Missions MHI 2000

Missions in MHI?

            Last year from the 9^th April to 16^th April 2000, I was asked to follow the Missions Team to Kunming as part of the Yi Outreach Project by Wesley Methodist Church. The team consists of  8 people including myself and David Lee.  The aim of the team is to help the missionaries in Kunming under Project Grace to train barefoot doctors from the villages and at the same time reachout to them.  Only 3 of us are doctors. The rest went as support staff.

            I was reluctant to go at first, but I was enticed with the information that Project Grace has another project involving outreach to the Deaf in Kunming as well as in the villages.  I was keen to discover how MHI can touch bases and thus support the project in the not too distant future.

            We arrived in the capital of Yunnan, Kunming and checked into the hotel. Project Grace was located beside a school for the disabled which included Deaf and blind people.  The schedule was very busy and I had no chance to meet up with Deaf people for a few days. I had to complete the project which the team initially came to do; that is to go to the village and treat simple illnesses and provide medical care.  We were out on the field for 4 days.

            After we got back, I immediately met the missionary there who worked with Deaf people. The worker is from England. She has learnt to speak Mandrin as well as learn Chinese sign language. She works full time with Deaf students there and organise activities as well as coordinate traditional crafts workshop training.  The training helps the Deaf learn to earn a living making crafts.

            We quickly became friends and I got to learn about the purpose of the outreach.  Most of the students there live in faraway villages and they came to stay at the school with her for a couple of months.  Thereafter they leave and most do not return.  We also went to visit the Deaf people living in Kunming.  I spent a whole day with them for a picnic at the park.  There we shared our experiences as Christians.

            When I got back to Singapore, I shared my ideas with MHI.  I feel that MHI will be able to be a blessing to those Deaf people in Kunming, China. MHI is able to provide social services to the Deaf in Singapore and we have a group of capable Deaf youths who are able to reach out to other youths.  We can show the love of Christ to them because China is still not open to the Gospel in many areas.  People are still afraid to preach openly, but the love of Christ can be communicated through the language of signs as well as HI who love Jesus.  I believe that one day, MHI will be involved in Missions to fulfil the Great Commission of Christ.

 

Victor Keng

Volunteer

MHI the next Decade September 2002

MHI the next Decade

 

            On 5^th October 2002, we will celebrate our 10^th Anniversary. Exactly how long MHI has since started is anybody’s guess. But it does not matter because when we started, we did not expect that we would go so far.  On 28^th September 2002, which is International Day for the Deaf, we will also have Deaf Awareness Sunday within Wesley Methodist Church.

            Many things have changed again, even in the short space of one year.  We received our Drop In Center in 3^rd February 2001 last year at the Singapore Shopping Center. Now we will be moving to our new premises at the YWCA Level 8 on 31^st October 2002.  Who would have thought that we would be moving to a better place and within a Hotel?

 

            In retrospect, God has been blessing MHI abundantly.  The demographics of MHI have certainly changed.  There are no more Youth Council and JR.  Many of them have since moved on.  Even the Deaf youth leaders who help administer the social activities provided by MHI, many have left. Some of them are in Polytechnic, some have started work and some have even started families.

 

Sunday Fellowship     

            Instead another group of people are still holding strong. This group comes from the Sunday Fellowship.  On 14^th March 2002, 3 girls were baptized and 1 was confirmed from the group.  Unfortunately, for the last one-year, we have seen very few new faces. I guess most of them are challenged in a different way, that which is to surrender everything to God.  Most of our friends are still not sure about doing that. Our activities may seem meaningless and boring to them, but I believe that it has built them spiritually to face the spiritual challenges of the next decade.  Deaf ministries come and go.  I have heard of many deaf ministries started by young undergraduates who are keen to minister to their deaf friends, but after a few years, having gone through the difficulty of getting other volunteers to rally around them, they sadly slip away.  Some have suffered the emotional stress of the malicious gossips within the Deaf Community. Some have become disheartened and disappointed with the Deaf Community, which initially seem so peaceful and so beautiful with its sign language. But underneath that surface, lurk a lot of heartaches and disappointments.

