Got Gou?

   Road rage? Red light cameras? Foreign concepts to Bev Lum Chow, a Chinese Hawaiian, who grew up on an island the size of Gwinnett and Barrow Counties combined.

   "You'd never run a red light because everyone knew you and someone's auntie might tell your mother," she said with a wink. But more than that, in Hawaii everyone's family. "We had a five-way stop in Manoa Valley and if someone went out of turn, we assumed they really needed to hurry and forgave them." In fact, her "Live Aloha" bumper sticker is "a declaration of commitment to drive courteously." 

   What a culture shock when she moved to Gwinnett with its tied-up traffic and rollover residents! Feeling no sense of community, she set out to create her own.
Borders Bookstore in Snellville and the Evergreen Garden Club in Duluth she said were blessings, but she built much of her community in her own home. "I believe in angels unawares," she said, referring to the Bible verse "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Hebrews 13:2.)

   She couples that verse with two favorite proverbs, the Chinese, "When you drink the water, remember where it comes from" referring to ancestors, and the Hawaiian, "The beauty of the lei lies in the beauty of the individual flowers." And she says angels appear to broaden her community.

   For May Day, she hosted a Hawaiian luncheon and taught her guests how to make leis. For Chinese New Year she made jai, a traditional casserole of 25 symbolic foods believed to bring an abundance of good fortune. For dessert she served gou, (rhymes with cow) a sticky pudding representing community. The round shape symbolizes union and the stickiness, cohesiveness. 

   Angels unaware in her Gwinnett community, she says, have brought her closer to people and concepts she holds dear. 

   "The Garden Club made a quilt to honor Dean Day, a member who's served as state president. Each club designed a square with an appliqued flower. It was like a lei."

   When a new friend took her to Gwinnett Medical Center's labyrinth, her Chinese proverb became more meaningful. Lum Chow had never heard of a labyrinth, even though her parents, both deceased, were married at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, home of one of the most famous labyrinths in the world. "Now, every time I go to San Francisco, I walk the labyrinth and feel closer to my mother because of an experience I had here." 

   And even with the driving, Lum Chow has felt a blending of community. "I took a driving course with AARP and they have a motto for times like when someone takes your parking space: FIDO: Forget It, Drive On. And to think I heard it here, and not in Hawaii!"

   "So there is a sense of community in Gwinnett?" I asked.

   With a wink she said, "It's got gou!"

021605

Archive