Suk Hing arrived in Canada on August 15, 1971. She and Gai Kwong soon married and moved to Tofield, a small town in central Alberta, where the couple opened and built up a successful Chinese restaurant in the small town.
Sadly, the letter was the last time she would ever hear from her mother. One month and two days after her arrival in Canada, Suk Hing received word that her mother, Nim Ping, had passed away in her home with no family by her side. She had finally succumbed to her long illness on September 21, 1971 at the age of sixty-two.
Suk Hing and Gai Kwong went on to have two children and through their ups and downs lived a peaceful life together. Suk Hing never forgot her mother’s words that she could make her proud by working hard and caring for her new family. She did exactly that.
They retired from the restaurant in 2010 and moved into a small condominium in Edmonton, Alberta’s capital city. They have four healthy grandchildren that they see regularly. Chloe, Alyssa, Felix and Theodore are the apples of their eyes and keep them on their toes.
Suk Hing’s full blood brother, Kin Mou, also moved to Canada in 1979 and lived happily there, raising one fine son. In July 2013, he was diagnosed with cancer. One year and three months later, Kin Mou sadly lost his battle with the illness. He passed away in hospital on September 23, 2014. He was survived by his widow, son, and his three-year-old grandson.
Suk Hing has no surviving relatives back in China. Those that remain are all now living in different parts of Canada and the United States. Out of the large number of siblings and half siblings she had, only four still survive to this day.
Unfortunately, after her arrival in Canada, Suk Hing lost contact with her friends Bui and Lum Jong. The last she had heard, they were both doing well and still living happily in Macau. Their whereabouts are unknown at this time. To this day, Suk Hing, my mother, still has the pocket watch that originally belonged to Bui and that he carried with him throughout their journey together. It now sits in a glass display case in the living room in my home.
The companions from her first escape attempt, Hai and Kang, were never heard from or seen again by Suk Hing. She still believes that they were captured on the beach that night and prosecuted for their actions. She never did find out their real names. The friend portrayed in this book as “Jin Jing” was actually a male friend whose name the author cannot disclose. He remained in China, and in 1997, Suk Hing went back to visit him. On her arrival, she discovered that his health was failing badly. The years of labour in hazardous conditions had taken too much of a toll on his health. The last correspondence Suk Hing received from his family was to let her know that he had passed away.
During the same trip, Suk Hing also visited her old family home. It was still standing, but only barely. There was hardly anything left of the large, sprawling complex her family used to own. The exterior had succumbed to years of neglect, and the interior was rapidly disintegrating from water damage. A large red letter painted on the main entrance indicated that the residence had been condemned and was scheduled for demolition in the near future.