Keep My Memory Safe

Born in Hong Kong to unwed parents, Stephanie Chitpin was transported illegally to the Island of Mauritius by Ah Pak, head nun of a Buddhist temple with the help of Mr. Chui, a benevolent Chinese businessman. Ah Pak raised her as an orphan ward of the temple Fook Soo Am, known as the Pagoda. The scars incurred by classmates' name calling, the shame of being an orphan raised in a temple, tragic deaths, and other obstacles did not prevent her from pursuing her education in Mauritius and at university in Canada. Keep My Memory Safe poetically chronicles life in the temple and in Mauritius, and the move to Canada. This immigration story is totally unique as no other orphaned temple nuns are known to have gone on to acquire a topnotch education and become academics.