Monday, March 18, 2024

Fall

It is about time I explain the Lion Rock-like scar on my forehead. 


The short version: I fell down the stairs and bumped my head against the steps, which opened a big gash  on my forehead, leaving behind a Lion Rock-like scar.  


The longer version: On February 5, around 1:15 pm, I was walking from campus towards Tsim Sha Tsui East for lunch, going down the stairs at the end of the pedestrian walkway.  When I was perhaps 10 steps from reaching the bottom of the stairs, I slipped and fell down the steps.  My head bumped heavily against the steps before I came to a stop.  I found myself sprawled on the last few steps, my head higher than my feet, facing down towards the steps.  I was dazed but did not lose consciousness. I heard passersby screaming: “So much blood!” “I can see bones!”  I opened my eyes and indeed saw a big pool of blood. At that point I thought I might have cracked open my skull!  What happens now?  Will I die? Other than that, not much came to mind.  Not that I can remember anyway.   



A man handed me something white, perhaps a stack of tissue, and told me to put them on my forehead to stop the blood.  I took the white pack of stuff with my right hand, put it on my forehead, and felt my hand getting wet and sticky.  That must have been my own blood; but I did not dare to check.  A person said I should sit up; another said no, because they didn’t know how badly I was hurt.  Someone said to call 999 emergency;  another said he has already done it. A man claimed to have medical training and said firmly I should sit up.  He held my left hand, and helped me to sit up on my own power, on the last couple of steps. I felt I could use my hand and legs.  My wrists and knees hurt; but I did not feel anything broken.  At that point I felt perhaps I would not die yet.  


I started to look for my mobile phone and eye glasses.  A woman to the left in front told me that she had my glasses and phone, and that I should not worry about them.  About this time, I realised that my boss, whom I was going to meet for lunch, had arrived by my right hand side.  Another colleague passed by and offered to take her backpack back to the office.   A doctor at the university health service (as well as a family friend) passed by, offered to call my wife, and directed her to meet me at the emergency room at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.   By the time, the ambulance had arrived.  I was taken into the ambulance and checked. My boss went with me to the hospital and handed me over to my wife.  



My head was CT scanned and my neck and wrist X-rayed.  After the scan, the doctor suspected that there might be a fracture in my skull. I was plunged into another round of abject fear.  Will they have to cut open my skull to repair something?  Or just let it heal by itself? My skull was X-rayed and I was admitted into the neurosurgery ward.  Fortunately, X-ray revealed no fracture.  It was 8 pm when they started to clean my wound and stitched it up.  I could feel every injection of local anaesthesia.  It was particularly queasy when the doctor pulled up my scalp to clean under it, even though it was not particularly painful.  I could barely bear the feeling of the thread pulling my skin tightly together, 16 stitches in all. When it was done, roughly an hour later, I was soaked in my own sweat. 12 days later, the stitches were removed.  That was how I got a 16 cm long scar in the shape of the profile of the Lion Rock on my forehead.  Honest.  My wife has been at my side throughout the whole ordeal, fighting for better, quicker treatment for me, looking after me in all aspects.   


Many people, including doctors, told me I could have died.  I am eternally grateful that I have so many guardian angels hovering around me, helping me pull through this ordeal.  I feel that there must be something that God wants me to do before I actually die.  I shall do my best to fulfil that responsibility.  



Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Borrow from Guanyin (觀音)

There is a local custom for people to come to the Guanyin Temple, shortly after Lunar New Year,  to “take out a loan” from the bodhisattva. 



One comes to the temple and buys a package of incense and stuff to be offered to Guanyin.  One can then take a kind of promissory note of an astronomical sum of virtual money, from Guanyin's treasury.  At the end of the year, if indeed one is blessed with good fortune, one then comes back and makes another offering to show gratitude to the bodhisattva.  



Today the Guanyin temple in Hung Hom is full of people.  I estimated that there were at least a thousand people in the tightly controlled crowd in the street right in front of the temple.  There were a lot more at the holding area in the park across the street behind the temple.  And more were hurrying to join the end of the line. 



