At a meeting at a top university in Malaysia, I suddenly realised that all the 5 people sitting opposite to me, representing the university, are all females.I then remember that the situation was similar at the the tow other meetings.Not only are there women around the professors, department heads, deans, etc.The majority of the people that we have met on this trip are women.
Then I recall being surprised by the image of women wearing hijabs driving cars. And the female government officials that I have met on my previous visit to Malaysia attending a conference related to service-learning.
This is particularly impressive given that Malaysia is, as far as I know, a predominantly Muslim country.
I did ask one of our friends about this phenomenon. Her answer was that females simply do better in their studies. Whatever the reason. Based on what limited experience I have had so far, Malaysia is certainly one of the countries where females have more opportunities than their fellow females in many other countries.
Kuala Lumpur is really quite green. They have lots of trees, big ones and small ones, everywhere.
They have lots of high rises as well, some of them packed closely together in the centre of the city. But the big trees soften the harsh concrete angles quite a bit.
Because of the heat and humidity, one sweats easily. But it is still a lot more pleasant walking around KL, as compared to Hong Kong.
Malaysia has developed rapidly economically . It has now one of the highest living standards in South East Asia.
It has also been developing service-learning quickly in recent years. Many universities have developed SL in their own way. We have visited a couple of universities on this trip and are hopeful that some collaboration can be developed in the near future.
It seems at least some of the universities are interested in making SL more academically rigorous, and international, which is shared by ourselves.
I have only been in Kuala Lumpur for one day.Which has been spent mostly in meetings about service-learning. Explain how and why we do it.Learning about how other people do it.Trying to set up projects.Meeting interesting people associated with it.
Such as this lady Malay medical doctor forensic scientist who speaks Korean who is passionate about community service.
Already there are quite some indelible images.
Such as this tree whose roots are allowed to grow freely in straight lines in a star pattern, which extends beyond its crown.
The Philippines seems to be a fruitful place for PolyU Service-Learning. Since this past winter, we have already sent several teams here: STEM, youth development, nursing.Working with primary and secondary schools, nursing homes.
The needs are great, just like practically all developing countries. Lots of people can speak English. There are plenty of people, particularly the children, who don’t speak well. But it is not difficult to find young people who can work with us. It is the foreign country that is closest to Hong Kong, within one and a half hours of flying.
The biggest reason is the pervasive culture of service. The government promotes it through national programs, through a much broader sense of sense - including public and military service, etc. The Philippines is predominately Catholic, and the Catholic Church embraces service as fundamental to faith. The universities promote service, both the Catholic ones and government ones.
So far, we have been collaborating already with three universities. And more have expressed interest.
One way forward here is to institutionalise service-learning, to integrate it more into the core academic programs. To do that, SL has to be more academically rigorous. To deserve academic credit, to strengthen the teaching of academic content, to demonstrate more tangible impact to the community, to link up more strongly with strategic initiatives. We hope we can help with that.
At the beginning of Spring, in Hong Kong, the Red Cotton Tree (Bombay Celba, 木棉, 紅棉樹, 攀枝花) blooms with big, red, woody flowers.They make a pretty impressive sight.The big, red, woody flowers are good for kicking, like a jianzi (毽子).They are also a key ingredient in a kind of herbal tea, which can be cooling for your body.
At the end of spring, the silky cotton fibres burst from their pods, carrying tiny seeds away. A 10 cm pod gives you a handful of cotton. I have long been tempted to collect enough cotton to make something out of them. How many pods worth of cotton do you need to make a padded cotton jacket?
The padded jacket, was not what nature intended to happen to the silky cotton. Their job is to carry the seeds away, to start new cotton trees. Cotton trees in Hong Kong are often planted on the road side in the city. The seeds usually end up dying on the concrete, instead of germinating and growing into actual trees in any kind of soil.
Pleasantly surprised to pass by an Van Gogh art installation at the Clock Tower in Tsim Sha Tsui.
It is an animation of images in Van Gogh’s distinctive style, displayed on curved screens.
It is a wide range of images from some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings such as sun flowers, dynamic cypresses, restaurant scenes, irises, … There are also Chinese mountain - water paintings, and iconic Hong Kong images such as the Star Ferry, high rises, …
Inside, you are immersed in animated images and sound, sandwiched by two big concave screens.
Outside, the convex cylindrical screens is backdropped by the iconic Clock Tower and surroundings.
It is quite an experiences.
But surprisingly few visitors, on a Sunday morning. Just 10s of meters away, tourists, mostly from the Mainland, are taking photos on the water front. Among the few visitors, I think I recognise Filipinos, Indonesians, Whites, … Not many obvious Mainlanders.
When I spoke on Service-Learning at De La Salle University in Manila yesterday (Thursday, 15th May, 2024), it was both serendipity and destiny.It was serendipity because I got to know DLSU when I was asked by a good friend to speak in his place at an event to take place in Taiwan, which is being organised by DLSU.It happens that I am coming to the Philippines to speak at University of Philippines Diliman and to visit one of our student teams that are doing a project outside Manila, in collaboration with UP Diliman.Hence I volunteered to come to speak at DLSU, …
On the other hand, I had attended La Salle College in Hong Kong, Form 6 to 7, 1973-75. It was through contacts at Ls Salle, indirectly, that I obtained a scholarship that enabled me to go to the USA to attend university at University of Rochester. I had also known for some time that DLSU is one of the top universities doing Service-Learning. Our team at PolyU is helping La Salle College (HK) to implement Service-Learning and we know that LSC(HK) is collaborating with DLSU. I have also since learned that DLSU is part of the Catholic organisation Uniservitate, which has a strong connection with Dr. Nieves Tapia of CLAYSS in Argentina, and I got to know Nieves when I attended a CLAYSS conference in Argentina in 2016. Looking back, it seems to me that I am destined to get to know DLSU.
DLSU actually started their own SL program in 2010, almost at the same time that we started ours at PolyU. They are very committed and have already done a lot. There are similarities as well as differences between our programs. From the discussions during and after our talk there, we will be talking, and collaborating, a lot more, hopefully.
This is quite a common sight in Hong Kong, and elsewhere in South East Asia.The roots of a banyan tree breaking through stone and concrete barriers.And the banyan is winning.
Humans like banyan trees. Not only in the wild, but also in the city, on the sidewalks, right next to main roads. Presumably because banyans are big and strong, provides a lot of shade, and are fast growing. So they are useful.
At the same time, humans do not like the air roots reaching the ground and then thickening into trunks, starting yet another tree, invading spaces not allocated to the tree. Humans also do not like roots reaching out across sidewalks and God forbid, breaking up roads. Humans like the banyans to grow big on top, to provide shade to the humans. But keeping a small footprint, not interfering with other human activity.
Unfortunately, what the humans desire are in opposition to the nature and needs of the banyan. The banyan needs roots underground just as big and wide as the branches and leaves above ground, to be healthy and strong and stable. So humans chop off air roots and bind the feet (roots) of the banyan with concrete and stone barriers.
The banyan shows tremendous fighting spirit. It almost always finds a way through, as long as it has rain and air, and a tiny bit of soil. As long as it does not get killed. The banyan has a very strong will to survive, and to be free.
If a banyan works so hard to be free. Shouldn’t humans show the same spirit? Dictators be ware.
