Growing up poor in Hong Kong in the 1950s

Guest Post

As told by my friend Kwok ‘Ben’ Louie who now lives in New Mexico and spends time doing Habitat for Humanity builds.  As Ben notes, their backyard in Hong Kong was a botanic garden.  FYI – Back then, they still had biodiversity of wildlife and birds in parks.  Sounds like a tough life growing up by many Americans’ standards.  But obviously a good life.  Now read on –

To your question of have I ever been poor.
 
I grew up until the age of 11 or 12 in a one room apartment, my parents, 3 sisters and me.  My parents’ quarters consisted of a bed, two dressers at the corner of the room with a partition wall and a curtain that can be drawn to close off that area.  A square table sat in the middle of the floor which acted as a table for homework for the four of us and a dining table comes meal time. There was no flushing toilet, no heat, let alone air cond.  We had a radio but no TV, washer/dryer was unheard of. Cooking was done on 2 kerosene stoves in a shared kitchen away from the room.  
 
We walked to and from school, often in those incredible tropical downpours.  We so looked forward to our birthdays because on that day, the birthday boy or girl get to have corn flakes (such a novelty then) with real milk.  Because we didn’t have a refrigerator till later on, evaporated milk was the staple.
 
My parents had to struggle to put food on the table, but we had no idea then.  But incredibly, those were the happiest days of our childhood.  Those were the days when my sisters and I built this immense bond that will last and sustain us for the rest of our lives. There were no toys, we invented our own games which were so much more fun and enjoyable than kids have these days.  We lived about a 5 minutes’ walk to the botanical garden and that became our backyard.  Thinking back, we never envied the folks who had plenty. 
Having been poor gives one advantages, it provides a balanced perspective on life, gives you strength to draw on in hard times and an appreciation of what we have and how to use them.
 
My dad saved enough money for my first year of college.  I was dirt poor during my college years.  Worked one and a half full time jobs in summer and part time during school.  I’ve worked side by side with Mexicans picking cucumbers in the field under the blazing sun.  My date was a walk through the campus and then treated my date to a DingDong/Snowball (her choice of course) for a quarter in the Student Union.  I love my college days too.
 
Some of my highlights and I mean highlights to share with you.