RAQUEL CARVALHOraquel.carvalho@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 19 July, 2015, 4:34am
UPDATED : Sunday, 19 July, 2015, 4:34am
Kelly Wong (pictured), 10 years ago, says her life has changed "a bit" today. Photo: SCMP pictures
Kelly Wong Ka-yee says the city she has lived in all her life was not built for young people like her. Space is scarce, and many Hongkongers don't have enough.
The 14-year-old shares a small Kowloon Bay flat with her parents and her brother, 30. The family sleeps in two bunk beds, ane has no dividing walls. A television placed by her mattress often distracts her from homework. "It's hard to study there," she sighs.
On the face of it, Kelly's life hasn't changed much in the past decade. She has a chance to draw a direct comparison with life 10 years ago after taking part in a photography project called "Our Treasure".
The project, an initiative of the Society for Community Organisation, involved 29 children from varying backgrounds who were photographed in 2004.
The children, who included members of grass-roots local families, ethnic minorities and immigrants from the mainland, were pictured again late last year for a book and an exhibition.
Kelly says life has improved "a little bit" over the past decade. The family has moved out of a crowded "cubicle" flat in Sham Shui Po and no longer shares a bathroom and kitchen with five other families like it did back then.
But age has also made Kelly more conscious of how poor her family is. While some of her schoolmates wear brand-name clothes, Kelly eats instant noodles instead of rice so she can put more of her HK$50 lunch money towards pens or pencils.
Getting good grades can also be a struggle, given her friends can afford expensive after-school tuition. "I have some tutorial classes, but I can't catch up to my classmates at school. It's very hard," she says.
Kelly's father does construction work and her mother works at McDonald's, but she dreams of becoming a designer. "I could make something using my own ideas. I think I would enjoy that."
She hopes her hometown won't put limits on her future as it does with her present.
The Our Treasure II exhibition runs at the society's gallery in Yu Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, every Saturday and Sunday until August 30.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1841203/hong-kong-teenager-looks-back-decade-hardship
