The night before we had planned to utilise the amazing rooftop and wake up early for sunrise. At 6:30 the alarm went off, it was still pitch black. Jon rolled over and muttered something, still half asleep, we unanimously agreed that we would skip sunrise and steal a couple extra minutes of sleep. We finally rose at 7:20. Sze Ji needed to be at school by 8 am and seeing that we were just around the corner we left . The house was abuzz, the mother and uncle left for their respective jobs and we said goodbye to the family and headed to school.
The kids had their routine morning exercises which we playfully partcipated in with them. After breakfast we wandered around the corner and must have walked no more than 500 metres before arriving at the Farm. This particular farm specialised in two harvests, sweet potatoes in the Winter and Dragon Fruit in the summer. Lily and gave a quick tutorial in the art of sweet potato harvesting. Hoe and mounds, dig. I can't help but feel we butchered a lot of this season's produce destroying a fair percentage of the crop. Still it was fun way to experience more local life it was nice to be in the sun. It was interesting, a lot of the group had lost interest in digging potatoes and had moved on to the photo taking and modelling. Lily continued to dig.
We arrived back covered in dirt and had another sharing session. It was interesting to hear about the different volunteer's experiences. The level of Cantonese was beyond me so Vincent was able to translate. It was a very moving experience, tears, laughter and prominent moments of silence were shared. We talked about the various distances kids had to travel to school, some leaving the house before sunrise. The different living conditions and varying levels of poverty. One thing that remained constant was the hospitality and generosity of the house holds. It spoke volumes about the simple lives that these people led and despite not having a lot to offer gave up more than was required.
Lunch was in the classroom and afterwards we joined the children during their lunch break. After 2 days interacting with the kids it was clear that they were more comfortable with us around. Punching, hitting, grabbing, hugging, jumping all over you. It was also the first time I interacted with some of the other kids outside of my group. It was obvious that there were varying levels of English, some kids getting stumped at "hello" others able to elicit my name and my age. The day was spent in the warm sun running around with the children - They would pinch and poke and run off, steal my beanie, steal my glasses.During this time, I forgot about all the troubles back home and almost lost track of where I was in my own life. It was just nice seeing the kids run around having fun.
The kids headed back to class and the School Principal addressed us and thanked us for our time and effort. He explained the kids situation and how much this simple 3 day trip would affect them. Our afternoon was spent in the classroom observing their interaction with the teachers. The final school bell sounded for the day and the kids exploded from their classrooms, most of them bee-lining for their bikes, the exit or the waiting relatives at the gates. There were a few who made straight for the bus and the group of volunteers. A small group of the volunteers headed off to one of the hospitals in Guangzhou to visit one of the students with cancer. We said our final goodbyes, photos, high fives, hugs before we finally made our way back onto the bus. The lights were turned off and almost instantly all members drifted off into sleep, it had been an exhausting trip and we started our 5 hour journey back to Hong Kong, a world with public transport, hot water and a sheltered view of the world around us.
The kids had their routine morning exercises which we playfully partcipated in with them. After breakfast we wandered around the corner and must have walked no more than 500 metres before arriving at the Farm. This particular farm specialised in two harvests, sweet potatoes in the Winter and Dragon Fruit in the summer. Lily and gave a quick tutorial in the art of sweet potato harvesting. Hoe and mounds, dig. I can't help but feel we butchered a lot of this season's produce destroying a fair percentage of the crop. Still it was fun way to experience more local life it was nice to be in the sun. It was interesting, a lot of the group had lost interest in digging potatoes and had moved on to the photo taking and modelling. Lily continued to dig.
Lunch was in the classroom and afterwards we joined the children during their lunch break. After 2 days interacting with the kids it was clear that they were more comfortable with us around. Punching, hitting, grabbing, hugging, jumping all over you. It was also the first time I interacted with some of the other kids outside of my group. It was obvious that there were varying levels of English, some kids getting stumped at "hello" others able to elicit my name and my age. The day was spent in the warm sun running around with the children - They would pinch and poke and run off, steal my beanie, steal my glasses.During this time, I forgot about all the troubles back home and almost lost track of where I was in my own life. It was just nice seeing the kids run around having fun.
The kids headed back to class and the School Principal addressed us and thanked us for our time and effort. He explained the kids situation and how much this simple 3 day trip would affect them. Our afternoon was spent in the classroom observing their interaction with the teachers. The final school bell sounded for the day and the kids exploded from their classrooms, most of them bee-lining for their bikes, the exit or the waiting relatives at the gates. There were a few who made straight for the bus and the group of volunteers. A small group of the volunteers headed off to one of the hospitals in Guangzhou to visit one of the students with cancer. We said our final goodbyes, photos, high fives, hugs before we finally made our way back onto the bus. The lights were turned off and almost instantly all members drifted off into sleep, it had been an exhausting trip and we started our 5 hour journey back to Hong Kong, a world with public transport, hot water and a sheltered view of the world around us.
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