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Profile | Hong Kong educator who didn’t let an abusive marriage and husband’s gambling get in the way of helping children of the poor reflects on her own journey from poverty

Anson Wong grew up poor, married, was rejected by her mother-in-law and physically abused by her gambler husband. When he died, he left her with nothing

She opened an education centre serving mostly poor children, earned three master’s degrees and now wants to launch an NGO to help more underprivileged children

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Anson Wong Shuk-wai is the founder of Starting Line, which aims to educate underprivileged children in Hong Kong. She recalls growing up poor and being abused by her late husband. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:45am, 8 Jan 2022Updated: 9:11am, 8 Jan 2022

I was born into a very poor family in Hong Kong in 1983. I lived with my parents, elder brother and younger sister in a 300 sq ft (28 square metre) flat in a public housing estate in Fanling, in the New Territories. Us kids slept on a triple-deck bunk bed. I was on the middle bunk. My mother was a housewife and my father worked on the Kowloon-Canton Railway, repairing the tracks.

Money was always short, and my parents were frugal. They didn’t let me keep the light on at night to study, so I used a flashlight. Traditional Chinese families favour boys and my dad put all his attention on my brother. I wanted to get my parents’ attention, so I studied really hard.

When I reached secondary school, I began offering tutorial lessons for younger children – I used the money to pay for my living expenses. It made me tough and independent. I wanted to see the world beyond the New Territories, but my parents didn’t want to spend the money on transport.

The first time I went to Hong Kong Island was at the end of primary school when I joined the Scout Association and went on a trip with them. The Scouts opened a window for me.

Wong and students at the One Flora Education Centre. Photo: courtesy of Anson Wong

Key to the future

All through secondary school I worked hard, giving private lessons and working in the church, and I saved enough money so that when I finished the public examinations I could further my studies in Australia. I studied at the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School for two years.