As usual, it was all play-eat-sleep-repeat for children over the summer holidays but this year was a bit different as deadly Typhoon Hato wrapped up the summer where children learnt to live without electricity and water for days.
Not only children, but most other people in Macau experienced for the first time how having a shower was a luxury when the typhoon disrupted the city’s power and water supplies.
Many residents went out to help clean up the mess Hato left, deliver water and food to elderly people, and distribute bottled water to people in need. There were complaints, praise and individual and collective reflection – that there’s no such thing as a sure thing.
There were stories and reports about disaster heroes and love in the community, the city’s “saviours” from the local garrison of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as well as price gouging and rumour mongering, but little has been heard about the children who were also there during Hato’s onslaught and its horrible aftermath, so here’s their side of the story, what their summer holiday with Hato was like and their goals for the new school year.
This photo taken on Sunday shows teenagers help clean up the rubbish in Toi San district. Photo: Maria Cheang Ut Meng
Himson Lao Sin Him (back) and his cousin Rex pose next to a durian stall during their family trip in Malaysia recently. Photo: Himson Lao Sin Him’s mother
