Travels

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Every year during the holidays I will take time off to travel. I have been to Taiwan and China and I will be heading for Japan this coming december holidays.

When classes are out, there is plenty of time for personal pursuits and I find extra joy in combined community service with travelling.

For the last 3 decembers, I have been to Yunnan, China, a place of great poverty in China. In fact it is one of the poorest county in China. Because of the vast population in China, not everyone gets an equal chance in society. Many of the kids there do not have the chance to get even a secondary education.

1st year I went there I helped the farmers build a irrigation reservoir so that less work is needed on the farm. The children may then have more time to study. Then we spent a day at a local school teaching the children about the culture of Singapore.

2nd year I visited a rural boarding school. Their rooms were dilapidated. We made new beds for them. We spent about 8 days of our trip there working in a spacious workshop drilling and sawing planks and wood.

Last year we built a basketball court for the youths of ManMan Village. Hopefully that will keep their teenagers occupied and away from other more hazardous activities like biking.

Every year we would visit this Lepers' village. It is atop a mountain, a climb takes 1 hour. People with leprosy, a disease that degenerates your peripheral nerves, are left there for good. They are usually old and have some form of disability. You know they will never make it back to civilisation or home. What we do is to provide companionship and love for them.