As a prelude I offer you the lyrics of a song which I have written indicating my love for my island home, titled Pretty Little Jewelled Island.

Pretty little jewelled islands

Washing in the sunlight rays,

Singing to the Lord His glory

Wiping all our tears away.

Look at the woman selling

Mangoes and oranges so sweet

She has no husband to help her

Yet, she gives to the poor.

Jesus is our island’s saviour.

Jesus came and love the poor.

Eat of the bread of Jesus,

Drink of the wine of love.

Look at the man he is working

His wages so meagre and so poor

Yet he sweats and he labours

Crying justice for all.

Building a people of God

Thinking of children suffering

Longing for God to help us

Fearing we have lost our way

I was born in September 17, 1939 in Richmond, St Mary. My mother and father, William and Janet Ho Lung, are Chinese immigrants from Mainland, China, of a Hakka tribes, they could not speak English. My father was 44 years old my mother was 15 years old. My sister Loretta was born two years before me. My father and mother did not wish to stay in communist China.

They set up a little shop helped by my grandfather, my father’s father Philip Ho Lung. He had been an indentured servant who worked in the tobacco fields.

In Richmond, St Mary, they sold packages of flour, cornmeal, sugar, and portions of salt fish and pig’s tail. They also sold single pieces of mint balls, paradise plum, and sugar plum. On the high end, we had condensed milk, corned beef, and canned peaches and pears. On the low end, we had bulla cake, sliced bread, and toto. My mother home-made patties, fried dumplings, and “flitters”. Our customers in Richmond were warm, friendly, and loving. They sympathised with us and were our loyal patrons.

After nine years in Richmond, St Mary, my mother and father brought us to Kingston. Education was of a premium value for the family. My sister Teresa was born shortly after we got to Kingston. Two years afterward, my brother Michael was born. My father borrowed some money from a relative named Earnest Chung. We rented a little shop at 42 Old Hope Road, above Cross Roads.

My sister Loretta and myself attended a small missions school named Alvernia Preparatory ran by Franciscan Sisters. The education was inexpensive but good, requiring much discipline. That little school Alvernia was a new school and had only two classrooms, with only 20 children in each classroom. There were boys and girls in the two classrooms run by Sister Elizabeth and Sister Regina.

The school emphasized English, mathematics, and history. In religion we were taught to become Catholics. Then there was baptism, confirmation, confession, and holy communion. We were also taught about Christ, the one true living God. After prep school, the Jesuits taught me in high school, and the Franciscan Sisters at Immaculate continued to teach my sisters Loretta and Teresa.

We were all brought up and schooled by missionary religious men and women. The missionary American teachers instilled in us a deep love for Christ and a fascination for missionary countries. And, thus, later on as a religious priest, as a Jesuit, and then now as a founder of Missionaries of the Poor, I opened eight homes, founded two religious orders, and was drawn to the poorest of poor according to the ways of Jesus, our Leader and our God.

In my next article I will tell you about the growth of our many missions as we spread the good news of Jesus. God bless you!

Come and visit our poor, forgotten ones and our brothers. Please contact us at +18767821493.