Living in a “toxic environment” and feeling rejected was enough to motivate Alan Kolling to leave South Africa more than 50 years ago and pursue greener pastures in the US.
Everything Kolling, 71, set his hands to; academics, career-wise, sport and community outreach programmes, turned to success and he is presently enjoying retirement.
Having achieved a better life, Kolling, a member of a pioneering Chinese family that has a street named after them in Durban, has not forgotten his country of birth – South Africa; especially those who are less fortunate.
Yesterday, Kolling, who has also catered professionally, was at Durban’s Denis Hurley Centre, as part of his short visit to the city, preparing a hot meal for a few hundred homeless people who depend on the facility’s benevolence to get by.
Kolling has been funding the centre’s their feeding programmes, with monthly contributions, over the years. He has roped in some family members and others to also contribute.
He and the other donors also support the work done by St Henry’s Marist College, Kolling’s old school, at the Lily of the Valley home in Hammarsdale, which provides for orphaned and vulnerable children.
He was involved with St Henry’s outreach work previously, but after his mother Maureen died in 2010, he stepped up his contributions together with others linked to him.
“Being selfless was one of the things mom taught me. She was always thinking about others.
“When she died, I said to my siblings we need to do something in her memory,” he said.
They were also keen on supporting a worthy feeding programme and a teacher pointed him towards the Denis Hurley Centre.
“I knew (Archbishop) Denis Hurley during my time as altar boy.
‘He was a very impressive person and never got promoted because he was anti-apartheid,” Kolling said.
Kolling said his heart melted the first time he saw the Centre’s pantry with meagre supplies and has been making food contributions ever since.
On another visit, while a meal of boiled eggs and bread was being served to about 150 people at the centre, he noticed that some people were leaving with half eaten eggs.
Kolling later learnt that they were saving the rest to be eaten later.
“It really hurt to see that. If that doesn’t grab you, nothing will,” he said.
Yesterday, he prepared lamb mince with peas, potatoes and coriander.
Kolling’s grandfather’s pioneering trip in the 1890’s was counted as the first by a Chinese person to settle in Durban and he encouraged others from his homeland to do likewise.
He left his Chinese village, north of Canton, for greener pastures in Mauritius, back then.
According to Chinese tradition, the eldest son got the family inheritance and the others must fend for themselves.
While in Mauritius he was told about the “world out there” and he jumped on a boat to Durban.
He opened a small grocery store in Durban because it was a harmless profession and went to China to marry for the first time, before returning to Durban. Kolling was not sure whether his grandmother was the second or third wife, and was 18 when she married.
Kolling described her to be a “powerhouse” of a woman.
“She was dynamic even though she was uneducated, she knew business, learned quickly and saved money to invest in property,” he said.
Their store was near Game City (now City View) on First Avenue, Greyville.
His grandfather’s name was Wong (family name) Koi-Ling.
“The British were not prepared to struggle with it, so they changed it to Kolling.
“Wong was a common family name and some were in Durban.
“There were about 50 to 60 Chinese in Durban and we all got together on outings,” he said.
But nobody wanted to mix with them.
He said his grandmother’s smartness helped him get into St Henry’s.
She got her grandchildren baptised as Catholics and they were able to join prominent Catholic schools.
“But none of the families at my school complained because that would be very anti-Catholic and unchristian,” he said.
While children got on well with him at school, they never associated with him away from school.
Koling excelled at academics as well as sport and finished as a top learner in matric.
But away from school, he felt “painfully isolated” in South Africa.
During school holidays he had to help in their family shop from morning to evening, which he loathed.
On and about, people constantly taunted him.
“They would say amaChinma when I walked down the street, or took a bus ride, everyday.
“You become very sensitive and want to hide. I grew up very shy.
“I knew how to study and get good grades, but I didn’t want to be seen or heard.
“I was grateful to St Henry’s for the solid education I got,” he said.
While he was in the US, his remaining family members petitioned the City council as they were forced to leave their property through the Group Areas Act expropriation and they eventually got a road (Kolling Street) named after them.
He obtained all his degrees from the University of California, two BAs (Psychology, Legal Studies); a Masters in Social Welfare (public administration emphasis); and a Juris Doctor (law degree) in 1980.
After doing some legal work in San Francisco for a few years, he worked as a student services administrator at the same university, and handled the student disciplinary system and other related programmes.
Besides community-based programmes he got involved with, Kolling coached athletics at various levels, including the outstanding Masters athlete of 2016, Irene Obera.
As an athletics administrator, he was a part of the US’ ‘Track and Field’ team, which he represented at two World Championships (2002 and 2011) and two Olympics (2008 and 2012).
He was an accomplished sprinter himself, and also ran four prestigious marathons; Boston, London, New York and Berlin.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE