HKU Bulletin October 2003 (Vol. 5 No. 1)

12 13 W ith every muscle in her body aching Heidi Hung Hoi-yi carried the heavy water-load back through the African bush before collapsing in her hammock and falling asleep under the stars. The next morning The University of Hong Kong graduate would awaken to be met by a forest of eyes as curious villagers would watch over the foreigners come to build their school. This autumn, however, Hung will be swapping the mosquito nets, hard labour and ebony of Afr ica for the ivory towers of Oxford Universi ty, where she will become Hong Kong’s only Rhodes Scholar this year. As the latest HKU graduate to win one of the world’s most prestigious scholarships she will join an impressive rol l cal l of Prime Ministers, Presidents and world-renowned academics. In recent years Amer ica alone boasts former President, Bill Clinton, and presidential hopeful, General Wesley Clark, among its list of Rhodes Scholars. The creation of British diamond magnate Cecil Rhodes, the scholarship, now celebrating its centenary, was designed to educate future leaders of the English-speaking world. All the more embarrassing for Hung then that she did not even know what she had won. She said: “I did not know about this beforehand. Rhodes was one of the many scholarships I was applying for but, of course, when I learned afterwards I was very surprised. “Once I knew how prestigious it is I felt pressurized. People said I would have a bright future and I think I am very lucky to win this but I don’t want to be labeled because of it. People have expectations of you and I don’t feel comfortable with that.” The Rhodes Trust, which administers the scholarships, pays for university fees and living costs, as well as fares in both directions and baggage costs for a two or three year stint at Oxford. Before securing this, however, candidates have to go through a rigorous process of applications and two rounds of interviews with some of the leading figures in their home countries. Hung was no exception. After a first round of two one-on-one interviews, the politics and law graduate discovered she had been shortlisted with another two candidates. She recal led: “Then we had dinner wi th al l the seven interviewers at the Hong Kong Club. They were okay and claimed they were not assessing us during the dinner but I was really nerv “ o T u h s e . next morning there was a group discussion with the candidates and each of us had to face all the interviewers.” The secret of her success, believes Hung, was her month spent in Tanzania and her t i reless work on behal f of the underprivileged back home. She said: “One thing they found different about me was that I had done something after I came back from Tanzania. Maybe that was the difference. “I started a new project – a book club – when I got back. This was so we could supply the school we helped build with some reading material.” The trip to Tanzania also gives a clue to her future path of stud H y. ung said: “I wanted to see how it was – in terms of equality and justice – but I also wanted to see the lives of these people.” Her life at Oxford will begin with a year-long research into refugee law at St Anne’s College and then she must decide what to do with her second year. Worried by Oxford’s elitist reputation and facing up to leaving her family behind, Hung is also looking forward to the challenge of a new environment and a truly global perspective. But there is another problem: her boyfriend. She said: “I’ve been together with my boyfriend for three and half years and we have barely seen each other. I’ve spent a year on exchange and so has he. That’s two years apart. “He was real ly happy for me when we heard about the scholarship but he will just have to wait another two years or come to visit me in the UK!” Fulfilling the Dream Heidi during her work in Africa. COVER STORY Heidi Hung When HKU graduate, Heidi Hung, becomes the only Hong Kong student to take up a Rhodes Scholarship next month she will be one of many students fulfilling the University’s dream of producing a new generation of leaders.