Chak Ching Ha (Chak Jei) has been a house parent at Esther House (for secondary school girl residents) for 14 years and has been in contact with the lives of hundreds of children. The supporting and developing process is both joyful and sad. As she is about to retire, she looks back to the past, learns from each other with the heart of Christ, and teaches her children the way to go with the word of God. “Only by opening up one’s own life can you touch the lives of children; only if you are more childlike can you have a heart with them.” This is the key to her relationship with her children.
Chak Jei described that she dislike being restrained or disciplined. At the beginning of the transition from the garment industry to the job market, she had to adapt to the position of “house parent” and take care of children who were full of thorny, rebellious, and emotional. She was more relaxed than other parents. She plays with her children like friends, listens to the girls’ hearts, and the children accepts it. She also opens her home to welcome the children to play, pray and read the Bible. Even after their leaving the home, she often contacts them as a caregiver and continues to be their pal.
“Surrogate” Parent and the Real Parent – Cheuk Yin
Cheuk Yin, the first child she came into contact with after joining the job, impressed her most. She is dependent on her personality and often clings to Chak Jei, which leads to eccentric misunderstandings, but a child redressed her: “As long as she takes the initiative to find Chak Jei, she will not refuse, but girls are not aware to turn to her.” It shows that the children love her very much! Chak Jei sees great importance to caring for the soul and invites Cheuk Yin and her family to go to church to reconcile the relationship with her family through God’s love. The past pains are healed by God and life is no longer the same. Cheuk Yin regards Chak Jei as another Mom; this “parent” witnessed her dating, getting married, and having children.
Cheuk Yin (left) and Chak Jei (right) in secondary school daysCheuk Yin (first on the left) sees Chak Jei and her husband (Right) as parent, insists to serve tea ceremony on wedding day
Chak Jei hugs granddaughter (Cheuk Yin‘s daughter) happily
Finally Grown Up – Mei (alias)
After leaving children home, Mei lived in public housing but was unable to live independently. She often called back our children home to threaten with her “suicide” attempt. Chak Jei worried about Mei’s future, but she can only pray for her and accompany her. She is grateful that Mei has become active after participating in the training course. She has a stable job and learns about financial management. Recently, she plans to open a restaurant and looks forward to seeing Chak Jei’s presence at the opening. She felt so relieved to witness Mei’s improvement.
Sorrowful Time – Ah Sze (alias)
Chak Jei knew that Sze could not keep up with her studies, but she was interested in beauty and she found a course for her. The child was very happy having a way out. But her mother determined that she was not serious, regarded this as a waste of money, and insisted not to sign. Ah Sze felt very angry. Because she was not trusted, she went astray after leaving Evangel Children’s Home at the age of 18: drug abuse, premature marriage and early pregnancy, divorce, child abandonment…like repeating the path of the previous generation. It was all because of one decision that changed Sze’s life.
Chak Jei still feels distressed whenever she recalls. She takes care of every step of the children’s growth and actively brings the gospel to them. Only the love of Christ can heal the wounds. “It is God’s eternal truth that changes people’s hearts.” Only by accepting Jesus can you have a heart to be taught and your life to be changed.
“The trouble will not go away after dancing, the problem still exists, but I like the feeling when dancing.” The road ahead seems difficult to Mandy, but after being exposed to dancing, she knows there is still a way out.
A Stable Life to Develop Personal Interests
High conflict disputes often occur in Mandy’s family, and she started to stay at ECH since she was in Form 2. “This is like my second home, providing a stable environment for living.” Mandy said. Later, she had a chance to attend church and start to learn breakdance as well. With encouragement from the instructor, she participated in a dancing competition. She struggled at the beginning because she had learnt the dancing in a short period and was lack of experience and confidence. But, she finally decided to take her first step of trying.