 

            I have often wondered what keeps a ministry together? Is it the strong leaders? The good activities or is it the financial backings of the church or the organization behind the ministry so that activities can be made attractive and new.  What keeps the ministry relevant? Is it a group of dynamic young vocal people to sustain the group together or recruit more to join its ranks? I have seen even church ministries melt away; Sunday Schools lose their ardent fervor and spirit when leaders leave.

 

            I do believe it goes beyond that. The young people do get tired, disappointed and grow old. Those who are single and have little family commitment do get married and settle down. Leaders can be enticed to another ministry. Financial support can overnight be whipped away from the ministries they run.  But the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is the Lord’s faithfulness.

 

            I believe that if Sunday fellowship hangs on to the Lord they will not veer very far away.  But the challenge of the group will be to become a fragrance to those around them.  It is not good enough to enjoy the Lord for them, but it is our Christian obligation to share the Lord.  A Deaf missionary came one day from the Philippines and encouraged us to produce fruits of a Christian.  It is to produce more Christians.  To remind one another the reason for worshipping the Lord each day and to sing praises to His name.  If we lose that reason, we would become like those around us presently, to view our practices as boring and useless; completely redundant.

 

New MHI, the next step?

            I feel a need to introduce New MHI to be able to decentralize the care and concern by the few to adopt the rest. We need to see the importance of multiplying and edifying one another.  What we have done in the past by centralizing our network, we tend to rely on only a few leaders. The rest just follows. When we break into groups, we can reach out to more.  Furthermore, the motive of the group is to encourage one another to grow.  The group is a dynamic organism capable of multiplying.

 

            New MHI will not change our practice, but it will revolutionalise our thinking and practices.  We will continue to worship and study the Bible together in Sunday Fellowship. We await the day we can have a pastor to preach and minister to us for Sunday Fellowship then we can turn into a Deaf Church. But before that, we will still have to depend on one another and help one another in our spiritual walk.  The development of Home Fellowship outside Sunday Fellowship is important because we know that not everybody can attend Sunday Fellowship due to work commitments.  Home Fellowship on the other hand is in a neutral setting, attracts other people to come.  After 10 years in the Deaf Community, MHI has collected a lot of bias social baggage. Some may be true and others mainly gossips which turn others away from joining MHI.  It is amazing people avoid Sunday Fellowship not because of religion, but because of the people they think are in Sunday Fellowship.

 

            Lately we have been telling others that the old is no longer here. A new MHI has arrived. We are concerned about the lives and needs of the people.  Unfortunately it will take a few more years before they can finally see that what we are saying is true.  In the meantime, Sunday Fellowship will have to carry all those bias social baggage around.

 

            If New MHI Home Fellowship is successful, a few selected ones will take on the responsibility to show care and concern of the people within the group they are in.  They will be able to network amongst themselves and encourage one another to grow in the love of the Lord.  New MHI still has the flexibility to tap on the resources of MHI in terms of the ability to organize activities by the volunteers and even evangelistic programs organized by the church.  The group will be able to nurture new leaders who can share in their vision and the group is able to split and multiply.

            Our target will be to get those who were from MHI previously to come join us as well as those who feel that our Home Fellowship may benefit them in the future.

 

Arrival of a new breed, Hard of Hearing

            MHI has attracted a group of hard of hearing students and their parents and families from the schools.  Our full time program coordinator has done a good job in relating to the families to encourage them to bring their children for tuition. The challenge for MHI for the next decade is to integrate them into MHI. 

            I foresee a few hurdles we have to overcome.  Most of these students are hard of hearing. They do not use sign language. They do not see our Deafs as their role models.  It would be a challenge to integrate them to our activities and to mingle with our original group.

            Not every hard of hearing student is a success in their education system.  I am starting to see those who cannot catch up with the system and because they neither sign nor speak properly, they will become side streamed.  How are we going to deal with these children who cannot communicate properly with either their tutors or Deaf?  It would be our challenge.

