Month: May 2020

After I returned to Hong Kong in October 1988, I was alone for a few weeks until Fr. Joe arrived and joined me. One of our first tasks was to prepare the Christmas Newsletter of the Asian Team. How thrilled I was then to use the Gestetner Photocopy machine...

I arrived in Bangkok without knowing nothing about Bangkok. I knew a few people though–Fr Chalerm, Rungtip Imrungruang or Jim as we called her who were members of YCS Thailand. Jim picked me up from the airport and took me to my place of stay, a place we called...

I think it was in December 1990 that Victor and I were again in Paris to attend a meeting called the RSM where all regional offices from different continents were meeting for a week or so. We were representing IYCS Asia.  One evening our older colleague and big sister,...

Canto Grande (or Great Song in Spanish) was (and unfortunately still is) a shanty town around Flores in the outskirts of Lima (Canto Grande, Distrito de Lima 15404, Peru) in around 1989. It’s in the greater district of  San Juan de Lurigancho (SJL), the most populated district in Lima,...

We are in Lima, Peru. We are in Latin America. We were taken to our place of accommodation at Almirante Guisse area in Lima where IYCS-IMCS Latin American Secretariat was located. The Latin American office was in a large white building with a wall around it. Lous Maria, a...

We all were moved from Paris to a tiny town called Luxembourg on the 14th January 1989. Asians, Africans and those who were at the International office arrived in Luxembourg and were joined by Europeans. We were to embark on the longest flight we have ever taken. We later...

I had clear instructions from the International HQ in Paris.  I first had to leave Hong Kong and arrive in Sri Lanka to obtain my visa to France. In addition to that, I had to obtain a Benelux (a joint visa then issued for Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) visa....

After about two weeks after arriving in Hong Kong, we temporarily moved to the Centre for the Society and Religion or CIRC, which is located at the Maryknoll Convent School compound. It’s a red-brick building on a small hill in the corner of Boundary Street and Waterloo Road, diagonal...

It was the bustling Ngau Tau Kok district where we lived in 1988. On my second day in Hong Kong, i.e. on the 15th July, my colleague Zita told me that she is going to take me to YCS office in Hong Kong. Zita is a tiny woman who...

Am I lost in this concrete jungle? Of course there are more tall buildings than trees here. I still remember my entry into this bustling city. I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted leave Sri Lanka at a time I was sensing no prospect of...