Interview by Chan, Grace Siu Wai

Authors

Siu Wai, Grace CHAN

Date of Interview

3-9-2000

Interviewer

Chan Siu Wai, Grace

Interviewee

Kwok Kam Ying

Interview Location

Interviewee and interviewer's home

Interview Summary

The interviewee (Anita) is my mother who spent her childhood in a boat. She was borned in a fishing family. It is a big family that includes ten people in total, her parents, two elder brothers, five younger brothers (it should be six in total actually, but one of them died because of sickness) and one younger sister. Her family was a poor family, as what she described, "we could earn the breakfast but dinner or the dinner but breakfast". Therefore, Anita did not have chance to go to the school (so was her eldest brother), besides, she had to take care of her younger siblings. The only entertainment or hobby for her was making clothes and seeing films and she learned clothing by herself. Her friends were those girls from other boats but they have not contacted each other after marriages. They could not contact each other since they didn't have telephones that time. Compared to her younger sister and other siblings those who had studies she felt they were luckier. She has not blamed her parents this since she felt her parents had worked very hard already. There was once Anita's eldest brother dropped the fishing founding carelessly back into the sea, she tried very hard to jump into the sea to get them back, this event was vivid in Anita's mind. Overall, Anita could not say whether her childhood a happy one or not, she said there was nothing she could regards as happy or unhappy.

Recommended Citation

Chan, S. W. G. (2000, March 9). Interview by Chan, Grace Siu Wai [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://commons.ln.edu.hk/oh_hkc/2