For this father and daughter duo, philanthropy is a form of family bonding
In Hong Kong, a dad and daughter serve more than meals: they serve community, care and the human connection the city often forgets
Guess how old she is,” says Naveen Sadhwani – who goes by Nick – gesturing towards a sprightly street cleaner we have just finished chatting with after handing her a meal of stir-fried noodles, a sponge cake, a bottle of water and a mooncake, this being just before the Mid-Autumn Festival. She’d beamed at us, alert, cheerful and radiating optimism. “Sixty or 70?” I guess, struck by her lively demeanour and upright posture. “Seventy-five?” offers another volunteer.
Nick smiles. “She’s 85.”
We all gasp, both impressed and heartbroken. Well into her 80s, she spends her afternoons and evenings – from 2.30pm to 11.00pm – cleaning the streets of a city that rarely notices her or the countless other hardworking cleaners who keep Hong Kong running. The moment crystallises the paradox of the city: a place of dazzling energy and obscene wealth, sustained by the invisible labour of those who go largely unseen.
