Before the Anti-ELAB movement, if you were to see an Australian like me on the streets of Hong Kong, you would have considered me as an outsider—a complete outsider.

I remember being so clueless about what was happening in Hong Kong at the very beginning of the protests six months ago.

But, I know that despite the devastating environmental issues that are happening at home, my heart aches for the pain of Hongkongers.

Discord between past and present memories of Hong Kong

At the beginning of the Anti-ELAB protest, there wasn’t much news coverage about Hong Kong here in Australia. I only found out (about the protest) because of a YouTube video I was watching to learn a Japanese song. The YouTuber is from Hong Kong and he described how angry Hongkongers were about the extradition bill amendment. It blew my mind that something so big was going on and I didn’t even know about it so I started digging into the topic. I kept looking for livestreams, social media posts, and footage on the ongoing protests—they all showed such horrific scenes of violence on the streets. Well, I need not describe them to you as you’ve probably seen them and it’s likely you’ve lived through them.

Like many others, I clung onto the happy memories of Hong Kong I had in the past. I fell in love with this city one New Year trip many years ago. Outside of the hotel we were staying at was an open area where some local kids were running around. I could see that they didn’t come from a lot—there weren’t many toys to be found—but they were all laughing and enjoying themselves. I still remember there was music in the air, and fairy lights on the trees around us. Their parents were on the side watching their kids, and even their grandparents were dancing. There was something magical about the atmosphere.

The grandparents bought some simple light-up toys from a dollar store nearby and handed them out to those children. I will never forget the look on their faces when they got those toys. They positively beamed at receiving something as simple as these little toys. They gave me one to play with too. That night, I felt a sense of community that looks after one another. It was like in the movies.