Goldfish Uncle and Gentle Gweilo

6. A childhood sexual trauma that unknowingly shaped the relationships the rest of my life

A tram passing by Monster Building in Hong Kong, where I spent my early childhood. Photo by Louisa Wah.

On a sweltering summer's day in 1983, I took the tram to school. I had been doing that since my mother decided that I was old enough to travel on my own a year earlier.

The tram was extremely crowded, as usual. A middle-aged man with bulging eyeballs, o…