Meet the handyman who serves the neediest in Hong Kong

It all began about five years ago, when Ivan Chan Hon-man visited a complete stranger living alone at a public housing estate to fix some broken home appliances and furniture for free.

As someone with a renovation background, Chan was just lending a helping hand to the elderly.

At the time, he was running a renovations company that refurbished the offices of non-government organisations. His clients appreciated his work and had referred him to individuals who needed help with their homes but did not have the money to pay for it.

From there, requests for help from the elderly snowballed. To cope with the demand, Chan asked his friends to join him. Together, they expanded their work to reach others who needed help, including the disabled and low-income families.

In 2015 Chan officially established Repair Fairy with the mission to improve the homes of the poorest Hongkongers. Now 39, he has a team of about 1,000 volunteers.

Before going into homes and carrying out repairs, all the volunteers are trained by Chan or one of his co-workers for five hours to learn basic repair and refurbishment skills.