            Like in the past, many of them come from non-Christian homes. We are very fortunate to work in an environment like DIC that is neutral.  How do we plan to integrate students, plus their parents and siblings into the lives of the church?

 

            Now tutors who used to worry they cannot sign to their deaf students have a bigger headache. How do you teach a child and improve him academically when you have no mode of communication with him except though gestures?

 

Will it hinder our dream?

            If our hope is for the Deaf in MHI to become independent leading each other spiritually, the hard of hearing will be another hurdle for us to overcome.  That means, we have to revert to the hearing to help them progress in their spiritual life.  It would be difficult for us to see somebody using sign language to preach to a hard of hearing congregation. Will it mean that these group of children will eventually be integrated directly into the lives of Wesley Methodist Church and not into Sunday Fellowship? 

            Having said that, does that mean that our dream of establishing a Deaf Church be just wishful thinking?  On the economics of supply and demand, how many Deaf do we have to produce to show to Wesley Church that we deserve a Deaf pastor?  If there are no longer an increase number of Deaf people we can win into MHI, instead we are winning Hard of Hearing people instead?  If for some reason we do get a Deaf pastor, then he would just concentrate on a congregation which will have little potential of growth, not that the Spirit has not touch them, but just that demographics.  There are fewer and fewer Deafs in Singapore.  Will Deaf and Hard of Hearing coexist side by side or will they integrate?  Do we have the right to implement what we may think is good for them?  These are important questions, MHI has to seriously think about for the next decade.

 

Integrate or coexist?

            I have to admit that I see some of these hard of hearing people willing to learn sign language and integrate into the Deaf Community. Perhaps even though their parents have hoped that they integrate well into the normal community, they still have the barriers as someone with a hearing disability.  We will have to take notice of these people and train them in sign language so that they can integrate very well into Sunday Fellowship and Home Fellowship.

 

            For those who are not keen to attend Sunday Fellowship, I foresee the day that MHI cannot but branch to provide for the hard of hearing. Perhaps the day will come when we see MHI renamed as MHI-HH Ministry for the Hearing impaired and Hard of Hearing. MHI-HH will cater for the spiritual needs of the Hard of Hearing as well as their social needs.  That will be the challenge for us in the next decade.  Everywhere, people like to learn sign language and they go back to their own churches and start up their Deaf ministry, but there is none at this moment for those who are Hard of Hearing. Wesley can be the first to start this ministry by starting them early.

 

Is sign language still relevant in a Deaf Ministry?

            Sign language will always be an attraction to the hearing world. It is a beautiful silent language involving mime and body language used by people who seem free from the mundane stresses of the hearing world.  People will always be attracted to a ministry because of the opportunity to learn this language and to be able to communicate with the people who use this language.  Sign language is also a good Deaf Awareness tool.  Lay people are not keen about how expensive or the intricate details of the workings of a Cochlear implant.  Besides, interacting with a hard of hearing child is like talking to any normal children theoretically.  So why is there a need to promote sign language? I do believe it has to do with publicity and financial backing. The more people empathize and sympathize with the disability, the more they will touched in their hearts and the deeper they will dig into their pockets.  MHI will always require conducting sign language course. It must always provide prominent sign interpretation.  Otherwise, there is no evidence in Wesley Methodist Church that there is a group of people with disability.

            Having said all the above, we must not forget that the conduct of sign language is not equivalent to recruitment. We already know that only less than 10% of the students who attend the sign language course stay behind to volunteer their time with the Deaf.  Conducting sign language courses should not be neglected by MHI.  Furthermore it can be first step of interaction between the Hearing world and the Deaf world with the Deaf tutors.

 

Selection of Hearing Volunteers

            As Sunday Fellowship progresses, the spiritual maturity of the Deafs increases.  It is important for hearing volunteers to adapt.  Gone are the days that we learn sign language to sign “to” the Deaf. It is time we “listen” to the Deaf. Not only do we interpret from speech to sign language, the next challenge of the hearing volunteers is to interpret from sign language to speech.  With the increasing globalization, there is a need for some of the Deaf to be multi-lingual. Those who are comfortable with other sign languages should start to think about interpreting from one sign language to another.  That will be the challenge of Sunday Fellowship if we are to progress beyond what we are already doing.

