‘If it wasn’t for them I would be dead’: tributes to US missionary who helped drug addicts in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City by speaking in tongues
- Jean Willans felt ‘called by God’ to come to China in the 1960s with her husband and, with fellow missionary Jackie Pullinger, saved many Hong Kong drug addicts
- ‘I was a mess, violent and vomiting, but she kept encouraging me to pray whenever I was in pain,’ recalls one former triad gang member and heroin addict
Chak Siu-ming remembers Jean and Rick Willans fondly. More than four decades ago, as a young man addicted to heroin, the American Christian couple helped him to kick his drug habit for good – using only the power of prayer.
Chak, who was orphaned as a teenager, regarded the Willans as his parents; in turn, they called him “son”. After the couple relocated to California in the United States in 1981, he visited them in the early 1990s, staying there for two decades before returning to Hong Kong.
Jean Willans died in Altadena, California, at the age of 95 on April 1. Her death has brought back heartfelt memories for many. Mourners at her funeral service paid tribute to her hospitality, religious devotion and for having saved many lives from drug addiction. She is survived by her husband, daughter Suzy, son-in-law Hugh and three grandchildren.
“If it wasn’t for Jean and Rick, I would be dead, either from the triads or from drugs,” Chak says. Now 66 years old, he manages a warehouse in Fo Tan, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, and is an active participant in his church.
Pullinger started helping drug users in the 1960s in the crime-riddled Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong (which was demolished in 1994), and she took many of them to the Willans, who rented several flats for drug addicts to stay in for up to 10 days for daily prayer. After the 10 days were up, they were free to leave.