Competition Journey
In 2018, she participated in the Hong Kong Trial Tournament and came to the fore, and won a seat to participate the “Youth Olympic Street Dance Asian Qualification Tournament” which was held in Taiwan. Through selection of the overseas candidates (5 male and 5 female candidates from each country to enter the screening competition and the top 16 to be selected), she was qualified for participating the “WDSF World Youth Breakdance Championship” Tournament held in Japan. Although she failed to advance further, given the opportunity going abroad with such valuable experience, her self-affirmation had been lasting.
When she attended this dancing competition in Taiwan, she was studying at Form 4 and had to prepare for DSE. She had to manage and allocate time for both her studies and dance practice, which made Mandy so exhausted. With God’s help and with prayers from brothers and sisters together, she was selected for the competition thankfully. When she went to Japan for competition in the next year, she had to take 8-10 days leave from school. The school did not disapprove her leave; however, no support was shown. Mandy had faced great pressure when she had to catch up with her studies after competition, she felt so exhausted physically and mentally. Though she failed to win at last, she was not disappointed because she had tried her best.
Searching for Goal
Mandy had been lack of motivation to accomplish anything and her academic results had been unsatisfactory, but after dancing, she had gradual improvement and learned self-discipline. How did she get through it? “It might be willpower!” Mandy said. In order to balance both homework and dance practice, she had to minimize her entertainment time. With brothers’ and sisters’ prayers, she gained strength and confidence overcoming the difficulties.
Mandy knows that dancing is just for hobbies and relaxing and she will not develop it into a career as dancing is very professional indeed. Her goal is set to become a social worker and she wants to help people with similar background. The first social worker who she met in primary school was her role model. She thought her love and concern has gone beyond the scope of a social worker. From that moment, she had been studying hard as she wanted to reach her goal as social worker. She was grateful that she could admit to study Social Work after DSE and move towards the goal.
Sincere Thanks
Mandy now exudes a humble self-confidence. She was so grateful she could stay in the Evangel Children’s Home. Here she met Loretta, the counselor who taught her how to manage her emotions and how to find the direction of her life. The subsidy for tutorials really helped her a lot in studying and made her feeling a bit more secured when facing loads of studies. She was still in dilemma sometimes, she could still sustain with the warmth in her heart.
Mandy grew up under non-favorable environment; she could choose to be negatives, to give up, to complain, or to go wrong… pick up any other justified excuses for herself. However, she chose to stay positive and to move towards her goal silently.
Even though she has got experience and good results in dancing, she only gives herself 4.5 points (out of 10 points). She kept herself humble as she knew there are lots of people perform better than her. She admitted she did not gain enough confidence, but she does not feel inferior at all. She learnt how to be grateful and thankful to have supporters’ companion.
The seminar was successfully held on October 27, 2017. More than 150 people attended that day, and 70% of them came from the residential care field. Participants concerned about both the needs and the anxiety faced by the youth aging out from the residential homes.
The results of the homeless youth research report were announced at the meeting, covering 10 areas, including: 1) Career Development, 2) Facing the Future, 3) Personal Grow-up Experience, 4) Barriers in Life, 5) Personal Needs, 6) Influences of Family, 7 ) Influence of School, 8) Peer Group Relationship, 9) The Role of Children’s or Youth Home, 10) Social Service & Support, and analyzed the respondents’ expectations for future development. Guest speakers from different sectors shared the social collaboration, government resources allocation, and how to break through the resources deficiency, and how to work with homeless youth as life mentors, and analyzed and understood the needs of these youth from a dimension of different perspectives. (Download the Summary of the Research Report) (Download the Full Text of the Research Report)
These youth experienced adverse impacts on personal growth and family difficulties, causing physical and mental barriers. Lacking of financial and spiritual support from families, they bear more burdens than others, and the anxiety and fear brought about made us more concerned about them.
The “2nd Chance in Life – Transitional Youth Sponsorship Program” developed by Evangel Children’s Home included the “Youth Home Outreach Program”, “Life Planning, Career Development and Internship Program”, “Workplace Mentor”, and “Mentorship and Life Coaching” program, “Continuous Education Scholarships” and “Professional Training Fund”. These are to support the youth in difficulties to further their studies, transit for independent living with transitional residence and employment, and enhance the upward moving, giving themselves a second chance in life.
