September 2008

In this issue: 1. Phil & Sue, what happens next? 2. Phil’s trip to UK 3, surviving in the UK 4. Typhoon 9 and I missed it! 5. Uganda the real story 6. Domestic Workers in Hong Kong . 7. Its raining ……babies and Weddings 8. We still need your support and help.

Dear friends,

We do not know what the future will be ……….. we just know who holds the future.

We again contemplate major change in our lives. For the 2nd time in six years we find ourselves stepping out into the unknown.

Firstly, Crossroads. We have decided that we will finish up our work here at the end of November and head home to Australia around mid December.

We will spend the remainder of December and most of January catching up with everyone, R & R, then probably travel to Auckland to be ready to start work on a diploma at a B College in New Zealand. I say probably as we have to still to complete the application process. This is a one year course and is similar course to the one my brother Tim is currently doing at the same College.

You may recall that earlier this year we travelled back to Australia and New Zealand for a longer period than usual, part of which was to give us some time to reflect and to wait on the MD to try to get some clarity as to what would be the next step for our lives.

However a heavy speaking programme and general business meant that this did not really happen. We returned to Hong Kong, deciding to continue with what we were doing until it became clear it was time to do otherwise.

I headed to the UK for 3 weeks while Sue remained in Hong Kong. During that time we both came to realise (quite separately) that our time at Crossroads was coming to an end.

What was amazing is that we both came to realise it, 12,000 Klm apart, and what the next step should be quite separately and yet when spoken out showed we had complete unity and clarity. It was a ‘Wow” moment.

We have been at Crossroads for nearly 6 amazing and wonderful years. But the MD has made it clear to us that we need to move on to the next phase of our lives.

Both of us have felt for some time that we are being called to work within the context of a Club environment. What the roles are and what that looks like we cannot say at the moment, but it would most likely be in the area of outreach.

We are ruling nothing out about where that will be. We would love it to be Australia but who knows? It may even be back in Hong Kong!

We have chosen Auckland because we like the College (I spoke there earlier this year) , the way the course is set out and how it is relevant for us and it has been good for Tim. Also because we think that in Australia and especially Sydney there would be too many distractions than would be good for us.

We would appreciate your support and chats as we work through these last months. I have one more trip to the UK to do and Sue will need to train others to take over her job. We are aware that we leave some pretty big holes here in an organisation that is already badly stretched. So do chat that some good people can be found to step into our roles.

We are at peace with the decision and believe it is the right thing, but we also will greatly miss our Hong Kong ‘family’ both here and at our club. Again your chats not only for us but also for the team here would be valuable.

I think that covers most of it. Please ask if you have any questions.
We will continue to need both financial and chat support for these remaining months. We will also welcome support next year as we head into our new venture. More details about that later,

2. Attention to our U.K. Supporters!

Phil will be visiting the U.K. from mid-October to mid-November this year and would love to speak at your clubs or other MD groups! This is a great chance to learn more about Crossroads and see if you or your friends might be a good fit for the work here in Hong Kong. We would appreciate your help as we undertake to find more people to work with us. It is one of the most challenging times we have met in our team, but it is also one of the most exciting times, with incredible doors opening before us! We need quite a few more full-time team members (100, actually!) and would love to get the word out as much as possible. Sundays are preferable and I would especially like to target IT, youth, and student groups, though any helping hands will be welcome.

If you are interested, you can just let me know or e-mail.

3 Surviving in the UK

Phil recently returned from just over 3 weeks in the UK at the Soul Survivor conference. This was a recruiting exercise. We had nearly 200 people sign up for more information about coming to Crossroads. Please chat that the MD continues to prompt these people and that the ones He has chosen will come.

The conference itself was at the Bath & West Showgrounds, near the town of Shepton Mallet. About 20 miles West of Bath. It is a picturesque part of England. There were 10,000 people for the first 2 conferences and 4,000 for the 3rd. The conferences were back to back so Phil ended up working about 20 days straight to 11.30pm (then a 25 minute drive to accommodation) so needless to say arrived back in Hong Kong quite exhausted. In fact for the first time ever was actually badly affected by Jetlag!

It also rained a lot and Phil discovered some interesting gum boot (wellington boot) fashions (see Pics).

Phil had a few mornings off and so took some time to visit the Wesley Chapel in Bristol. The beautiful towns of Wells and Glastonbury. And the town of Cheddar and purchased some genuine cheddar cheese. Cheddar also has some caves not unlike Jenolean caves just smaller. All these places were just a short drive from Shepton Mallet

On the way in and out Phil also got to spend a few days with our son Dave, currently living and working in London. And catch up with friends Tim & Laura and their new son Reuben.

