Three Mothers And Four Fathers (1961)

[Music] give the projectionist an opportunity to adjust the sound level and focus the lens before the start of the picture. In a moment, the focus chart and music will end, followed by 5 seconds of darkened screen before the actual picture [Music] begins. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Hong Kong. Three and a half million people and almost every one of them has a dramatic, interesting story that could be [Music] told. Take this boy for example. His name is Lee Po. What a lifetime of trouble this little fellow has known in his nine short years. His parents killed escaping from Red China. Lee Po made his way to Hong Kong with his uncle who later sold him. His second parents treated him so cruy he was forced to run away. Now at 9 years of age, Leo found a third family who were willing to keep him on only one condition. He must learn to steal. This is Lee Po, age nine, about to become a [Music] thief. In order to understand Lee Po and his problems, you must become better acquainted with the background of his story. And that background is Hong Kong today. Hong Kong as a missionaries know it. Those who live close to the common people, who share their burdens, who know the struggle for survival that makes up the core of life of the city's teeming [Music] millions. Of course, there is another side to the city. High up above the misery and squalor are the modern office buildings and residences of the more fortunate. But this is not Lee Po's Hong Kong. His world lies down there with the masses. How well the missionaries know the environment. [Music] This is what Leo sees. A half million people floating in the bay like castaways. Some of the children of the boat people are his friends and playmates. They like Leo learn to shift for themselves at an early age. All a part of the pattern for survival. Leipo's Hong Kong is no longer just a place. It is people. People by the multiplied thousands. 2,000 persons to an acre of ground. Whole families in one room huts packed together so closely that privacy is impossible. [Music] The streets of Hong Kong are never silent. And all night long, Lee Po can hear the noise of the shouting, the laughter, the weeping of the life around him. Missionaries who have served in Hong Kong in recent years agree that it is probably the worst place in the world to bring up a child. The sons and daughters of the refugee huts, the rooftops, the sand pans, the street dwellers children, the homeless children cannot be children for [Music] long. Their world and Leo is like a jungle in which only the very strong manage to [Music] [Music] survive. My story really began at midm morning on a bright summer's day as I hurried through the marketplace on my way to the orphanage. This was a busy time of the day and the market was in full swing. It was as crowded and noisy as ever with the shopkeepers bargaining and calling out their wares on all sides. [Music] The market was busy, all right, but off on the edge of the crowd at an out of the way store, the busiest scene of them all was taking place. [Music] [Music] Hey, wait a minute. [Music] Don't hit him again. Don't hit him [Music] again. Simon J. That's all right. By the way, the little fellow clung to me. I knew he must be an orphan, and my heart went out to him. What's the matter? What's the [Music] matter? Maybe he is a thief. Maybe he should be arrested, but maybe he shouldn't. Here, take this daughter. It'll pay for everything. Tuna. In that momentary embrace, something was born between us. And I knew I would have to find him. To learn his name, to help him find a home, I followed him through the crowded market, catching glimpses of him, then losing him again. Knowing if he got away from me, I would never be able to find him. In most cities, if you lose sight of someone, you're almost certain to see him again. But in Hong Kong with its crowds, its narrow streets, its maze of buildings and alleyways, my chance of finding him was very [Music] small. Something was tugging at my heart. Something in the way he looked at me and held on to me. Something that told me of a great emptiness within that little heart. an emptiness I prayed God would permit me to [Music] fill. I returned to the orphanage with a sinking [Music] heart. As the children gathered around me talking and laughing, I was still hearing the brokenhearted sobs of that boy I had lost. [Music] As I entered and looked around, I recall that many of these children had known the same kind of heartaches. And I thank the Lord that at least we had these to care for. [Applause] I told them a funny little story and we all had a good [Music] laugh, but they seemed so few in number. And I thought, what a little island of happiness the orphanage was in the middle of such a vast ocean of suffering. [Music] from the [Music] white [Music] I gave. It's not what he [Music] find. As I said a simple prayer of thanks for our food that day, I inwardly said a bigger thank you to the Lord for allowing me to be a missionary. And I meant it. And while the children ate, I looked around the table at their happy little faces. I think I loved every child just a little more because of my experience in the marketplace earlier in the day. At nap time, the kitties toddled off to soft beds with clean white sheets, far away from the filth and clamor of the city streets. And I thought, as I watched them, of the little lost boy, and wondered where he would spend the night. It was then I recall the story Jesus told of the shepherd who had a fold full of sheep but still couldn't forget the one sheep that was lost. [Music] Later on in the day, the children asked for another story, and I obliged. [Music] But I couldn't escape the memory of two warm little arms that had wrapped themselves around my heart and were pulling me back to the marketplace to seek once more for that one lost sheep. I excused myself from story time to go back, back where life is no fantasy, where life is a nightmare of reality, even for a 9-year-old child. Back to the marketplace, growing quieter now in the late afternoon. No sign of the boy. I searched the aisles and corners of the market. I searched the faces of the children who ran past and quickly disappeared into the lengthening shadows. The shadows deepened. I knew he was out there somewhere, probably afraid to return empty-handed to those who had sent him out to the marketplace to [Music] steal. My search took me back to the neighborhood where I had last seen him. One of the poorest areas in the city, a dark, shabby neighborhood where a grown man would not be safe alone at night, let alone a child. I didn't realize at that moment how very close to each other we had been. [Music] As I later discovered, Leo went trembling home back to the people who had tried to make him a thief. He knew what to expect. They had warned him before. If he was too good to steal, he was too good to keep. And now he was returning home empty-handed to beg for a bite to eat and a place to sleep. It was just as he had fear, not a bite to eat or drink because he had come home [Music] empty-handed. And then the final blow. [Music] They had put up with him long enough and they threw him into the streets. A little boy who was too good to [Music] keep. Alone again, wondering in the dark with a broken heart. Little Leo tried to [Music] understand why did no one want him? He had lived with three families and everyone had deserted him when he needed them so much. [Music] Which way should he go? It didn't really matter. One was as good as another, but nobody cared about him anyway. [Music] Yeah. Suddenly, Lee Po heard familiar voices. It was his two friends from the marketplace. He wouldn't have to spend the night alone after all. He could stay with them. Everything would be all [Music] [Laughter] right. He pulley on the sidewalk and sobbed his heart out. It was there I found him. Poor little waif all alone in the world. He tried to tell me about [Music] it. I understood. Yes. Three mammas and three papas. And then he said, "Nobody wants me. [Music] Someone does want you, son. Someone loves you very much. That's your fourth father. You don't know him now, but you will. You will. As we walked up the street and through old Hong Kong that night, my heart sang and I felt I understood better than ever before the story Jesus told of the shepherd who had 99 and went out to search for one that was lost. I knew why Jesus said that when the man came home, he shouted, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.