We are convinced that these young people are youthful, energetic and precious in the eyes of God. Hoping that church leaders and youth pastors would share also the vision and mission, walk with them, and help them become pillars of our society in the future.
Join us to Support the Program by:
Offering low rental Community Co-Living Housing
Offering internships and employment
Participating in the “Mentorship and Life Coaching” project
Donating funds to develop the homeless youth
Donating for “Continuous Education Scholarships” and “Professional Training Fund”
Samuel Fung, alumni of the Evangelical Children’s Home, a strong and muscular firefighter reflected from his figure, is humble and gentle in his heart. He emphasized that he do not like to observe the rules, but his goal was to join the disciplined force. And he loves to abide in Christ His law. Being a firefighter is the childhood goal, and the more important goal is to imitate the Lord Jesus throughout his life.
Admitted to Evangel Children’s Home after Father’s Death
Samuel lost his father since childhood, and it was very difficult for her mother to take care of her seven children alone. In order for his mother to take care of him and grow up under the guidance of God, when he was three years old, he was arranged to stay in the Evangelical Children’s Home.
“I still clearly remember the first day, who greeted me at the door and picked me up…” said Samuel emotionally! The painful feeling of being separated from his family still filled his heart. But he was grateful to have lived here, learned to persevere, and obey God’s teachings. He was brought up by Miss Ruth Sundquist (Sun Ah Yi), the founder, and her love was deeply heartfelt. This children home brought him beautiful memories and developed him.
Samuel (left) and Sun Ah Yi (right) took photo in 1998
Samuel was blessed to received Sun Ah Yi’s hand writing card
Career and Talent Development
Since Samuel was a child, he had the ambition to become a firefighter. It was because he was deeply moved by witnessing the heroic behavior of firefighters. He also believed that firefighters were very powerful and could not only put out fires and save people, but also tidy up the collapsed mess and serve the community. Significantly, firefighters give people a rational and strong image, and they must make judgments quickly and accurately on the fire scene. Samuel describes himself as a sensitive and gentle person who is easily touched. Some rescue missions require his gentleness to understand the other party’s needs at the moment, let the other party change their minds, and save their lives. He understands that not every task can be fulfilled. He has to admit weakness, accept limitations, and pray for mercy. It is enough to be “a little light around”. He thanked God for his gifts and would use it to serve him.
Samuel shared that firefighters are under heavy work pressure, and errors in decision will affect a life. Once he faced with a woman who tried to jump off the building, the situation was very critical. He could not wait for the expert to arrive. He immediately persuaded her and finally lobbied her to return to a safe position successfully. He knew that he had crossed the line, but in the face of life and death, he only prayed for wisdom to deal with it. Because of the high pressure at work, he emphasizes that he must manage his body, mind, and soul to “touch” more lives. Therefore, he attaches great importance to physical exercise and maintaining a healthy mood.
Media coverage of Samuel at work (14/9/1999, Apple Daily)
Time Touch Tears
The three Ts taught by the pastor: Time, Touch, Tears, became a reminder of his work. Understand that everything is not in our own hands, but in God’s time. Learn to wait patiently (Time); understand the needs of others and touch their hearts (Touch); carry others’ tears and be a companion (Tears).
Find the Goal Overcome the Pain
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.” Psalm 1:1. Samuel faithfully obeyed God throughout his life. As an “elder brother”, he returned to the home to encourage the children to find their goals and be successful one day. By following His words, they would be able to overcome the pain of the past.
Postscript
Every part of Samuel’s sharing is full of blessings and grace. God is the first in everything, and the Lord is the greatest. He emphasizes that he does not love to obey rules, but only loves to obey the rules of God. He pinpointed that Samuel, his English name, means God hears prayer. Samuel revealed much his humility, willingness to lay down his self, put the sovereignty under the control of God, obey God’s teaching, and he blooms an abundant life.
