AFRICAN COMMUNITY in HONG KONG
School of English
University of Hong Kong
Name: Elero
Age: 34
Family: Wife (Hong Kong-born), Wife’s parents, 2 daughters
Occupation: Retail Trader, Security Guard (Part-Time)
Nationality: African; Nigeria
Years of immigration: 13 years
Language(s): Igbo (First Language), English, Pidgin English
1. Elero and his Family
Elero has immigrated to Hong Kong since 1997, he has been working in the export-import retail industry for more than 10 years. Apart from the retail business, he also works as a part-time security guard in Central Lan Kwai Fong. During his abode in Hong Kong, he developed not only his business, but also his family. In 2003, he was married to a Hong Kong-born lady and in later years gave born to 2 daughters who are studying in one of the international schools in Hong Kong. Currently, Elero and his family are residing near Prince Edward, Kowloon, which is a vibrant area renowned for retail business.
2. Elero’s Language Attitudes towards Igbo, Cantonese, English and Mandarin
Although Elero can understand some Cantonese, he found it difficult in speaking it. Therefore, English has become the major language use in his family to communicate with his wife, his wife’s parents as well as his daughters. “Cantonese is too difficult for me, but it is beneficial to speak Cantonese in HongKong.” said Elero. In his perspective, even though there are an increase amount of people who can speak good English to perform daily communication as well as business activities in Hong Kong, he considers Cantonese as an indispensible language in Hong Kong. Elero expressed, “It is not about whether people can understand you or not, it is about your identity as a Hong Kong people.” Therefore, he insists to let his children to learn not only English and Mandarin, but also Cantonese, at least to a proficiency level that allows basic communication. Even though Elero speaks Igbo as his mother tongue, he never intends to teach his wife and daughters Igbo. “You can live in Hong Kong forever without speaking Igbo, it is not necessary to them (his daughters) to learn it.” Despite of Igbo’s low language usage value in Hong Kong, Elero welcomes his daughters to request of learning their father’s mother tongue in near future, though he sees this opportunity less possible.
3. Elero’s Difficulties at Workplace
Although Elero has not encountered serious problems in daily communication at workplace, he found inequalities in treatment between him, and other non-African colleague. When working as a security guard, he was discriminated by the Indians colleagues who are of the same working level as Elero:
“I was working with two Indians colleagues, as I saw them not working, I went to the manager and told him that many strangers were able to get into the club without proper verification, then they (the two Indians) came to me and asked me I was wrong, I have no authority to talk to the manager directly, they said “For any enquiries, you should ask for our permission first”.’ said Elero.
Although Elero did experience discrimination by local Hong Kong people when he first arrived to Hong Kong, he saw that experience as particularly disrespectful. “It is for this reason, we can only make good friends with our African fellows, we seldom maintain intimate relationship with other non-African friends, I mean we are friends, we treat each other nicely, but it’s hard to maintain a very intimate relationship, we have different culture, and they seem they dislike ours.” After immigrated to Hong Kong for about 10 years, he sees this kind of discrimination unavoidable, but all in all, he is satisfied with his current condition, in terms of business, family, and friends.
Interview with Elero