had a feeling that somewhere in time, I had also travelled this path. Empathy, is when you can appreciate the efforts they have put into their struggles, you experience with them the loss and powerlessness in face of the path in life, and you work with them together to find a way out of their predicament.  Very soon, a lot of residents took the initiation to talk to me.  These conversations opened up my eyes,   let me see what life truly is, the flesh and blood in life.  Because of this, I stayed in this profession for almost half a century, with no regret.

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I immigrated to Canada in 1990.  In 1991, I joined the then Addiction Research Foundation as a group therapist.  There, I experienced the real life again.  At one time, a big bully on the street talked about his history.  Suddenly, his eyes were full of tears and a big bully started to cry like a baby.  He told the group he was so sick of street life which was full of violence.  He didn't like violence.  That was not him.  But in order to survive on the street, he has to put up a front.  Another time, a young lady was crying, telling the group how she was raped repeatedly and bullied, and in the end, she ended up on the street.  Suddenly, a boy rushed back to the dormitory and got back with a bible and read to her Psalm 23 - My Lord is my shepherd.  Everyone was so touched by the move.

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This is where social work attracted me.  It led me to experience a life so true, so full of flesh and blood.  There, in the midst of human sin and failure, I can see the truth, the beauty of humanity.  When the boy read out Psalm 23, in a moment and in the midst of human sin and failure, I saw GOD's image and GOD's grace.

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God hasn't given me a road smooth and wide.  Instead, he gave me a road bumpy and full of thorns.  But through this, I can keep a humble heart to accept that life is not perfect.  In this journey of imperfect life, He helped me appreciate human suffering and struggle, and in the midst human failures, I can get a glimpse of God's grace.

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Thank you God.  Thanks for the roses by the way-side.  Thanks for the thorns their stems contain!

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Translated from the first chapter of my book, My Footprints 摘星足印