 

            I think we have much to learn from one another Deaf and Hearing. We have different perspectives in lives.  I feel that the Deaf Community is what hearing people want them to be.  Of course the few have rebelled and been different.  Even for the spiritual maturity of the Deaf Community for those who are Christians, many are quite contented to stay as they are.  The challenge is for them not to only know Jesus. But accept personal salvation for Jesus. After accepting personal salvation, not be contented but to take up the cross and follow Jesus.  That is the challenge of those who are in Sunday Fellowship. For the hearing, the challenge is for us to realize that they can achieve what we do not believe they can achieve. The challenge is for us to encourage them in their pursuit of God; to appreciate that they too can Experience God independent of assistance from us Hearing people.  To widen their knowledge in the Bible and allow them the opportunity to share with their own Deaf people without overbearing or too protective over them.  To some of us, it is a risk we have to take, but the rewards will be great when we can see the day they walk side by side us rather than we have to hold their hands and lead them.

 

            The question of recruitment and development of hearing volunteers still looms like a black cloud above MHI.  For many of the chairman who led, it is a constant challenge.  Previously, we do not have Deaf people within MHI. We worry we cannot offer the hearing volunteers opportunity to serve the Deaf. Now it is the opposite. We have Deaf people and we do not have enough hearing volunteers to serve them.

            The administration of MHI requires close planning and supervision.  It is true that there is less and less need for good sign language ability.  If we go with the direction of increasing number of hard of hearing students, in the end, there is no need for sign language at all.

 

            In the past, MHI concentrated mainly on social activities to attract the Deaf. To run these activities, we need volunteers.  But recently we found out that the Deaf can volunteer as well as these hearing volunteers, in fact there is more interaction between Deaf volunteer and Deaf guests.  But if MHI is going to emphasize on spiritual discipleship, there is another hurdle here.  How do we ensure that as the spiritual maturity of the Deaf increases, the hearing volunteers who help out with Sunday Fellowship are in fact the same level as the Deaf and not instead back-slide Christians looking for a reason to hang around in church?

            In the past, we have often portrayed ourselves as the spiritual leaders in the ministry. But who screens those who come through the doors of Sunday Fellowship? Who ensures that hearing volunteers are spiritually full and not themselves spiritually starved?  For those Deaf new Christians, how do you explain that not all hearing is a spiritual leader within Sunday Fellowship?

            It is the challenge of the Deaf themselves to identify wolves in sheepskins coming from both their own community as well as hearing.  They are to test everything that a person says and to see if the actions of the person reflects what he says or in his heart.  Spiritual discernment will be the next step that all Sunday Fellowship members need to learn.

 

What should be our expectations of volunteers in the next decade?

            So what should we train our volunteers to achieve. In other words, how should we guide them and motivate them?  I think the most important is to inform each person who even thinks about coming into the ministry that they must become a member of MHI.  If we expect our Deaf friends to become MHI, why then do we call ourselves volunteers and members of Wesley?  They have to come into the Ministry that they have a share and they are prepared to stay at all costs.

            Next, if their hope is to come and learn Sign Language, then it is the wrong purpose.  Like I mention above, organizing Sign Language Classes is not equivalent to recruitment.  To put it bluntly, they must know they are to become servants in the Ministry.  If Jesus is not shy to put on his loin cloth and wash his disciples feet, then why must we protect volunteers and package the name nicely as volunteers requiring recognition?  Recognition is a perk, not a right.

            The desire to serve the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is the correct heart in entering the Ministry.  No longer is the weakness of sign language be a setback of the volunteer if we continue to have a supply of Hard of Hearing.  Each group presents its challenges.  With or without sign language all is welcome to serve these friends with hearing disability. 