One thing that I did not notice in earlier years is the large number of foreigners, from South East Asian countries, apparently.  Many of them come in groups, with guides instructing them on what to do.  By their looks and language, they might be Indonesians or Thais.  But I cannot be sure.  



There is surely a festive atmosphere around the temple, bringing a lot of business to the shops in the area. 



Monday, March 04, 2024

Lion Rock?

A hat?


A snake that swallowed an elephant?



The scar on my forehead?


Lion Rock (獅子山) of Hong Kong?


In any case, I am quite proud of the scar on my forehead.


#SChanPalmArt




Thursday, February 29, 2024

Solar Panel Engineer Novices

Another batch of students are training to be novice engineers.  We are sending teams to Rwanda and Tanzania to install solar panels, hundreds of them, in July-August 2024. This batch of students have already gone through lectures and workshops on the basics of service-learning, leadership, cross-cultural competency, etc., to prepare for the project.  They are now learning the technology: basic electricity, solar panels, batteries, installing lights and wires inside a house, etc.  Part of the challenge is that there are not necessarily engineering students - they come from all disciplines: social science, business, humanities, …  Many have not even studied Physics before.  Now they have to learn to sue hand tools such as pliers, wire cutters, screw drivers, …, to make workable electrical circuits.



Most are curious and take to the task enthusiastically. Initially many are hesitant and anxious.  Most learn quickly.  Naturally, there are slackers., and we cajole them into getting their hands dirty, literally.  We don’t worry about them.  Once they get to the site, when they start experiencing first hand the primitive environment in the village and the terrible situation of not having electricity, when they start seeing the impact of having just a little electricity, when they see the joy in the face of the people they are face to fact with from their own work, nobody with a heart can continue to sit on their hands.  All will become enthusiastic and work hard willingly to bring electricity to as many households as they can.  They may regret not working harder to prepare.  But that is part of the learning and difficult to avoid.  


This year the project “Habitat Green in East Africa” is getting even bigger, with a wider range of teams participating, and more parties to come and learn, or just to observe.  These students who are now training are the core of the bigger team.  They will take on the bulk of the work, teach others to do the same, and essentially carry the whole team forward.  They have to work harder than in other academic subjects that they take.  The teaching team has to work extra hard, and innovate continuously, to facilitate it. The students work long hours.  But the teaching team start before the students, and finish only after the students are done. But it is so worth it.  


It is exciting to see people working together for a good cause, learning and growing in the process, and enjoying the experience.  This is service-learning at its best. Hard but rewarding work. 




 

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

How to build a Service-Learning Army?

Alternatively, “How do we help teachers realise their hidden potential as a teacher of service-learning?”


When PolyU decided to make Service-Learning (SL) a compulsory, credit-bearing subject for all undergraduates in 2010, we knew we had a huge challenge.  We needed to offer subjects (courses) to thousands of students each year, starting with zero subjects. It was estimated that we were going to need around 70 subjects, starting with none.  We were going to need dozens and dozens (more than a hundred, it turns out) teachers.  How do we find these teachers who can - and are willing to - teach the subjects?  


We started to try to (1) identify the characteristic of these teachers.  Perhaps teachers who have engaged in community service themselves, inside or outside PolyU?  Perhaps those who come to seminars and workshops on SL? Perhaps those who respond to Call for Proposals on SL subjects?  Perhaps those with religious beliefs?  These potential “indicators” do not always work.  For example, some put their names in because they have been asked by their department heads.  Others volunteered for other reasons such as a perception that it may give them better job security (which may not actually be the case).  But by and large these indicators did help us gather together a significant number of colleagues who got involved.  And we continue to identify and recruit new members into the community.  


Then we have to do all we can to help them (2) get up to speed and stay in the game. Even the most motivated benefit from help to persevere in the face of all the obstacles and discouragement. We run numerous workshops on many aspects of service-learning: writing a proposal for a SL subject, cultivating community partners, finding possible projects offshore, teaching reflection, assessing performance, etc.  We created a community of practice for interested colleagues to share experience, learn together and in general encourage each other.  Many of the projects need financial support for equipment and material, extra manpower to support and supervise the students, for transportation and accommodation away from Hong Kong.  So we work with the Alumni Office to solicit donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and distribute the funds among the colleagues who need them. 


