Lucinda's hunt fails but leads to peace

LUCINDA Wu Pik will leave Hongkong today with peace of mind even though she failed to find her natural parents, who abandoned her in Tsuen Wan 28 years ago.

Referred to locally as ''The Basket Baby'', Miss Wu, who lives in Vancouver, said the search was like putting together a puzzle.

''It is helpful to me inside,'' she said.

She spent an hour yesterday at the Chuk Yuen Children's Reception Centre, where she lived until she was adopted by a British couple in Canada at the age of three.

''I went back to see if I could recall any memory about the place, but I could not,'' she said.

''But I became very emotional when I saw small children there.'' Ms Wong So-kwan, the woman who took care of Miss Wu from 1965 to 1968, talked to her on the phone.

''She said she remembered me and she sounded like she was crying - I also felt like crying too,'' Miss Wu said.

Miss Wu was found in Public Square Street in Tsuen Wan when she was four months old. She was then sent to the children's centre.

A worker in Canada's Ministry of the Attorney-General, she came back to Hongkong at the end of last month. She went to China on April 1 for a conference on women's issues and returned last week to continue her search. She will leave for Canada today.

''This is not an attempt to disown my present family,'' she said.

''It is more of a cultural identity thing.'' The publicity given to her search had shocked her, but was helpful, she said.

''The reception I have is just like a homecoming to me,'' she said.

''And it is so nice to have people tell me that I was really born in Hongkong. It's very relieving for me.

''I still have hope that I can find my parents.''