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.
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.
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/
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.
On the first day of the Year of the Dragon, we bless each other, visit each other, eat good food associated with good fortune, give each other lai see (red packets), …, and, in general, have a good time.
This being the year of the dragon, we bless each other with auspicious saying such as: “May you be free to cruise the four seas likase the dragon, and dance in the ninth heaven as the phoenix.”
Throughout the morning, we have been calling our relatives both local and overseas. We have also been exchanging blessings and wishes with numerous people through social media. My wife and I wish our three daughters can be here with us, of course. But we are happy enough that they are pursuing their dreams and we are in touch with them.
While we are going through the festivities, I can’t help but think that there are many many many people who cannot enjoy the festivities. Some have lost their freedom for unjust reasons. Many are in such poverty they cannot really afford the good food and gifts. Many are in far away places, but some are very near. Many are living in the middle of wars, being harmed and killed as we talk. What about them? Don’t they have a right to enjoy and celebrate as we do? I cannot be fully happy when fellow human beings are suffering. Particularly if the cause of their suffering are prejudice, greed, bigotry, and hatred. Especially when their suffering can be removed, at least alleviated, through compassion from fellow human beings.
Hence, in addition to all the auspicious wishes, I am adding two: Justice from above, and compassion among fellow humans.
In a bed in a neurosurgery ward of a public hospital lies an old man. He is not allowed to get up - his hands are tied to the bed frame. Apparently the staff feels he may endanger himself.He is wearing a diaper so he does not need to get up to relieve himself. But he continuously demands to go to the toilet. When the staff reminds him that he can just relief himself in his diaper he denies that he is wearing a diaper.
At night he removes the diaper and relieves himself, spreading excrement and urine all over the bed, and himself. The staff triy to clean him up and he struggles, complaining continuously. The staff remain gentle with him, in words and in deed. But they are firm that he cannot get up, presumably by doctor’s orders.
He is feeding through a tube into his stomach. But he pulls the tube out. The staff have to insert the tube again. He resists mightily, complaining loudly, crying that he is dying.
His wife and daughter visit him, trying to calm him down. Pleading with him that his antics is putting a lot of pressure on everybody around him. He seems to calm down while they are there. His old friend visits, telling him the same thing. Apparently his has had a stroke and is partially incapacitated. He may also have kind of deterioration in the brain. He thinks his daughter (who just visited him) is in the US. He tried to free himself while his friend was there, which his friend discouraged.
After his friend left, the old man pulled on something and toppled a table, making a loud bang and a mess. The staff rushed in, upset but not surprised.
He seems confused. He does not seem to know where he is. Sometimes he talks about a 3-storey building, sometimes it is 6-storeys. It is not clear whether he means he owns it, or he wishes to jump off it. Sometimes he talks in coherent sentences. Often he simply moans and mumbles.
I do not wish to be in hte old man’s position. Surely nobody wants to be in his position. Most likely he does not mean to cause trouble but cannot help himself. Most likely he does not understand the consequences of what he is doing. His wife still considers him her husband, his daughter - father, his friend - friend. But how much? How much of him is left? Can he possibly recover? How much can he recover?
If the man has a soul, where is his soul? When a man loses his memory, when a man does not recognise his family and friends, what is left of him? How much of his soul is left? If a soul endures, where is it and what it is like? There is so much that I wish to know.
Our service-learning class is preparing another batch of students to install solar panels in East Africa in summer - in Rwanda and Tanzania. One of the lessons we have prepared for them is on inter-cultural competency - how does one interact with people from a different cultural background? In our case, how do our students - from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Turkey, Korea, Malaysia, … - deal with people from Rwanda and Tanzania in July?
Our colleagues - P and S - created an amazing game, based on our experience in East Africa (mainly Rwanda, actually, where we have the most experience). They created 10 personal profiles (farmer, tailor, boy, girl, father, mother, widow with children, …). They then worked with our artist-in-residence, A, to create a map with 10 homes, roads, banana trees, farm animals, crafts, drying clothes, village gathering, school, …
The class of 40 some students are then divided into 10 groups. Each group sends a representative to learn one of the 10 personal profiles. The rest of the group are then sent to converse with as many as possible of the other 9 representatives, and figure out which home does each of the personalities live in. They also have to guess the social-economic status (from level 1 to 5) of each of the personalities, based on the information at hand. When the groups report their findings, they have to provide justifications for their guesses.
The students take to the game with gusto. We are also quite pleasantly surprised to find that their answers are quite accurate and their reasoning quite reasonable.
Through the game, our students begins to learn about the people and their living environments, how they make a living, the type of things they grow in the field, the challenges in their lives. The map is really beautiful and useful in explaining village life in Rwanda and Tanzania. It is exciting to see students getting involved.
We are thankful we have such a talented and passionate team. This summer is going to be fun.
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