Born and raised by two parents, I could never imagine life without either one of them. \u00a0Every time a friend of mine tried to tell me how life sucks after the death of his father, I failed to put myself into his shoes. \u00a0Thus, I chose to join the programme \u2018Swapping Roles\u2019 to experience and explore a different type of life. \u00a0It turned out to be really meaningful.<\/p>\n
I stayed with a single mother with two kids, one about my age and one in primary school. \u00a0Life in Sham Shui Po was completely different from Wan Chai, which is where I live. \u00a0It is a crowded, old district. \u00a0Worn-out buildings are just around the corner. \u00a0The family live in a small flat on the seventh floor of an old Chinese building without an elevator. \u00a0My first impression was, life is really different\u2026<\/p>\n
The single mother Sally is a worker of a restaurant, mainly working as a waitress, or sometimes doing cleaning after opening hours to earn a little extra money. \u00a0Finance is a very vital problem in a single-parent family. \u00a0Obviously the three cannot live on the 6000 dollars\u2019 wage a month, and thus the elder brother, Sam, works after school to help. \u00a0I therefore usually went back to the flat only seeing Andrew, the Primary Three boy, watching TV. \u00a0I am really concerned about them. \u00a0What happens when I am not with them? \u00a0Andrew could meet bad friends in that district. \u00a0So could Sam. \u00a0Coming home at 11 p.m. every day, how could Sam prepare for his public exam? \u00a0I am really grateful that I can get home by five daily and I have decided not to waste time surfing the Net.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, I learnt to treasure what I have. \u00a0I am a lucky one. \u00a0I was born in a middle-class family with a maid, who has been hired for more than ten years. \u00a0Every single piece of housework is done by her. \u00a0At Sam\u2019s place, however, they take turns to do the chores and everyone has to cook and clean. \u00a0Sally wouldn\u2019t let me help at first as she treated me as a guest. \u00a0However, I insisted on contributing to this family during my stay. \u00a0I cleaned every window, every single inch of the floor and the dishes. \u00a0It was definitely a lot of work to do, and I sweated a lot. \u00a0Being part of a single-parent family requires more than hard work, but cooperation and the willingness to contribute out of love. \u00a0I saw the lack of such interaction back at my home. \u00a0For some reason, I felt happier in Sam\u2019s place than mine. \u00a0They loved each other and were willing to share. \u00a0Perhaps this is why people say that things are only cherished when they\u2019re gone. \u00a0I hope the bond between my family and me can be stronger and the love within can be more like Sam\u2019s family. \u00a0I yearn to work for my family or do something to pay back my parents\u2019 love to me.<\/p>\n
After the programme \u2018Swapping Roles\u2019, I\u2019d say I have learnt a lot. \u00a0It\u2019s a very good life experience to realize how much we are loved and how lucky we are. \u00a0I hope in the near future I can establish a better relation with my parents and share my love with them, and treasure them before it is too late. \u00a0Has the programme fulfilled its goals? \u00a0Surely yes!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Born and raised by two parents, I could never imagine life without either one of them. \u00a0Every time a friend of mine tried to tell me how life sucks after the death of his father, I failed to put myself into his shoes. \u00a0Thus, I chose to join the programme \u2018Swapping Roles\u2019 to experience and explore a .........<\/p>Read More<\/a>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":8474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","language-en","schoolyear-34"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3172,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1324\/revisions\/3172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carmelss.edu.hk\/buddingwriters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}