Reunited!

"Ms. Lee! Ms. Lee! Ms. Lee, guess what?!" Two bouncing little girls were almost falling over themselves in their excitement to share their good news with 'Ms. Lee', the manager of Christian Action's Mong Kok Service Centre for New Arrivals.

*Mei Hua and *Mei Lin are sisters, aged five and seven respectively. The good news they had to share was that they were finally going to leave a children's home in Hong Kong where they had spent the last two years.  At last they would be reunited with their mother.

Their father, *Mr. Tam, had been a very successful businessman, and had owned multiple properties, both in Hong Kong and in mainland China.  He was a Hong Kong resident, but in 2005 when he met and married the love of his life, a girl from mainland China, they settled close to her home.  Two years later Mei Hua came along, followed two years later by Mei Lin.  Life was good for the Tam household. They were the model family: Mom, Dad and two kids, living a life of relative luxury. Then in 2010, when disaster struck Mr Tam’s business and he lost everything, he moved his family back to Hong Kong. A further disaster soon followed when he had a stroke and lapsed into a state of unconsciousness. He has been in hospital ever since.

Because the family only lived in Hong Kong for a short while before Mr. Tam fell ill, he hadn’t had time to register his daughters, or his marriage, with the Hong Kong authorities. Mrs. Tam was in Hong Kong on a two way permit – the equivalent of a tourist visa. This meant that she was not entitled to permanently reside and work in Hong Kong. With nothing left of their family fortune, and unable to support herself or her daughters, yet determined to remain as close to her husband’s bedside as possible, Mrs. Tam has lived in a shelter for homeless women for the last two years, while Mei Hua and Mei Lin have lived in a children’s home.

It has taken two long years and a DNA test to confirm Mei Hua and Mei Lin’s paternity.  At last they have received the confirmation needed to be Hong Kong citizens. It was the first glimpse of a thin silver lining around the dark and heavy cloud that has shrouded the lives of the Tam family for the last few years. Mei Hua and Mei Lin will now receive social welfare assistance.

The good news that Mei Hua and Mei Lin were so excited about sharing was that they would be free to leave the children’s home and be reunited with their mother.  Added to that is the excitement of at last being able to start school!

With your donations, Christian Action will be assisting Mrs. Tam to settle her little girls into life outside of institutional care.  At last they will be integrating with the greater Hong Kong community. We will also be helping Mrs. Tam to obtain a two way permit that will only require a trip back to her home town (where the permit is issued) once a year, rather than having the standard issue three-month permit.  Your donations also keep our food bank stocked with food staples and basic household necessities, allowing us to take families like the Tams on the occasional outing. By supplying them with basic necessities and surrounding them with love, we are confident that Mrs. Tam, Mei Hua and Mei Lin will continue to stand strong in the face of adversity.

*Their names have been changed to protect their identity.