街坊的排檔

While market stalls selling clothes, watches or toys should be no stranger to you, non-profit market stalls are extremely rare. There happens to be one… Located in Yau Ma Tei, this market stall called “Kai Fong Pai Dong” is open only once a week. Whenever it is open, residents of the neighbourhood will gather around the stall and have fun chatting with each other. Mostly donated by the residents or kind people, the items are sold at prices freely determined by customers, so as to provide them with an opportunity to ponder the “use value” of things. Kai Fong Pai Dong presents an array of regular activities every month, including film screenings, sweet soup gatherings and street storytelling events, all of which make it look more like a community centre that welcomes everyone than a shop. Although many people did not quite understand the intention of the members running Kai Fong Pai Dong at first, people are now gradually aware of their effort and even “complain” that one gathering a week is not enough. In the past two years, a trusting, intimate relationship within the community has been developed naturally. This kind of connection may be difficult to imagine in Hong Kong nowadays, but as long as we are serious about staying connected and pulling together our strength, a broken relationship can be mended, and a lost community can reappear.

賣衣服賣錶賣玩具的排檔，大家應該見得多，但不為賺錢的排檔，卻是絕無僅有，只此一家…… 這個名叫「街坊排檔」的攤檔位於油麻地，每星期只開檔一次。然而，每次開檔時，街坊都會到此一聚，聊天說笑。檔內的物品多由街坊或有心人捐出，並以自由定價的方式出售，讓街坊有機會深入思考物品的「使用價值」。 「街坊排檔」每個月都會舉辦不少定期活動，例如放映會、糖水會、街頭故事分享等，所以它不像商店，反而更像一所歡迎任何人的社區中心。不少街坊最初並不理解排檔成員的用意，後來才漸漸明白他們的心思，更「投訴」每星期一次的相聚時間太少。兩年以來，一種親密互信的社區關係油然而生。這種連結在當下的香港或許匪夷所思，但原來只要有心維繫，結集力氣，不但破裂的關係可以修補，就連消失的社區也可能重現。