Kawaljot Kaur

KELY Alumna

"There's no reason to be ashamed of your culture. It's actually pretty cool to belong to multiple cultures and have multiple identities."

I attended a semi-international primary school, where there were a lot of South-east Asian students, and I didn't really have to speak Chinese there. So it was a huge change for me when I started secondary school at a mainstream local school where there were only three non-local students in the whole school - a Pakistani girl, a mixed Malaysian girl and myself, an Indian girl. We were the first non-Chinese students, and the teachers didn't have any prior experience teaching us. The three of us were exempted from taking regular Chinese classes, including Chinese history, or Putonghua, but we had to stay behind after school for a special curriculum that they designed for us.

Learning Chinese was one of my biggest struggles, especially when I was in a new environment and trying to make friends with students who preferred to speak Chinese. I also found myself downplaying my Indian culture because I wanted to fit in and be "normal". I remember going on a school field trip one time and we passed by the Sikh temple in Wanchai. My classmates asked me about it and I just pretended not to know what it was. Looking back, it feels silly, but at the time, I just didn't know how to deal with my identity.

By Form 4, I was getting pretty good grades in Chinese, but I wasn't doing so well in other subjects. It was incredibly stressful. The school environment was very competitive and I didn't enjoy the subjects I was taking. I made the decision to switch to an English-language secondary school that had subjects I was much more interested in, such as English literature and tourism and hotel management.

My new school had a lot of minority students - some were fluent in Chinese, and some weren't. In my class, I was one of the few students who spoke Chinese. I went from being one of the few who couldn't read or write in Chinese in Form 1 to being one of the few who could in Form 4 at my new school. I used to think learning Chinese was the worst thing in the world, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it has helped me in so many ways in Hong Kong.

I also became more aware of the term 'ethnic minority'. I saw that a lot less effort and resources were being invested in educating ethnic minorities. I also saw that we were portrayed in a negative light in the media. Because of this, I decided to get more involved in community work. At school, I joined several KELY programmes, including Talk2Me, where I learned invaluable skills to take care of my own mental health, as well as to help out my peers.

Through my connection to KELY, my photography was featured in the Equal Opportunity Commission's The Way We Are photo exhibition. By taking photos that represent me and my identities, I was able to talk to people from various backgrounds about their experiences growing up in Hong Kong, and their own perception towards the different communities. I hope that my photos will spark conversation around what it means to be "local" in Hong Kong.

I recognise the privilege I have in being able to speak Chinese and I want to make use of it to help others who can't speak the language. I know that learning Chinese can be intimidating and stressful, but I hope that my story can motivate others who have similar experiences.