Former engineer, 70, can edit videos better than her grandchildren
Published on
22 Oct 2022
Published by
The Straits Times
SINGAPORE – Retiree Ho Soo Pong has 2,000 subscribers on YouTube; but it bothers her not if she has 20 or 200,000.
For the 70-year-old, uploading YouTube videos is more about teaching others, raising awareness about Hainanese cuisine and freeing up space on her hard drive.
She says: “I don’t have any expectations when it comes to YouTube. I just like sharing my knowledge of cooking with others. My goal is to make a video on every dish I know. But of course, when someone writes a positive comment about a video, it makes me happy.”
The former engineer retired in 2009, and started her YouTube channel (str.sg/wVBL) in 2014, with a nine-minute video on how to make yi bua, a Hainanese snack made with glutinous rice flour with coconut, sesame and peanut filling. The snack is typically eaten on auspicious occasions such as weddings and birthdays.
That video, which saw her kneading dough while narrating her steps in Mandarin, snagged more than 170,000 views and 640 “likes”.
She initially took the YouTube plunge to free up space on her hard drive, as the clips she recorded while cooking took up space on her computer. Later, she felt motivated to increase public awareness of her Hainanese heritage and preserve its recipes, and uploaded videos on how to weave together Hainanese Larp, a type of Chinese leaf-wrapped dumplings.
These days, she has extended her repertoire to include how to make everyday dishes, such as steamed pomfret, fried gula melaka chicken and pork ribs soup with lotus root and peanuts. This is partly because her daughter’s family has a new maid from Myanmar, and Madam Ho is trying to teach her how to make local dishes.
The Singaporean says: “If I teach her in-person, she might not remember all the steps. But she can refer to the videos whenever she needs to. Other domestic helpers might also find them helpful because they provide visuals and detailed instructions.”
At the time of writing, there were 59 videos on her channel for public viewing, most of them between one and three minutes long. Many were shot in the kitchen of her Telok Blangah Housing Board flat.
Madam Ho uses her Samsung Note 10 mobile phone, mounted on a stand. She then edits the clips on her living room’s desktop computer using Windows Movie Maker, adding music, as well as the ingredients’ list and instructions in English and Chinese.
She does not appear on the clips herself, explaining: “I am camera-shy, and am also usually not dressed in nice clothes when cooking. But when it comes to food and dishes, I am not shy to share.”
Although shooting a video takes just a few hours, editing it can take up to a week or more, depending on her family commitments. In 2010, she learnt basic video-editing skills through a course with RSVP Singapore, a non-profit organisation that encourages seniors to volunteer. In fact, the mother of two can edit videos better than her children, aged 42 and 45, and four grandchildren, aged five to 16.
One granddaughter, 13, in particular, enjoys cooking, and visits her often during the school holidays. Their cooking sessions are opportunities to bond, as Madam Ho teaches the girl how to cook and the girl helps her craft YouTube videos.
“My granddaughter likes to tell her friends that her grandmother is a YouTuber, and I am quite proud of that.”
Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.
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