Post Trauma
Ah Yen, a frontline first aider, has his back scorched by tear gas. After skin grafting, his wounds are yet to heal. While he has no regret providing first aid in the frontline, his mother thinks he is a “trouble maker” and asked him to leave home. The pain in the skin will subside eventually, but the divide in the family may take long to resolve.
The Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) movement has lasted half a year and the scars are imprinted in the heart of every person in this city: over 2,600 people are injured with some lost an eye, some with bone fractures or dislocation of joints, some suffering from mental health problems, and numerous families torn apart. Despite that their wounds are still on the mend, some of the injured, putting aside personal consequences, are hoping for a speedy recovery so that they can return to the frontline to help fellow brothers and sisters. They hope for their friends to be safe and look forward to a prompt realization of the five demands. Sharing the weight of these scars with Hongkongers, they choose to keep on fighting for justice.
With a back burnt by tear gas, he got kicked out of home. Yet Ah Yen looks forward to returning to the frontline.
Ah Yen (a pseudo name) is a first year Hong Kong Shue Yan University student. He once thought that politics is something remote but this year he walks away from the lifestyle of a “Hong Kong Pig” (a term for those who only care about eating and sleeping) and volunteers as a first aider in the frontline. In early November, he was hit by a tear gas canister and had his back burnt. The wounds up to now have not completely healed. While he has no regret providing first aid in the frontline, his mother thinks otherwise and kicked him out of home right after he was discharged from hospital. "I don't need your (Ah Yen's mum's) support, nor recognition. I merely want understanding. If she would understand me, that's when I will go home," said Ah Yen.
"If she would understand me, that's when I will go home."
"The moment when the tear gas canister hit and blasted open my back, it hurt but I could still talk. I could call my family and thought I was fine." What was unexpected was that the tear gas projectile continued to emit heat, resulting in second to third degree burns on his back. In the end he required skin grafting. Up to now, the wounds are still bleeding.
While the pain in the flesh will one day be gone, it is a lot harder to overcome the divide in the family. Growing up in a single-parent family, the political views of Ah Yen and his mother are completely different. He described his mother as "extremely pro-government". Ah Yen is a first aid member of St John Ambulance and sometimes will be on duty at the Jockey Club racecourses. "She said if there is no pay, why do I have to work until late at night?" When the anti-ELAB protests broke out, Ah Yen went to the frontline every now and then. "She thinks the protestors are trouble makers and so am I. I will provide first aid to whoever in need regardless of his/her political stance.”
After he was admitted to hospital, Ah Yen called his mother. The reply he got was: “Don't call me even if you are dying”. After discharge, he had no home to go to. "She asked me to hand over the house key. ... I take it as going independent early. I feel that she has disowned this son."
Ah Yen confronted his mother numerous times arising from differences in political views. It has been difficult for Ah Yen to change her opinions. "I don't need your support, nor recognition. I merely want understanding. If she would understand me, that's when I will go home."
At the time of the Umbrella Movement, Ah Yen was in form 2. Back then, he thought politics was something remote. To a secondary school student, universal suffrage is not a subject of immediate concern. The anti-ELAB controversies have uplifted his understanding of the issues surrounding the bill.
He started to actively discuss politics with friends, breaking from his “Hong Kong Pig” lifestyle which has been filled with video games, food and sleep.
On his 19th birthday, also Christmas Eve, by his side were Ah Yen's first aider teammates.
In the frontline, Ah Yen has seen protestors hit by water cannon and tear gas. Some were so frightened that their bodies were shaking. On Christmas Eve, those who celebrated his 19th birthday with him were his voluntary first aid friends. He does not regret being a first aider. He hopes to recover soon and go back to the frontline again.
Source: Ming Pao, December 26, 2019