4. Typhoon 9 and I missed it.

For those who know Phil, you will know he is a bit of a weather buff and in particular has enjoyed watching typhoons and their patterns. But where was he when the biggest typhoon to hit Hong Kong in 5 years? In the UK that’s where!
On Friday, 22 August as Typhoon Nuri brought hurricane-force winds and heavy rain, shutting down most of the city as flights were delayed, schools and most offices closed, and bus and ferry services were suspended. Residents were warned not to venture outdoors while the observatory recorded hurricane-force winds of up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour and gusts of 150 kilometres per hour, and warned of very rough seas.
At Crossroads, high winds led to the uprooting of two trees on our site. Numerous tree branches littered the roads and sidewalks and many of our banners for various advertisements were ripped from their fastenings as winds whipped through Crossroads. As is customary with storm signals eight and higher, we did not have community volunteers working that day. By mid-afternoon, as the winds increased and safety concerns grew, our full-time team was told to leave work and head home, keeping away from windows in case of any breakages.
By the next day, Nuri weakened into a severe tropical storm after moving away from Hong Kong towards the Chinese mainland, with the signal being lowered to eight as storm-force winds continued. We returned to business as usual, with extra caution given to loosely hanging branches as well as the upturned trees. Currently we are directing our attention to cleaning up and re-creating and securing banners and other signage, but mostly we are grateful for our safekeeping.

5. Did you know ...

... 44 percent of the population in Uganda lives below the poverty line?
... 48 percent do not have access to an improved water supply?
... 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas, with two thirds working as farmers?
... 31 percent of people over the age of 15 are illiterate?
... 20 percent of the country’s children, roughly two million in total, have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS?

These statistics are more than just numbers for those living in Uganda. On the heels of civil strife within the country, many still struggle to recover economically from the many years of war endured. Farmers in rural areas particularly suffer as they often have little access to basic services such as roads to transport produce and technologies that could help them increase their production and reduce pest disease. Inadequate healthcare services merely hold the epidemic spread of HIV/AIDS at bay, with thousands victimized by the disease each day. Children lose their parents and in turn become the heads of their families at young ages, sacrificing education to support their siblings. Without education, their opportunities for stable employment dwindle and they instead turn to the street for their livelihood, increasing their chances of contracting and spreading HIV/AIDS.
Our consignee formed in an effort to promote educated and healthy, AIDS-free children in Uganda. Their major goal is to provide sustainable healthcare, education and social welfare facilities to orphans, street children, widows, refugees and marginalised families in the country. The organisation teaches basic skills such as reading and writing and also counsels people with HIV/AIDS and instructs the community on public health regarding water sanitation and other environmental protections.
Crossroads loaded a container for this consignee in August 2008. Contents included medical supplies and equipment, office furniture and computer desks, 30 computers, clothing, household supplies, stationery and books. Each of these items will be used specifically towards the goal of improving the quality of life for Uganda’s people by providing them with education opportunities as well as healthcare initiatives to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

6. REACHING DOMESTIC HELPERS IN HONG KONG

Dayani has spent her 22 years of life in her native country of Sri Lanka, struggling to make ends meet as a housekeeper to support her mother and sisters. When a recruiting agency arrives and describes the comforts of working in Hong Kong and making more than enough money to support herself as well as send money back to her family, Dayani can hardly believe her luck and immediately agrees to take a job as a nanny. With just a few essential possessions, she heads to Hong Kong, confident her fortune is changing and she has found certain relief from her difficult life.

Yet when she arrives in Hong Kong, her passport is promptly confiscated and her new employer tells her this is a customary practice so she complies, unaware of her rights. Next she learns she will only have one day off for the month instead of the many more she had been promised, meanwhile her agency demands she give them the whole of her meagre income, honouring an agreement she signed but never understood as she was blinded by false hope and promises. Dayani slowly begins to realize this dream has become a nightmare, her hopes of a comfortable income and life quickly vanishing. Broken, hopeless, and full of remorse, she resigns herself to this new life.

As exploitation such as Dayani’s surged, an organisation formed to meet the need for legal assistance and emergency shelter for women in these circumstances. 15 years later, the organisation still strives to assist these workers, offering free legal services, training skills such as cooking, computer work, and language learning, and provides two shelters to accommodate women as they await pending legal cases. This organisation manages to settle over 80% of their cases, and with the settlement women are able to return to their home countries or continue working in Hong Kong, armed with the confidence of knowing their rights and what to expect from employers.

In Crossroads’ early days, this organisation approached us requesting goods for their fledgling office and shelters. Since then, they have continually sought assistance from Crossroads, and when their shelters were relocated and refurbished in 2002, Crossroads was able to provide more than 80% of the goods requested and used in these shelters. Items donated include beds, linens, desks, chairs, blankets and shelves. Utensils and cookware were also supplied and consequently used by the women in their skills training classes.

The assistance from Crossroads has consistently been met with outpourings of gratitude. As the manager of the organisation recently told us, “Without Crossroads’ donation, it would have been hard to realise the shelters. Crossroads has contributed to a safe place and peace of mind for these women while they seek reparations.”

7. Its raining weddings and babies

The wedding and baby season has started in earnest here at Crossroads.
It started with the birth of Peter to Christie & Tom in July. Then last Monday we witnessed the joyful wedding of our dear friends Craig and Debbie. It was a wonderful wedding (not to mention the various meals and other activities that went with it).

In the next few weeks babies are due for neighbours, Mike & Helen and also Matt & Adelaide (a brother or sister for Alex).

Then next month Steve and Katey get married, followed by Lin & Ben in November and finally Pablo & Riba in December. It must be something in the water.

8. We still need your help

We do appreciate your continued support. It will continue to be important in these last few months.

For more information see the side bar

We do think of you and chat to our Father about you often.

PHIL & SUE