            For both groups, volunteers ministering to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, communication is the key factor. Not to tell the Deaf what to do, but be able to achieve the aspirations of the individuals together as a team.  Two-way communication is number one. The volunteer should be humble enough to accept that the person they are helping can teach the volunteer just as much.  Organize with the groups. Not for the groups.  No point organizing an activity and stand aside and watch the Deaf and Hard of Hearing enjoy themselves.  That is not participation.

            For those who are comfortable with sign language, they must not stop just in learning the language. They are expected to listen; then interpret from spoken language to sign language. As more and more Deaf people mature spiritually, there may come a time that we have to translate sign language to spoken language for our fellow hearing volunteers.

            For those who work with the Hard of Hearing, this is a new and special area. The emergence of this group of people who are supposed to integrate almost seamlessly with the normal stream, I am sure there are special needs about this group of people.  The challenge for those who work with them is to understand how much they are like us hearing people and how much they are like our Deaf friends, or are they going to form a completely different culture?

            Those who want to help in Sunday Fellowship, the hope is that the Deaf develop their gift of discernment to separate out the real ones who have a heart of God and those who profess they belong to God.

 

KODA

            Kids of Deaf adults, the emergence of this group of children is not so much that they are a new breed, but because if MHI were to follow on for 20 years, those whom we first loved when their parents were younger. They came into the equation because we loved their parents.  I feel that Wesley instead of MHI has a special place for them.  We cannot deny the fact that MHI is part of a bigger family Wesley Methodist Church that is again part of the Methodist family in Singapore.

            I feel that if we can love their parents when their parents were younger, we can love their children and share the love of God with them in the same context.  I don’t profess that the Methodist system is the best for them, but it is a system that has worked with their parents. In 10 years time, some of these children will be at least 10 years old. They would be able to attend the usual Sunday School with the normal children, while their parents attend Sunday Fellowship.

 

Conclusion

            The next decade will be a challenge for those who chose to stay in MHI; whether to support it in Sunday Fellowship or in other ways like tuition, social activities, etc.  We have not really achieved the day that Hearing and Deaf work side by side without a barrier between us.  We must not forget that we are all created in the likeness of God and thus all are important in the eyes of the Lord.  A new breed of Deaf has emerged because of improved science and technology. Even as we struggle to work together, we have to learn to work with this new group of people.

MHI may or may not survive another 10 years.  Its direction and aspirations will depend on those who stay on to decide which directions we want to take.  How the story ends will depend on everyone. But most important it is the grace of God that we continue to serve the Deaf Community in Singapore and lead God’s disciples in the way He wants.

May the Lord continue to bless us.

 

 

 

 

 

Victor Keng

28^th September 2002

How MHI Should change 2001

Dear Mabel,

I was thinking seriously about the restructuring in the MHI Committee. Of course I have already email you the taboo subject of what I absolutely do not wish to see in MHI.

            We can approach the subject in different ways. One way is to approach it from the point of the previous Chairpersons. The other way is to approach it from the needs of the HI friends.

            The first way is quite not appropriate at this point of time. But I shall discuss with you why the Committee was structured in the way when my Committee was just starting out.  You know that when we first started from the Wesley Room, we have no deaf students. But we know like any Committee, we need the Chairman, Honorary Secretary and the Honorary Treasurer.  Chairman gives direction, Secretary scribes and replaces the Chairman when he is not free and the Treasurer is accountable for all money matters and works with the LCEC Treasurer.

            Next, we know that volunteers are needed for the ministry to run. The hands and the feet of the ministry.  But because the ministry we chose needs ppl who can sign. So we develop the Sign Language Coordinator.  MHI takes up a lot of our own time and thus we need a Devotion Coordinator. The thoughts were that most of us will stop going to our small group ministry and then we form a volunteers small group ministry in MHI (meet our own spiritual needs and fellowship).

            To provide for the Deaf (in anticipation), we know traditional to the Methodist of building schools and concentrating on education; the Tuition Coordinator emerge.  And because all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, the Social Club Coordinator position is created.  As more and more Deaf students come to MHI over the years, we realise the need to provide Spiritual food for them, thus the Sunday Fellowship Coordinator was created.

