What Families Say About Camphor House

My mother has been at Camphor House for four months now. When we first visited, she said the air smelled different – cleaner, she said. She was right. The staff knew her name before she'd even unpacked. Mealtimes are something she actually talks about when I visit, which she never did at her old accommodation in the city. I was a little worried about the distance from Kowloon, but honestly, the ferry ride has become part of the visit.

My father did the Island Week Retreat first, which helped us both decide. He came home talking about the village elders he'd met in the Heritage sessions, and the morning he watched the fishing boats from the waterfront. He moved to full residence in December. Getting to Tai O takes some planning, but the team at Camphor House are responsive and helpful when you have questions. The only thing I'd say is that it takes a few days to settle into the slower pace.

We were looking for something that felt like a home rather than a care facility. Camphor House is that. It smells like wood and sea, the food is genuinely good, and the team understand that being older doesn't mean having nothing left to offer. My aunt attends the Heritage Programme and has started sharing things about her own childhood in Cheung Chau that she hadn't talked about in years. That was unexpected, and very moving.

My parents both live at Camphor House now, which makes visiting simpler and means they have each other alongside the community. What I notice most is that the staff treat them as adults who have things to say and stories worth hearing. The house is small enough that nothing falls through the cracks. When my father had a difficult week in January, Margaret rang us without being asked. That kind of attentiveness is hard to find.

My grandmother joined the Heritage Programme while still living at home with us. The sessions gave her somewhere to go and something to look forward to on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She talks about the things she learned – mostly she talks about a man called Uncle Ho who grew up fishing with his father – with a brightness I haven't seen in a while. We are now thinking about the Village Residence option as the next step.

We chose Camphor House because it felt honest. There was no marketing pitch, no overly polished presentation – just a tour of the house and a conversation with the team. They told us plainly what the place is and isn't, which we appreciated. The pricing is clear and there are no surprise charges month to month. Three months in, my uncle seems calmer and more settled than he has been in years. Tai O suits him.