The Road from Inferiority to Competence

Mason who left Evangel Children’s Home for more than 10 years, came back and visited the staff and friends here under his fiancee’s encouragement. He is vigorous and cheerful. He is now an actor.

In the beginning of the story
Everything here recalled his memory of overcoming inferiority. His father passed away and mother suffered from lupus when he was just 6 years old. “My mother cannot support our livings. I am the scapegoat since I am the youngest in my family.” His explanation makes us feel bitter. “On that day, she brought me to ECH. I was so excited to see such a big and comfortable sofa. I played on it for a long time without any awareness of her leaving until a staff came out to stop me. I feel a very deep feeling of being abandoned.”

Once I feel love
Mason felt inferiority afterward but he pushed himself to be tough. In fact, he was just a weak and little boy. He wept alone in his bed every night. “I remember that I wept very secretly at the night as usual. Suddenly, I felt a hand touched my face gently and wiped my tears slowly. Then, I was held in strong arms. He was Ah Hung ( House Parent of ECH). He brought me to his room quietly and took care of me all the night. Although it was just a subtle incidence, it was the first time I felt love.”

Self-identity in Teenager
He still felt inferiority when he was a teenager. “In order to adapt to my secondary school life and make fiends with others, I tried to do what they liked, such as smoking, saying dirty words, fighting. As a result, I was poor in academic performance. I would not reveal my family background and the living address in front of my classmate. When I was studying in Form 2, a guy trailed me and revealed that I was living in ECH. I felt really, really hurt and angry. I ended our relation and never trust anybody from that moment.”

I lost my focus
Mason’s mother gives him very significant influence. He misses her so much. She left in hurry without saying a “Goodbye” to him that made him so regretful. He left ECH when he was a Form 4 student. He had to work for supporting his family. When he saved enough money, he bought her mother a hi-fi and some music albums which were her favour. He hoped to be honored and praised but all was out of his expectations. He argued with her just for some minor incidences. She left home angry on that day; it was the last she spent with her mother. She died from Lupus suddenly.

Loneliness immersed everywhere in the hospital. He got loss outside the ICU. He wanted to cry but he couldn’t. The scenes of his mother came out repeatedly in his memory. I asked myself, ‘I have money. I have knowledge. But what good does it do? I have everything I want but just she has gone. How can I live for my life? What can my future be?’ He made his first deeply reflection in his life. He was sure that he had to live independent.

The journey of independence
He realized that good academic result and working experience were the basic requirement in job hunting. He repeated his HKCEE syllabus in daytime while took up a part-time job in the evening. However, he failed in HKCEE again. He was employed in a hotel as a swimming and physical trainer. In 1999, Asian economic bubble burst. He was fried while TVB, a Hong Kong famous broadcasting company, started its recruitment of actor. Mason applied for it. “I’ve been in the hotel business for long enough, and have seen people from all walks of life, and have learned to deal with them.” I think that this experience help me to understand more what the life is. I may have potentials to be a good actor.”

Life of Actor
He has been an actor for 8 years. It is too fast but his life is extraordinary calm. He is still loyal to his career. However, the show business is just a reflection of reality, less fame, less exposure, and less income. He has to cope with the pressure from different expectations. ‘In this entertainment industry, everyone may work like a dog once jobs come. If we can be free, we feel vague. I spent my time to pick up a Dipolma course of Business Management. In order to do the best in my job, I paid much effort in sharpen my skills such as script writing, performances, production, application of software,’ he said. Mason knows how and for what to live. Although he had been failed many times in his business, he became more experienced in the process. Today, he has finally achieved a sense of success.

Stand up! Mason
Mason wants to tell everyone living in ECH to be strong. ‘ECH is a wonderful family which brings him lots of happiness. I have a lot of playmates here. I remember that we rode bicycle and went roller-skating. Other children may not have such experiences. I can feel that ECH gave us a lot of contribution.’

Life is like a stage. It is very important for an artist to maintain self-awareness, to cope with emotion and to communicate his sentiment with the others. I hope to share with you, ‘I have to be independent and be part of the society. I do not have any mentors in my life but I will pay attention to the mature people and learn from them. I learnt to make use of existing resources to plan for future life steps by steps. Don’t give up. When there is insufficiency in your life, you must strive for it. Be strong to find your direction and develop your potentials.’

Mason found the way of competence in lots of difficulties finally

-End-

Food and Love

“Caring Christian, no experience necessary”, a recruitment advertisement for a cook by Evangel Children’s Home (ECH) had caught the attention of Fan, a girl seeking a way in the society’s changing economy. God brought her to ECH where she has found the correlation between food and love.

Common ingredients create delicacies

Unadorned taste without strange odor, freshness can be as good as gourmet. “My principle is to cook healthy, hygienic and without waste. Common ingredients can create delicacies. Children have different taste bud from adults. Adults love homemade dishes like eggplant and minced meat, bitter melon and beef, or sautéed pumpkin and meat would turn most kids away. Instead kids prefer fast-food rice dishes like pork in corn sauce, tomato and pork rice and spaghetti bolognaise. I hold no objection against fast-food. I want the children to enjoy the food rather than to wast it.”

Food and love

ECH is a special family when different employees take up the motherly role. Fan makes sure the 100 children are fed properly. Simple her job may seem but absolute indispensable. Inside a 300 square feet kitchen, she has to bear the furnace heat of summer and tap water in the cold of winter. “I remembered when I found my food in the garbage can while I was cleaning up the hostel, I felt so angry that I rushed to the home and scored them,” said Fan. “I felt painful because they wasted not just the food but my love to them.”

Meet children in just a little moment

In this small area, Fan and the children developed their relation in just a little moment. Everyday, children go to her kitchen to take away the food and some of them work as her helpers. They talked around the topic of eating and food during which they share their vision and wisdom of life. ‘In fact, children are not willing to wash dishes as well as cooking. I would say to the girls, “you will grow up one day and get married with your man. If you cannot cook anything. how can you take care of your family?” Also, I heard a boy commented my food. “I know Fan’s emotional status from her dishes.” I would not decline my professional standard even I felt worse. I could just say that he projected his feeling on my food.’

An unforgettable meal

Among all dishes, Fan cannot forget the meal prepared by a boy whom Fan has known since he was young, he invited the ECH staff for a meal after he had found a new home. All dishes he cooked were learnt from the home parents and Fan in ECH. “Though the vegetables was a little bit salty, and the steamed garlic prawn taste a little bit pale, we were very happy at that night,” said Fan. “The meal reminded us of the joys and sorrows, more than any gourmet could. I felt this kid has really grown up.”

Taste of home

“Memories may fade as we age, but the taste of home cooking is irreplaceable. A lot of grown up children who have left ECH would come into the kitchen when they come back on their visits, they would say to me that they miss my cooking very much!” I wish that once they think of my cooking, they would remember God’s love and give thank to their parents who have taken care of them, and to live life in its fullness. In these 14 years, God has let Fan to comprehend a mother’s love, and to let the children to have a taste of home, which they will never forget.

Sharing from ECH

To build up a family for our children is our core value. As a Chinese, it is very important to provide a meal at home during which family members communicate and build up relation. ECH believes that the art of cooking can be experienced only if we devote in the role of mother. Mother would pay attention to the feeling, health and financial states of her family members.