            To do publicity and coordination, we added the Publicity Coordinator.

            The Full time position comes later when Evelyn was the latest edition.  The first Full time Coordinator. That time, the number of HI students were so many.  We realise the need to do out of church outreach.  Evelyn was employed to not only run the tuition, but also during office hours to work in the schools for free to provide interpretation in the classes in Upper Serangoon Secondary school as well as provide social services and counselling to the parents and family.  She became the link of MHI, Wesley Church with the outside world. Subsequent full time workers unfortuantely did not see it and remained in Wesley Church (very much an expanded “paid” role of the volunteer).  Evelyn’s role was very clear. She answers to the Pastoral Care Member , Vivian during office hours and takes directions from the Committee. Never is her role the same as the Committee, though we admit she probably is the more current amongst all of us then.

            Now, Janet just followed on my footsteps and developed the Volunteers part, the Sign Language Coordinator has a big role. Teaching and also assigning….like a HR manager. The only person who knows the Volunteers strengths and weaknesses.  So remember the meeting we had with Janet and Marieta? This need is better defined. The teacher will remain the teacher and the volunteer coordinator the volunteer coordinator.  Under her leadership, volunteers continue to thrive.

            Then comes the transition when Steven took over. The structure was revamped following the sheep and shepherd.  Management take on a more spiritual role rather than administrative.  It is where we are now.

            Actually I believe under his leadership, it gave the area of Sunday Fellowship as well as Volunteer spiritual development more meaning.  The roles in these areas are very well defined.  Discipleship at the end of the day is the name of the game in MHI.

 

            Now we should look at forming the Committee in another way; by looking at the needs of the MHI.  Again, we look at the needs of the HI and the volunteers.  The volunteers needs have not changed.  Sign language and devotion.  But we know also that most volunteers see their role in MHI not as a member of MHI, but as a member in Wesley Church.  Thus, their hours they spent in MHI is more like extra hours. They have their own small group and those who does not have small groups usually have their own families to look after like yourself.  We need to change the attitudes of most of these volunteers to think that they are also members of MHI and not just volunteers.  Members being they have a say in the running, they have a responsibility here as well as a stake here. So that no matter what, they must make sure MHI sail and not sink.

            We have a new edition to the family.  The Drop In Center.  This place is very under utilised.  There is no committee to provide direction for the DIC.  My fear and there has been rumours that LCEC would want to utilise the place more by moving other ministries to use the premises when we do not need it.  Also there has been talk of taking the DIC back and put Full Time Coordinator back to Wesley Church. After all, the Level 4 area is bigger than the DIC. Why not go back?   We need a person to be in charge of direction here.  How to fully utilise the place.

            The HI needs have changed.  Our contacts with the schools are lost. Furthermore, the Ministry of Education have moved to encourage integration and not putting disabled children in special schools.  The number of students in USSS, Boon Lay Secondary School, Singapore School for the Deaf have severely diminished. This cuts down the supply of students to MHI.  We struggle with other organisation for clients such as Touch and SADeaf.    Tuition, no matter what will be a need in the Singapore context. But we need to know how do we increase the number of students.

            Fortunately, the increase in the Cochlear implants in the hospitals have raised a different group of HI students.  These are those which we saw in our own tuition. Chips and wires sticking out of their heads.  These hospitals have worked closely with Canossian School for the Hearing Impaired.  Mei yun is a teacher at CSHI.  We have ENT surgeons in Wesley Church who was the head of Department in ENT.  I am very sure that in other Methodist Churches, we have other ENT surgeons….(too bad I am only a colorectal surgeon)

            So….the faces of the HI have changed.  They may be Cochlear implant students and also some Deaf students who use sign language.  There may be students attending completely mainstream school, but they are struggling.  So the need to really have sign language as a requirement to serve as a volunteer is getting lesser and lesser.  I have often spoken to the Committee I sit with SADeaf.  I feel that Deaf Awareness is a must no matter what.  Publicity enables the public (or church) to be aware of this group of people they are sharing society with.  Sign language is one important aspect, but it will become less relevant, like latin. (kind of like nice to have, but not absolutely needed)   A lot has to be done on the Awareness or Publicity part.  We are actually preparing the HI students to be received by society which we have already primed through our efforts.

