Volume 7 Summer 2006 The Alumni Magazine of HKIS - Hong Kong ...

HKIS...The Early Years...
Memories of “First” Headmaster, Bob Christian
Mounting tensions in China due to the
Cultural Revolution resulted in thousands
of refugees finding their way into
Hong Kong. They lived on the hillsides
in squatters huts which were often devastated
by fire, in the hastily built high
rise government buildings which provided
100 square foot flats for six to
eight people or more, or on the junks
in Aberdeen, Causeway Bay, and other
places. Eight months after the September
1966 opening of the HKIS Provisional School on Chung Hom Kok
Road, these problems erupted into six months of riots in the colony creating
some “interesting challenges”. China cut off the water supply to
Hong Kong during the summer months of 1967, only providing the population
four hours of water each fourth day. Furthermore, the devaluation
of the US dollar during this time also fueled additional problems.
While the Provisional School was established during the 1966-67 school
year, the first HKIS facilities were being constructed in Repulse Bay.
Somehow the building went up. 35 teachers from all over the world began
their ministry at the school, and the K-12 HKIS program opened
with over 600 students in September 1967. Keeping with the custom and
practice of schools in Hong Kong, which at that time had over 1,000,000
students in primary and secondary education, HKIS students attended
school in their school uniforms: “the winter uniforms” were for cool
temperatures, featuring a light blue blazer with the “Crusader’s Cross”
emblem.
That was the picture for the first years, after my wife Arleen and I, with
our three daughters and one son, ages seven through fifteen stepped off
the plane in Hong Kong in early August of 1966. We said our good-byes
to friends in the Bronx, New York, where we had lived for the previous
seventeen years, and to family in the Midwest. Yes, there were tears from
our children as they left their home, but within several months, they
were saying, “Being here in Hong Kong is great, mom and dad”, and
they quickly settled into their new school and the new community surrounding
them. Their years in Hong Kong became positive life-changing
experiences.
The opening of HKIS was the result of cooperation among many people
and many groups. The Hong Kong Education Department gave the
grant of land for constructing the facilities, along with an initial loan
in support of this. The Lutheran Church in the US provided a grant and
loan for construction, the Lutheran Church in Hong Kong and other
Hong Kong church bodies “pitched in”, and the Hong Kong business
community and the U.S. State Department provided assistance in
many ways. The new teachers gave their all, and parents helped with
countless hours of volunteer work. The name for the school, “Hong
Kong International”, rather than “The American School in Hong
Kong”, or something else along these lines, was chosen because of
the philosophical and educational belief that a school in an international
setting should take full advantage of the many opportunities it
was offered to provide positive inter-cultural experiences. It should
bring students and their families from various backgrounds together,
fostering international understanding and relationships.
HKIS changed my life too, and I continue to have a deep love for this
“awesome” school. As I look back, why did my dear wife, Arleen, and
I, decide to take our family halfway around the world, to a place that
had so many unknowns and so many uncertainties? We really felt that
this was a God-given call to serve God and people who were all part of
God’s creation, our brothers and sisters. We believed that an “American
- type education” in an international setting, with an international
flavor and substance was important.
From the very beginning, it was our hope and our prayer that in and
through the school and its people, all persons who would be in contact
with the school, would be touched by God’s love.
This continues to be my hope and my prayer for those who currently
attend the school and who have attended the school in the past. I also
plan, unless there are unforeseen events in the next 14 months, to be
in Hong Kong in June of 2007 for the 40th year anniversary and all
school HKIS reunion. It will be a joy to be with you. I hope you can
make it. The alumni and staff are working so hard to make this a very
special and a very meaningful experience.
God be with you,
Bob Christian
2