DAVID Mensah was orphaned at the age of five, lived by his wits in the jungle until he was apprenticed to a witchdoctor and grew into an accomplished arsonist. Then he saw the light and became a model student and athlete, went on to train as a doctor in Canada and returned to his native Ghana after earning his PhD.
David Abulai, only survivor of a family of 13, had a similarly appalling childhood - many a meal foraged from a garbage can - and also confounded the odds by becoming a physician. ''The Madmen's Doctor'' they call him in Ghana where, like his colleague Dr Mensah, he has devoted his life to helping the poorest and most desperate.
Rising Hong Kong fashion star Barney Cheng has met neither of these extraordinary men, but he knows all about them thanks to his 22-year-old sister Melissa. ''She's a medical student and at the beginning of June, she went to northern Ghana to take part in an International Skills in Service voluntary programme run by the Christian Children's Fund of Canada. ''Melissa's field partners were the two African doctors. Together with them, she went from village to village, giving shots, weighing babies and generally advising the people on health measures.
''The patience and caring of Dr Mensah and Dr Abulai just overwhelmed Melissa - and me when I read my sister's letters.
'' 'What the eye has not seen, the heart cannot grieve,' believes Dr Abulai. That's really the inspiration behind my collection for this show.
''I asked hat designer Edith Cheung to help me and one of the hats is actually being grown. We planted it in a coconut shell and it sprouted fine, then slowed down. I hope it will be ready in time.'' THE Hat That Grew made it for the big day. So did an often startling array including jackets lined with newspaper, old jumpers and jeans that had been chopped up and re-styled, and cool, pretty separates fashioned from cotton lace tablecloths that had long served their original function.
What on earth was going on at the Convention and Exhibition Centre's Gallery Cafe yesterday? The culmination of the perfect summer challenge for the territory's up-and-coming young designers, said the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC), presenting nine of the best in the Green Wear Fashion Show.