            Next we talk about these Cochlear implant students and their parents.  Each student who underwent an operation to implant it into their head costs $40,000.  Parents must be willing to foot the bill. Thus those parents who have children using cochlear implants will be more caring.  When we reachout to the children, we reachout to the parents as well.

            But we also have a changing demographics of the Deaf we used to know.  Most of them are in Polytechnic and ITE. Some of them have started to work.  For few, they have decided to get married and 2 of our students are now with children.  The term Outreach has not changed yet.  Only the needs are different.

            I think for Sunday Fellowship, Evelyn has already talked to you about her plans and hopes.  But this year, I start hearing about the Love Singapore Deaf Churches. I think it is an initiative from FCBC from Pastor Lawrence Kong.  Unite the Deaf Churches.  It will be a more demanding task for Evelyn to decide where we stand.  Do we have our identity? What is our role related to the rest of the Deaf churches?  What about overseas?  Last time we were asked to become a member of the Committee of the Asia Deaf Christian Missions Conference.  What is our relevance as a Christian Deaf Community in Singapore to Asia?  These are big issues to explore.

 

            Below is a schematic diagram of looking at the needs of each group of people in MHI.  I do hope that the Committee will review the needs carefully so as to be able to make MHI relevant for the next decade.

 

	MHI

 

 

Kunming Mission 2000

Kunming Mission Trip April 2000

 

Introduction

                My trip to Kunming was not anticipated because I only returned to Singapore recently after spending a year in Hull, England last year.  My involvement occurred rather suddenly and unexpectedly.

                I met Mr and Mrs Fong in March at my hospital while they were undergoing some medical check up.  I completely dismissed our chance meeting until we met again in church on a Sunday.  I was interpreting for the 9am Prayer and Praise.  After the service, I was approached by her to see if I was interested to join them back in Kunming, China for a mission trip.  I politely turned her down because I was busy already with my involvement in the Ministry for the Hearing Impaired.  Mrs Fong was rather persistent, I was about to walk away when she mentioned that there are a group of hearing impaired youths at Project Grace whom I may be interested.  This made me stop to reconsider.  Well, the rest is history.

 

Adoption of the Yi People

                Wesley Methodist Church Missions Committee decided to adopt the Yi People in 1998 as part of a long-term mission commitment for the church.  The Yi people are the largest minority group of many of the minority groups of China.  They lived in the southern province of China in the Yunnan Province. Yi nation is one of ancient nations in Yunnan. Their ancient people were related with Qiang nation, now the population of 4.05 million . They are distributed over Chuxiong, Honghe, Ailaoshang and areas of Xiaoliangshang in Yunnan. Their language is a branch of the family of Tibetan and Myanmar languages. Yi lives in a type of house of wood timbers battlement.

The fire of fireplace ( a hollow dug on the ground) is never put off a year around in their houses. It is the living center of the family so called "Fireplace Culture".Yi’s nature is so forthright, good at drinking , singing and having a felt on the back. The family system is the structure of a husband and one wife forming a small family. They prefer to the black color, so in the history the Yi nobleman was always in black, the white represented the "Wazi" meaning the serfs. The man has a black scarf around the head and a set of black clothes. But the woman is in colorful shining clothes.Yi nation believes in the Master of Soil and multi-Gods religion. Their main holiday is the "Festival of Torch" .(Around in March)

Yunnan is a province of multi-minorities inhabited .  Ten million minorities live in mountain tribal villages in Yunnan. Seventeen thousand of them are without medical care, running water, electricity or other energy sources. Over two million of the provincial population are handicapped.

