Month: February 2025

Hustling to survive

This is my story on how I was lured into smuggling dangerous drugs into Hong Kong.

I am a father of three children (two boys and a girl), married to a beautiful wife who suffers from dementia. I have been living in Nairobi, hustling here and there to make ends meet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I lost my job. Even though I didn’t earn much, it did help me pay for my children’s school fees, house rent, and daily living. My wife is a “housewife” who suffers from dementia from time to time. I was also taking care of my younger brother who was suffering from meningitis and his medication proved to be costly.

No matter how hard I tried to hustle, expenses were adding up, especially my brother’s medication. This was a big burden for me and I was slowly losing focus and became mentally drained.

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The glass between us

When I was 25 years old, I was arrested for trafficking and remanded. Now I’m 28.

From my childhood, I was taken care of by my paternal grandmother, and I can say that we were a happy family. Once, my mother and paternal grandmother had an argument, and we moved out of her home. We lived temporarily with my maternal grandmother for two and a half years.

When I was nine years old, my dad needed to work in New Zealand, and my mum had to run a shop on the mainland. They left me and my younger brother with my maternal grandmother. At that time, she had to take a part-time job to support us. She was often tired when she came home, and many times, I took care of my younger brother and learned to behave well. I knew that my parents did not abandon us; they were simply trying to earn money and taught me the importance of it.

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One wrong move

I was arrested for trafficking in dangerous drugs in August 2022 and I have been in prison ever since.

I am a Hong Konger, born in the 1960s, and I am 63 years old this year. I grew up in a poor family of seven, living in an old housing estate with my brother, two sisters, and parents. There was no material wealth at that time, and my parents had very low educational levels. Even so, this did not affect their teachings. They were strict in disciplining us, and we were very obedient. My academic performance was average, and after graduating from Form 5, I started working with my father.

At that time, my father had a hardware foundry, and I worked in the factory from 1980 til 1996. However, the good times did not last forever, as many factories moved production to mainland China due to economic shifts, business slowed down. I took up a job as a waiter in a karaoke bar to make ends meet.

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A very costly favor

I am 35 years old and currently in prison. I was arrested in 2023 and have been incarcerated for 23 months. I am involved in a case of trafficking dangerous drugs and a case of possession of Class A drugs.

I was born into a typical family of four, with a father, mother, and an older sister. I am the youngest, and no one in my family has ever used drugs; I also do not have a habit of using drugs and have never been in contact with them.

In 2015, I gave birth to a son. After his birth, I took care of him myself, looking after him during the day and working part-time at night to earn money. My husband was a transport worker and a gambler, and our relationship was always poor.

When my son  turned one, my husband and I separated and I moved in with friends temporarily because I had no time to work, and I had to apply for government assistance. When my son entered primary school, my parents retired, and household expenses increased, as did the financial burden. I needed find a job to make a living, so I entrusted the care of my son to his father. I was responsible for my parents’ and son’s living expenses, as well as my ex-husband’s.

The day before my arrest, a friend told me that he had a friend who was busy and asked if I could help by taking a bag of things and keeping it at my place until his friend could pick it up. At that time, I didn’t ask what was in the bag, and my friend didn’t mention it, so I agreed to help without suspicion since we had known each other for a while.

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“See you soon”

I am writing this letter to share my sad story and explain why I am in Hong Kong.

I am Portuguese, 40 years old, I have four children and a grandson who is two years old. I lived in Lisbon, Portugal, where I have lived since I was born.

I worked in the kitchen at a university, where I prepared food for students and teachers. They liked my food as much as they liked me, and I enjoyed my interactions with them. The company I worked for lost its contract, and unfortunately all employees were let go, myself included.

For about three or four months, I managed to cover the household expenses with my savings. But as time went on, things got harder because I was the sole provider for my family. When my savings ran out, I could see the household expenses piling up, and sometimes I even had to ask for help to get food for my children.

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