Caritas to expand its services, reaches out to ethnic groups

Paul Pun, secretary general of Caritas Macau

Caritas Macau is set to launch a new center next month to provide essential support services to ethnic minority groups in the territory.

According to Paul Pun, Caritas Macau secretary general, the charity outreach aims to expand its services to reach out to the growing minority groups.

Welancer Center will continually host Caritas’ quarterly legal seminars on topics such as labor relations law and minimum wage discussions in partnership with the Philippine Consulate.

Caritas has also been running an Overseas Laborer Service to provide necessary support to migrant workers.

“We will continue our work [on hosting] legal seminars, social adjustment program, some counseling services [and] also networking services for them,” he told the Times through a phone interview.

He added that they are also looking into hosting cultural activities for ethnic groups.

The center will also focus on assisting the non-Chinese speaking community in adapting to the local culture, so that the migrant workers will gain a sense of belonging to the region.

As language barriers are one of the main difficulties the groups face, Pun hopes that the new center will assist the migrant workers in being integrated into the local culture and lifestyle.

“Some of them [also] face marital problems, problems with the neighborhood and landlords,” he noted, adding that they would also assist migrant workers in communicating with property-owners.

Welancer Center, which has a budget of MOP2 million, is set to accommodate both residents and non-residents. According to Pun, there are still several permanent residents who are estranged in Macau. LV