by Connie Lau
November 2001

Ken Yu has two sons. The elder son Simon is by Ken's first wife who died soon after Simon was born. Simon is a retarded child who requires special care and schooling. Ken's younger son Lin Lin is by Ken's second wife who had left Ken.

Simon Yu

February 7, 2002 will be Simon's nineteenth birthday. Simon enjoys his life at the special school he is attending. Kids in this special school are normally asked to leave at the age of sixteen in order to make room for new comers. Because of Simon's good behavior and discipline, he is allowed to stay for four more years until he is 20 years old. A very special offer and generous arrangement from the school authorities.

According to Nora who is Simon's caregiver, Simon is happy at school. He fully understands what the teachers and Nora have to say although he speaks little and keeps silence at all time.

Simon could not stand or sit up straight on his own; he needs to wear a custom-made jacket to support his body, day and night. Recently, the doctor found out the condition of Simon's backbone was getting worse. If Simon bends his back he could cause serious damages to his internal organs.

A doctor gave Simon a thorough checkup and recommended Simon to have a surgical operation on his backbone. This operation was scheduled for the end of October. However, decision was not made within the Yu family as to who should become Simon's legal guardian following Ken's illness. Without the legal guardian's signature, the backbone operations could not proceed.

As time passes, with help from the HK Social Welfare Group, Ken's family is now proceeding to appoint Simon's auntie (eldest sister of Simon's mom) to be his legal guardian. Once the application is approved, then the doctor could perform the surgical operations for Simon.

Lin Lin

Lin Lin lives in Beijing with his mom's parents. Lin Lin is doing fine with his study, except a little bit weak at mathematics. He is in school from Monday to Friday and stays with his grannies during the weekends. He takes English class, piano class and computer class of basic computer knowledge.

Lin Lin writes good calligraphy and had won a special prize in a school contest. He is a hardworking boy as described by his grannies. Their only complaint on Lin Lin is his bad temper. When he is upset for whatever reasons, he shows bad temper to all people around him.

Lin Lin will turn ten by March next year. He finds himself unlucky because of his dad's illness and suffering, and his mom could not stay with him. On the other hand, he always tells his teachers that he is a lucky boy because he has a lot of uncles and aunties to pay the school fees for him, otherwise he won't be able to learn in school.

He told his grannies that he always dreamed of his dad, dreaming of Ken sitting on his bed and talking to him. When he woke up and found it was a dream, he cried.

I am now working on the renewal of Lin Lin's passport. We plan to take Lin Lin to Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year holiday to visit Ken.