We realise that many colleagues need help finding projects, particularly for offshore projects, where we can make the biggest impact and the students can learn the most.  Hence we make concerted effort to explore and set up projects in foreign countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa.  We bring interested colleagues to meet with potential partners and discuss possible projects.  We have developed a number of offshore bases where we can operate multiple projects for many years.  In this way, we (3) open up opportunities for people



Then I read Adam Grant’s book “Hidden Potential - The Science if Achieving Greater Things”.  The book is divided into three sections: (I) special character skills that catapult us to greater heights, (II) creating structures to sustain motivation, and (III) building systems to expand opportunity.  It turns out the three steps that we went through to develop our SL program matches very well the three steps that Adam Grant’s research says are useful for helping people achieving greater things.  


Our SL program was designed based on reading about other people’s experiences, our own little experience, what we know about education and psychology in general, and a lot of intuition and common sense.  We are very glad that it is corroborated by scientific research.  Thank you, Professor Adam Grant. 



Saturday, February 17, 2024

The Palestinian Christian Perspective

There is a rare opportunity to meet and listen to a Palestinian Christian pastor on his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and more.  



Yes, there are plenty of Christians among Palestinians: Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant.  Pastor Alex Awad was the pastor of a Protestant church in Jerusalem and the head of a seminary in Bethlehem.  And he is visiting Hong Kong again.  Last evening, he spoke after the showing of a movie: The Stones Cry Out - a movie on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from the Palestinian perspective.  We may not agree with everything in the movie.  But it is a good opportunity to better understand that perspective, and to put that in the Christian context. 


According to Pastor Awad, the conflict is political, not religious.  The key issue is land.  The Israelis want that land, but the Palestinians already live on it. There will not be peace for the Israelis if there is no peace for the Palestinians.  God loves the Jewish people.  But He also loves the Chinese, the Americans, the Japanese, the Cambodians, the Vietnamese, the Burmese, the Rohingyas, the Rwandans, the Tutsis, the Hutus, the Tanzanians, the South Africans, the Germans, the Russians, the Ukranians, the Turks, the Kurds, …, and the Palestinians.  


From the Christian perspective, our mission is to spread God’s good news.  Not to fulfil the prophecies.  The prophecies tell the world God is in charge.  Our responsibility is to spread that word.  Not to speed up the end of the world.  Pastor Awad was born in Palestine, but turned into a refugee at the age of two.  Yet he is not bitter.  He dedicated his life to spread God’s good news.  



Pastor Awad has written a book in English which has been translated into Chinese. Please read the book to get his amazing story. 



Pastor Awad will be speaking at several more gatherings in Hong Kong in the coming few days.  Details can be found here: https://ccphl.net/ 






Monday, February 12, 2024

First Dim Sum of the Lunar New Year

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, my wife and I had our first meal outside of home of the year at our favourite dim sum place - Steam Hut. 



The food is just as good as ever.  In fact, some of them taste even better than usual. The stewed black garlic and chicken soup is thicker and stronger in flavour.  We believe they put in more chicken, dates, and in general, more “stuff” because it is Lunar New Year. 



They remain open the first day to the fourth, and closes on fifth and sixth - perhaps for the staff to take a break.  



The steamed rice noodles with chicken is excellent.  There seems to be more chicken than rice rolls.  The chicken is tender and flavourful.  The rice rolls soak up all the juice.  You can imagine the rich aroma, the multiple texture, and the multiplexed taste.  



The steamed pork knuckles is tender, plentiful, colourful and very rich.  The peanuts soak up the juice and tasty by themselves.  



We finished with sweet purple rice and taro soup.  A perfect ending.  


This is a restaurant we have been eating at starting about 4 years ago, when they opened in Hung Hom near our place.  They have since moved to Tsuen Wan, which is almost an hour away from our home now.  But we still come here as often as we can.  Because it is not just about good food, but also good people and service.