FROM the devastation caused by mud slides in squatter areas, to traumatised Vietnamese boat people being sent home from Kai Tak, as the Civil Aid Services' (CAS) longest serving female officer, Ms Rosie Sin Sou-ping, has seen it all. Ms Sin, 59, has spent 40 years with the CAS, meeting and marrying her husband there. Their three children have all served with the volunteer organisation. The family has clocked in a record total of 80 years with the CAS. Ms Sin volunteered after the CAS was formed in 1952 as a successor to the Air Raid Precautions Corps of World War II. It was more than the call of public duty that attracted her; a corps member helped save the lives of Ms Sin and her parents during a war-time bombing raid. And it may have been more than public duty that has kept her there. She met her husband, Mr Ho Moon-lam, when they served in the same district. They married in 1954, the CAS' first in-service marriage. Two sons served in the service's youth corps and her daughter is still with the CAS. Ms Sin has been involved in disaster relief work and, over the past 15 years, helping out in CAS-run refugee camps and working with Vietnamese boat people. One of her more harrowing experiences involved a mudslide in Ma Shan Tseun squatter area in Shau Kei Wan 30 years ago. Mud had buried many alive and the women rescuers were charged with monitoring conditions and passing information to the male rescuers who were digging through the mud and debris for survivors. Last April she was called in when a Vietnamese woman at Kai Tai Departure Centre poisoned her two children and tried to take her own life. The CAS helped save their lives. Other experiences with Vietnamese had been more joyful, she said. Many she had helped in Hongkong had turned over a new leaf overseas. In addition to being the longest-serving female officer, Ms Sin recently was awarded a 15-year Civil Defence Long Service Medal.
