Chau baak

I first met Grandpa Chau when he was playing cards outside San Po Kong magistrates’ court – a place he was very familiar with.

‘Guilty? Or not guilty?’ the judge asked him. 

‘Guilty!’ Grandpa Chau replied cheerfully. 

‘You have about 70 previous convictions, don’t you?’ demanded the magistrate.

 ‘Correct!’ said Grandpa Chau through his toothless grin. 

‘OK: you get a day in jail or a $100 fine.’ Grandpa Chau looked delighted.

Grandpa Chau was an ‘actor’ – a decoy whose job it was to get arrested. When the police raided an opium den, they called ahead first. 

The den closed and the dealers scarpered, leaving Grandpa Chau waiting outside. So the police got their arrest, the opium den went on doing business, and Grandpa Chau got paid; everyone was happy.

A while later, my friend and I found Grandpa Chau with an infected leg from injecting, so we took him to hospital. Knowing that he’d have to come off heroin if he was admitted, I said, ‘When you go through withdrawal, call on Jesus.’ 

‘You must be joking!’ he replied with a smirk. 

But my companion backed me up: ‘No, it’s true: I called on Jesus and got off drugs miraculously. Try it…’

A week later, Grandpa Chau came bounding up to me: ‘I called on Jesus and got off drugs without pain – I didn’t even need medication!’ 

We invited him to live with us in Hang Fook Camp – he’d been sleeping in a cage near the airport. Every month he would buy me bananas and sweet soup with his small government pension; I didn’t like either, but I received them gladly. 

After some time, Grandpa Chau’s children came to believe in Jesus, full of gratitude for how their father’s life had changed.

And when I got married in Hang Fook Camp, he walked me down the aisle. He used to call me ‘daughter’. To me, he was always ‘Grandpa Chau.’

周伯的故事

我第一次遇到周伯時，他正在新蒲崗裁判法院門外打啤牌，那是他非常熟悉的地方。

 「有罪？還是無罪？」法官問他。

周伯爽朗地回答「有罪！」

法官質問：「你有大約 70 次前科，對吧？」

「沒錯！」周伯露出無牙的微笑說道。

「好吧，判你坐監一日、或罰款一百元。」法官說。

周伯看起來非常開心。

周伯是個令人高興又演技精湛的「頂包演員」，他的工作是在警察突擊搜查煙館時當替死鬼。每次行動前，警方會提前打電話通知。

警方抵達時，毒販早已溜之大吉，只留下周伯在外等候。這樣警方順利拉人交差，毒販能繼續做生意，周伯拿到報酬，大家皆大歡喜。

不久後，我和朋友發現他的腳因為注射毒品而嚴重感染，便帶他去了醫院。我們知道他必須戒掉海洛因才能獲准入院，於是問他：「你願意為了耶穌戒毒嗎？」

「你不是在跟我開玩笑吧？！」他帶著冷笑說。

但我的同伴幫腔說：「不，這是真的，我就是奇蹟般地戒掉了毒品，試試看吧！」

一週後，周伯回來了，腳傷已經痊癒：「我求告耶穌，結果毫無痛苦地戒掉了毒品——我甚至連藥物都不需要！」他說。

我們邀請他到幸福營與我們同住；在此之前，他一直睡在舊機場附近的籠屋。

每個星期，他都會用自己微薄的政府津貼買香蕉和糖水給我們：「我雖然不喜歡吃香蕉，也不喜歡糖水，但我很高興收到。」

一段時間後，他的孩子們也開始信主，這是為了感謝神改變了他們父親的生命。

當我在幸福營結婚時，是他牽著我走過紅地毯（走道）。他以前總習慣稱呼我為『女兒』，而對我來說，他永遠都是『周伯』。