July News

IN THIS ISSUE: 1. The rain in Hong Kong. 2. Blind Pig Farmer’s great success. 3. World Refugee Day 4. New Helen Mottee Album

THE RAIN IN HONG KONG FALLS MAINLY ALL THE TIME

Well I thought Sydney could rain! 5 years in Hong Kong and I have never seen anything like it. I know this is the wet season but this is ridiculous!

It was not the Welcome return to Hong Kong we expected..
As it turned out, June 2008 was the wettest month in Hong Kong since 1889! We had over 1,300 mm falling in the region, breaking the previous record of 1,241 mm set more than 130 years ago. The rainfall in the second half of the month was mainly related to Typhoon . After making landfall, the slow movement of Fengshen over south China brought almost continuous heavy rain to Hong Kong at the end of June. Stores were flooded, mud slides poured onto highways, and policemen had to use ropes to help locals cross the street.

At Crossroads, some of us suffered flooding in our apartments. Water drowned our sidewalks and yards and we endured long periods of thunder during the days and nights. Due to high winds, two trees fell over onto two of our buildings, but fortunately no one was hurt and the trees did not damage the apartments.

But as they saying goes, after rain comes the sunshine ….. And we have had some of the bluest skies I have ever seen in Hong Kong. Everything looked fresh and new..

2. BLIND PIG FARMER MOST SUCCESSFUL IN TOWN!

Samnang has not always enjoyed the respect of his neighbours. For a long time, he was merely the village beggar, blind and sitting on the side of the road peddling loose change from passersby. Relegated to the lowest end of society because of his disability, he had settled into his poverty and believed he would never be able to overcome his circumstances.

A group we are currently shipping to specialises in the needs of blind people and visits remote villages in the mountainous Siem Reap province in order to find people that may be impoverished because of blindness. On one of their visits, they met Samnang and trained him in how to raise pigs. He has learned to use his other senses when preparing food for his pigs, determining their health, and choosing the best piglets to buy at the market. He took to the skill so quickly, and with such proficiency that he is now the leading pig farmer in his village and highly regarded. He has been able to build himself a new house and has a renewed sense of dignity in being able to provide so well for his wife and three children.
In addition to improving the lives of the blind in Cambodia, our consignee also runs an orphanage and school, provides vocational training to the community, and offers public health services. People like Samnang are able to learn skills such as mushroom growing, planting, rice farming and animal raising, and earn income through their newfound trade. Over 200 children receive an education and housing through the orphanage and school, and more than 60 families have benefited from the health services and training our consignee provides.

Crossroads packed a container for this consignee in June 2008. Items requested include clothing, school books and supplies, desks, furniture, and household goods. These things will be used to continue the much needed work our consignee does in Siem Reap, and will also be among our first containers shipped to Cambodia.

3. OUTSTANDING CROSSROADS EVENT HIGHLIGHTS THE PLIGHT OF REFUGEES

World Refugee Day

With refugee numbers surging from the recent disasters in Sichuan and Myanmar, Crossroads and the UNHCR (The United Nations Refugee Agency) joined forces on 20-21st June to mark World Refugee Day with a music concert, speakers, and a Refugee Film Festival.

Over 300 people attended the concert on Friday, 20 June. Guests were ushered into a simulated refugee camp by soldiers ‘checking IDs’ at the gate and registrars within the camp forcing each guest to sign in. Once in the camp, many members of our multi-cultural team dressed in traditional outfits and served ethnic food while tradespeople set in UNHCR tents sold handicrafts made by refugees and disadvantaged people throughout the world.
During the evening, guests were treated to performances by the award-winning Australian children’s choir, the Green Valley Youth Choir, and Helen Mottee with songs from her new album. A short refugee film entitled “Mapendo” was shown and the head of UNHCR for China and Malaysia as well as Sally Begbie, one of Crossroads’ directors, spoke on the refugee situation in the world. The evening ended with a powerful joint performance by Helen and the choir, singing a poignant song about refugee life.

Saturday consisted of a Refugee Film Festival where members of the public, VIPs, and many of our volunteers and our own team watched soberly as we saw stories of war and child soldiers portrayed powerfully on the screen throughout the hot day. Discussions followed each film in which moviegoers asked questions, voiced opinions, and learned more about the refugee struggles and challenges throughout the world and what they can do to help.

Perhaps the most precious voices that were heard, however, were those of some refugees from an African nation, who came on stage to share what the recognition of this day had meant to them. “Hearing the songs and seeing the movies was just like seeing my struggle spoken out,” said one. “It was the cry of my heart being sung.”

We hope to continue doing whatever we can to serve refugees in our own city and around the world.

4 LETTERS FROM THE 5TH ESTATE – a New Album by Helen Mottee

British politician Edmund Burke made the historic observation in the 1700s that there existed Three Estates in Parliament. The First Estate consisted of three hundred clergy; the Second Estate was three hundred nobles; and the Third estate was comprised of six hundred commoners. Later, he added to this observation when he commented on the watchful press by saying, ‘In the Reporter’s Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important far than they all.’

For Helen Mottee, the Fifth Estate is the voice of the Arts and their powerful and unique capacity not just to inform and entertain, but to advocate and even frame political, social and humanitarian issues. Her new album, “Letters from the Fifth Estate,” serves as a collection of musical letters expressing the needs of many globally who cannot speak for themselves. She hopes that “those who listen to the songs will in some way not only be moved by the message, but inspired, even spurred on, to act in some way themselves.”

Helen herself has spent much time with refugees, child soldiers, HIV/AIDS sufferers and those who have experienced the horrors of ethnic and religious cleansing. She knows that “these are no more statistics on a page or stories in a book. I have met and shared time with people who are, or have been, these things, and it is from such experiences and relationships that the new songs have been born.”

Helen officially launched her new album on 20 June, in conjunction with World Refugee Day, a day commemorating the plight of refugees which is an issue very close to Helen’s heart.