Spirit of Hong Kong Awards: translator-interpreter built second career while battling cancer
Overcoming illness and grief, Neena Pushkarna, 81, helps people of ethnic minority groups navigate cultural issues and communicate with officials
After retiring as a schoolteacher at the age of 60, Neena Pushkarna began helping immigrants and Hong Kong residents from ethnic minority groups communicate with government officials – a role she has played for more than two decades.
Fluent in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English, Pushkarna is now president of the Hong Kong Interpreters & Translators Association and, at 81, still provides services to various government departments such as the Immigration Department, judiciary and police.
But she has navigated her second career while dealing with the mounting health and caregiving challenges that tend to accrue to those in the autumn and winter of their lives.
In 2007, Pushkarna was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Despite facing a mastectomy and multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Pushkarna made a conscious decision not to stop working.
“I refused to let cancer define me,” she recalled.
While going in and out of hospital for her treatment, Pushkarna continued fulfilling her duties, not only at work but also as a carer to her husband, who was also ill with severe heart and kidney problems.
