On Saturday, we took some students with us to visit a rehabilitation center at Huizhou (惠州) in GuangDong (廣東) province. Rehabilitation here relies on The Gospel rather than the more common practice of medicine. The method has proven to be highly effective in decades of practice in Hong Kong, and is now being tried in mainland China.
The people here are mainly trying to recover from psychological or drug-related problems. Here they practice simple, self-sufficient living. They grow vegetables, cultivate fruit trees, and farm fish. They also study the Bible and pray. It has proven to be highly effective even in the short time that it has been operating. (Just over a year, I believe.) Some of them had been taking various drugs for their psychological problems for many years without resolution. Since they arrived here, they have stopped taking medicine - and they have become much calmer and stable. Many have already completed the cycle of treatment and returned home to normal life. It is really quite amazing.
They live in several small, attached houses on a large slopping hillside, two small fish ponds, a vegetable garden, and lots of fruit trees. There is no piped water; but there is plenty of spring water from the mountain behind them. The natural environment, the open space, the wild life, and the clear sky is refreshing. In particular, the litter of six (3-month old) puppies is a lot of fun.
We came here as part of our Community Outreach Merit Program. We try to learn more about the center and its people, to show them we care, and to explore possible further projects with them. Information Technology is probably not something that they need urgently. But we feel that we can still help them with other things, such as their building projects.The students who came with us seem excited and interested. We will see if something can be done for the people here. We left home early in the morning, came home about midnight and were completely exhausted. But all in all, it was a good experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment