'I AM NOT looking for excitement. I just want to know the reality of the world and present it to the public,' says Eric Poon Tat-pui, producer of Hong Kong Connection on Radio and Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Poon has been involved in making documentaries for almost 16 years. He graduated in 1988, and started practising his craft in a small broadcasting company. 'I still enjoy my job,' he says. In December 2000, Poon went to Angola alone for a month to make a documentary entitled Cry Alone. 'I wanted to know and show the world how people were affected by civil wars. And I wanted to listen to them and to know more about their personal stories,' Poon recalls. Apart from Angola, he has travelled to some dangerous places in countries like Indonesia and Myanmar, to make documentaries. He went to Indonesia when there was increasing discrimination against the Chinese and to Angola and Myanmar during their civil wars. 'Danger can be managed if you do enough research and preparation before you go,' he says. Although Poon anticipated the danger, he did not expect a member of the Special Forces to snatch his camera on the morning of January 1, 2000, when he went out alone to film a city in Angola. 'I didn't let go of my camera, but at the same time I felt scared as I remembered one of the soldiers had killed a policeman earlier because the latter had an affair with his girlfriend. 'I gave him my pack of cigarettes and hoped he would let me go, but he didn't. Fortunately, a policeman passed by and told him I was a reporter. I rushed back to my house after he stopped squeezing my arm and was trembling all the way back,' he recounts. The incident did not affect his determination to do his job. In fact, it has enabled him to empathise with those who suffer in wars. Last year, he joined one of the tribes in Myanmar to film Children Soldiers. 'The Karen National Liberation Army was fighting the Yangon government, and it led to many injuries and deaths,' he says. He felt sorry for the children as they were forced to be soldiers and were turned into killing machines during their childhood, when they were supposed to be in school. Compared with their peers in Africa and other developing countries, Poon feels children in Hong Kong are over-protected by their parents, as they do not realise what is going on around the world. 'That's why kids can't cope with problems and difficulties nowadays,' he says. Poon hopes that his documentaries will continue to open our eyes to the state of underprivileged people around the world.
