UK HKAN GATHERING – 23 April 2016

Posted on April 30th, 2016 by Debbie

Sue’s account, pictures by Sue, Debbie, Serena & Jan

On route to venue a few of us were able to enjoy a few distractions as we walked through Trafalgar square. St. George’s day celebrations were taking place which were marking Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary. Yoda also made an appearance!

In front of the National Gallery

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Apologies go out to those of you who had difficulties finding the venue.

If only we knew there were going to be bag pipers playing outside the building!

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Kate got the afternoon off to a good start with a warm up activity. We were asked to show how we felt at the time. Look at the smiley faces!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We really appreciated that Julia Feast could join us to give an update on BAAF and the British Chinese Adoption Study http://corambaaf.org.uk/ourwork/bcas This is the project Julia led which quite number of UK HKAN members took part in. As a result of the project many of us became aware that there were other UK Hong Kong adoptees and the BAAF events helped bring us into contact with one another. Unfortunately Margaret Grant, Senior researcher was not able to attend the meeting but she sent an email to for Julia to read out.

In her email Margaret explained that the research team has been working on further analysis of the data on adult life events (partnerships, children, relationships with adoptive family, work/education etc.). The results are being reviewed at the moment and they hope to publish further papers to add to previous publications. Margaret also did two short presentations at the International Conference for Adoption Research in New Zealand in January, including one about the impact of the BCAS study. People were very interested to hear about UK HKAN’s development and the connections that have been forged between women (and their family members) via the network.

Serena suggested a panoramic photo and we had a bit of fun when she asked Julia if she could take one of us.

Realising camera wasn’t turned on! It’s a lot of pressure to put on one person.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got there in the end and as you can see there was a good turnout.

Panoramic of group

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were very privileged to be able to see a video featuring St Christopher’s Babies Home and the amazing Muriel Tonge, who was the Supervising Nurse at St. Christopher’s during the early 1960’s. The video gave us an incredible insight into what it was like at the orphanage at that time.

 

Find out more about Muriel in a book written by her granddaughter.

The Banquet: My Grandma’s Memories of China, 2008

by Emily Foster

It is an account of the author’s grandparents and great-grandparent’s work and life in China and Hong Kong from 1920-1968. http://tinyurl.com/j7koe27

 

Debbie led the group sharing activity which was a very heart-warming experience. In preparation for the meeting we were all asked if we could provide a picture or bring in an object which had special meaning for us in the context of our adoptions. Photos included the earliest or one and only photograph we have of ourselves as a baby; a view or image of the original orphanage where we lived before being adopted and more recent photos of the area as it is now; us at the location where were left as a baby or standing by the street sign of where we were found; us in a photo with our adopted family or our own family celebrating a special occasion of one of our children; and us celebrating ourselves doing what we enjoy as an adult. We were then shown precious objects that hold their own stories and memories. We also got to see newspaper cuttings and magazine articles featuring the arrival of some of us and the families we were going to be part of, and also other press cuttings which were promoting need for more prospective parents to adopt from Hong Kong.

Newspaper cuttings

Newspaper article “A new love for nine orphans’.

My demonstration of the mapping exercise enabled everyone to see where other adoptees were left/found in Hong Kong. It was interesting to see on the map the cluster of locations in the New Territories and those of us who were left at hospitals or at the orphanages themselves. The mapping exercise is work in progress and I would like to have more information added to the map. Currently the map gives street locations, date left/found and orphanage(s) sent to. Additional information could include as age when found and age when leaving Hong Kong and the country we were adopted to.

Map of Hong Kong showing the mapping exercise

 

 

 

 

 

 

As there was a lot of interest in finding out who came from each babies home, we got together in groups representing them

Po Leung Kuk

 

 

 

 

 

 

St Christopher’s Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fanling Babies Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chuk Yuen Children’s Home (later known as Chuk Yeun Children’s Reception Centre or CYCRC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

And last but not least Shatin Babies Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate raised a very important point at the meeting about privacy and confidentiality. Since coming back from the 2015 November Hong Kong reunion two people were told that they have been identified in group photos that have featured in videos/documentaries. Both of them had not given their consent. It was made clear that this is not acceptable and that UK HKAN makes every effort to respect the privacy and confidentiality of other adoptees. Not only are our experiences very diverse, but many of us do not want to search for our birth families, which is what these videos/documentaries are showing.

Our meeting finished with an all group photo – and here is!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to all of you who helped organise the event and for setting up the room and clearing up on the day. A special mention goes out to Tracey for greeting us all and handling registration and to SCIE http://www.scie.org.uk for letting use their offices for our meeting.

It was a great day!

Links to videos/documentaries

2015 Kim & Ian’s HK Video Clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4CWf5Jcd2A&feature=youtu.be

2015 Joanna’s video clip

http://nextplus.nextmedia.com/news/latest/20151124/303537

Historical

1960s St Christopher Home, Tai Po Bishop R.O. Hall – Man of vision

http://youtu.be/hdjGSTLXARg

 

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