A Curious Sponge

I returned to Hong Kong in the summer of 1988 after graduating from the University of Guelph.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but came across an RTHK TV show “Hong Kong Connection” that featured Mother’s Choice and was so moved by what I saw.  I immediately called to see if I could get involved, and they responded by asking me to visit them the following day. 

I vividly remember that first visit to the office in the Mid-Levels neighborhood on Hong Kong Island. I grew up on the Kowloon side and had never been to Hong Kong Island before. I thought I was very brave at the time! It really was a miracle that I found the office, as it was pouring rain that day and there were no clear paths or roads in the area around the office. 

I remember the interview as if it was yesterday, the room was full of foreigners and they were all very nice. I expected them to ask me about my studies, but instead they showed me the dormitory on the 2nd floor, where a few very young pregnant girls were living at the time. To be frank, the tour and interview were not very well organized, but I was still very impressed, touched and curious about what I saw. The girls in the dormitory did not understand a word of English, and the organizers tried very hard to talk to them in broken Cantonese. I thought to myself: “As a local born and raised in Hong Kong, I had no idea that this kind of service existed, so why do foreigners care about these girls so much?”

They offered me a volunteer job that day and asked me to come to work the next day! 

I forget how many days a week I worked at the time, but I remember every task I did including translation, taking the girls to the market, making hospital visits and cooking meals. The experience broadened my horizons and introduced me to a world I hadn’t experienced in my 20+ years of life. 

After only two months as a volunteer, I loved everything about Mother’s Choice and I had no interest in looking for another job, so I asked if they would hire me full-time. That’s how, in addition to becoming Mother’s Choice’s first local volunteer, I also became their first local employee! After becoming an official employee, I took on the job of counselor as well. This included counselling the girls, meeting with their parents, and accompanying them after the birth to bring the babies back to the Mother’s Choice childcare room. 

Originally taking care of babies was not part of my job, but I really loved the children, so I volunteered to do it by asking, “Can I move into the dormitory?”.  I really immersed myself in my work and every opportunity I got was the result of putting myself forward.

During the first few years, colleagues would often say to me, “Kit Ying, since you joined, you’ve been absorbing everything you saw, heard or experienced!”.  I think they expressed it perfectly – I was literally absorbing everything like a sponge!