How an AP reporter helped a Singapore 'McRefugee' in Hong Kong
When Associated Press writer Kelvin Chan wrote his feature story on “McRefugees”, a term used to describe homeless and poor people who stay overnight in McDonald’s outlets in Hong Kong, he did not think there would be much reaction from Singapore.
A week later, his story has helped 60-year-old Mary Seow reunite with her son, Edward Goh, whom she had not spoken to in about four years.
Chan had been going to different McDonald’s outlets around Hong Kong for a photo gallery with AP photographer Vincent Yu, and together they had gone to a McDonald’s in Jordan, a road in Kowloon, on a Monday night.
“I bought a McNuggets combo meal that I was going to offer to one of them to break the ice,” Chan said, adding he had noticed a woman in the corner whom he decided to talk to first.
Part of the reason he approached Seow was to avoid waking up three others who were already lying down and covered with blankets, advice he received from Yu.
Seow accepted Chan’s meal, and they ended up talking for about half an hour. Chan’s story, together with Yu’s photos, were published on 12 November, and garnered attention from around the world.
“I do remember having a fleeting thought that it would be quite amazing if she did reunite with her family,” Chan said, though he had not expected much reaction in Singapore at that time.
However, the effects of Chan’s story were already felt within Singapore’s borders.
On Saturday (14 November), two days after his feature was published, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they had located Seow and offered assistance, and had also contacted Seow’s family in Singapore.
One of Seow’s relatives had seen a report in a local daily, The New Paper, and through it, a video call between Seow and her son Goh was set up, giving mother and son their first face-to-face conversation in years.
Seow had said she was convinced by mainland Chinese friends to sell her flat and invest the money in China, and ended up losing most of the cash. Embarrassed, Seow did not return to Singapore, instead choosing to work as a “parallel trader” who brought goods from Hong Kong across the border into China.
She said she had only started sleeping at the McDonald’s outlet about two weeks before Chan had interviewed her, previously spending her nights in a park.
Chan said reaction to the photographs had been “quite big”, but he was not sure if people had read the second half of the story, where his interview with Seow was mentioned.
Instead, the reception was one he had not had since since his feature on cage homes in Hong Kong a few years ago, when readers contacted him to see if they could help the people he wrote about.
“I was quite pleased to hear that Mary’s family had been made aware of her plight through my story and that thanks to a Singaporean correspondent, she has now had an emotional video reunion with her son,” Chan said.
Goh had told TNP he planned to travel to Hong Kong to convince Seow to return to Singapore with him.
Chan said he would be continue to follow the story, and plans to be there when Seow and Goh are physically reunited, whether in Hong Kong or Singapore.
“We set out to illustrate a side of Hong Kong that often goes unnoticed... I’m glad it’s had a meaningful impact,” Chan said of his feature.
