Yoyo Kwok

My name is Yoyo. It may sound a bit weird but it is actually given because of my Chinese name Yiu (Yoyo in my native dialect Cantonese is Yiu-Yiu). 

I studied in a public primary school where I was inspired by my Chinese teacher to self-study my second language Mandarin. After being fluent in Mandarin, I started pursuing my proficiency in English. 

Though Hong Kong is a bilingual city (as it was a British colony before returning to China in 1997), its English education is heavily influenced by Chinese (as people joked about Chinglish). We were taught to recite English grammar without practical exercises for daily use, just like what we did in Chinese lessons. But they do not realise the difference between learning a native language and a foreign language.The focus of recitation also restricted my creative thinking and interest of study. 

Therefore, after spending three years in a traditional secondary school, I decided to switch to an international school for better English and education. At that time, my dad lost his job (it was during the post Financial Crisis period) and we three relied on mum's salary of HKD 12,000 (around GBP 960)and personal savings. My old school is free of charge but the tuition fee of the new one is around HKD 9,000. Clearly, my decision was rejected. 

'I don't believe private education is only for privileged people', I told myself. So I applied and received full scholarships each year. Studying Economics and Philosophy in IB Diploma, encouraged me to think and read about current affairs which is how I developed my interest in Politics. 

On 30th September 2012, while I was preparing for my university application, my aunt rang me and said she is diagnosed with cancer. 'You know I divorced long time ago and I got no children to take care of. I have always treated you like my own daughter. I am very happy to see you being the first one to study university in our family. Since there are no universities in Hong Kong operate the course you like (PPE), I would like to give you financial support to study overseas'.

I picked the United Kingdom. My dad always shared with me about his school life in the UK, but he dropped out after two years because of financial issues. I fell in love with the country through his experiences. 

I studied in the UK chasing my own dream, completing my dad's and making my 'first and second mum' proud. 

When I was little, I knew I wanted to be different though I grew up in a traditional Hong Kong Chinese family where conformity was encouraged and creativity was limited to playing musical instruments (...Girls should play piano and boys should play sports).

In secret, I quit piano lessons, in favour of wushu martial arts (Who doesn't like Kungfu when they first see it?). Despite the time and money my parents spent on developing my piano skills, I chose to defy them and my culture.

(My parents of course were very angry about it when they noticed, notwithstanding my trophies earned in wushu competitions.) As mentioned, I took an even bigger risk by switching to an IB school without any support from family.

These show that I am very persistent in pursuing my dreams as I refuse to follow the path that my family or society chose for me. The prizes from wushu and scholarships from IB school proved my decision to be right, and most importantly, showed my parents that 'some risks are worth taking'. 

I also like challenging myself. As a passive and shy person, I push myself to the limit by representing my school in events like US exchange program and International Student Leadership Conference. 

Because of my over obstinacy, the relationship between me and my parents reached a tipping point. On top of the financial issues during school transfer, they stopped funding my daily expenses. I used my established network in long-term childcare volunteering experience, and became a private tutor. With the extra money, I even funded myself to attend Spanish lessons and do small investments. 

Studying overseas did not stop me from contributing to society. I applied to be a constituency campaigner in Oxfam, to help influencing British politicians in issues like inequality and climate change. During my summer time in Hong Kong, I volunteer in a support service centre for ethnic minorities. I want to help disadvantaged people, like myself of the past, to gain more opportunities in life through my knowledge and experience.

I am glad that my family finally forgave my 'rebellious behaviour' and looking forward to all the challenges I may have in life to take myself further.