The day Madellina Lau Mo-ping started a new life in Canada, she was confronted by hairy chests.
'That was my first day in Toronto, as well as the only night I cried,' says Lau, a friend of whose arranged for her to live for free for three months in a bachelor's apartment building. It was the late 1980s and Lau was trying to establish a home for her two children, Carolyn, 16, and Patrick, 11.
Lau was born and raised in Hong Kong and had had no intention of leaving Mei Foo, where she lived, until her ex-husband suggested he take their children to live with him and his new family in Australia. Lau, now 65, initially agreed to transfer custody but then had second thoughts. If her ex-husband could move, so could she.
She chose Canada but her lack of a profession meant she didn't qualify for immigration - so she cheated. She submitted an application claiming she was an executive secretary and bluffed her way through the interview.
'[The immigration officer] absolutely believed that I was a secretary, [even without] a certificate or testimonials: I dressed like a secretary, talked like a secretary and showed him my immigration files, systemically composed like a secretary would,' Lau says. 'He was impressed.'
With landing papers in hand, Lau offered her children a choice: Canada or Australia. They followed her to Toronto, where Lau had found a job in telemarketing for an air-duct cleaning company.
Despite being yelled and sworn at over the phone she kept at it, quickly cornering the Chinese-speaking market and achieving high sales. Yet she still wasn't making enough money to support her children.