 Among the 56 nations in China, there are 25 kinds of minorities in Yunnan, they are Yi, Bai, Hani, Dai, Zhuang, Miao, Lisu, Hui, Lahu, Wa, Naxi, Yao, Jingpo, Tibetan, Blang, Bouyei, Pumi, Achang, Nu, Jino, De’ang, Mongol, Shui, Manchu and Drung nations. Their total population has reached up 12.85 million and taken the 30% of total population in Yunnan. But the inhabited areas had occupied around 70% of total areas of Yunnan. Through long historical development, they have formed the different folk customs which is a kind of social phenomenon. We can see their developing history from the behavior of production, living, households, rites, foods and religions. These have very worthy sections of human developing in the history.  Many of them are farmers and they live in the hills of Yunnan.

                Wesley decided to assist Project Grace as it was already there in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan.

                One can explore more on this website.

                http://www.hbpage.com/index/index.htm

 

The Missionaries

                Mr and Mrs Fong represented Wesley Methodist Church for the last 2 years in Kunming.  They were supported by Wesley Methodist Church, but worked under Project Grace as full time staff.

                They coordinated Village Doctor Training Programs, Community Development Programs as well as Teacher Training Programs.  For the last 2 years, they receive medical personnel from Singapore as well as other parts of the world, including America and the United Kingdom to Kunming and coordinated training programs for bare-foot doctors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

EMAS Projects

Project Grace     

                Project Grace is funded by the Tear Fund and other Christian charity organizations.  They are not allowed to evangelize, but they are to participate in Community Development and Poverty alleviation Programs for the villages consisting mainly of Chinese minority groups.  It is run by 3 American doctors, of which one is a Caucasian and two are American-Chinese doctors.

                Besides the Village Doctor training Program, they also have a Hearing Impaired Training Program at  Project Grace run by a British sign language and audiology teacher.  She has been there for the last 3 years and she works with hearing impaired students from the villages.

Yunnan province is one of the poorest in China. Among it's population of 38 million there are 12 million minority tribal people and 2.6 million handicapped people who live in mountainous villages. The average local income is less than $40 US. A group of Christian individuals and organizations, including EMAS, under the umbrella of Project Grace, have identified some of their medical and social needs, and are mobilizing to address them.

Each village doctor in Yunnan province looks after over 1000 patients scattered in mountainous tribal villages. Only a third of the doctors have had any formal training. In addition, there are 17,000 villages without any medical care whatsoever. There is a great need to upgrade and train more village doctors to provide basic medical care to the mountain villagers. EMAS, through it's Adopt a Village Doctor Project and volunteer teaching missions has contributed to the village doctor training project for the past 3 years. The newly established Kunming Medical Ministry within Project Grace will set up a central Village Doctor Training Centre to serve remote regions by training additional village health workers.

Another area of social concern in Yunnan is the lack of adequate assistance to handicapped people. The only high school designated for the 650,000 handicapped students is located in Kunming and has an enrollment of 450 students. The Project Grace partners have established a vocational training facility for teens both from the handicapped high school and for those who haven't qualified for admission.

Most of these handicapped teenagers come from mountainous tribal villages and cannot afford to pay for their medical and dental needs. Kunming Medical Ministry will provide an in-house medical-dental clinic for the handicapped students. EMAS has provided the capital funding for the medical-dental clinic and has agreed to help with the operating expenses of Kunming Medical Ministry.

 

Village doctor trainee sponsorship is $30 per student per month. We hope to sponsor a class of 50, to start to meet the needs of the 17,000 villages without doctors.

 

Deaf training - provides 40 deaf students with skills for a life other than begging. Sponsorship of a deaf student is $30 per month for 5 months.

 

Handicapped vocational training is set up for 80 handicapped students who fail to qualify for high school. It provides them with skills to make a meaningful living. Sponsoring a vocational trainee costs $30 per month for 5 months.

 

Medical clinic - provides free medical care and medicine to the handicapped students and trainees of KMM. It is also a teaching unit for the village doctor trainees. EMAS agrees to fund $5,000 next year.

 

Dental clinic - provides village dentist teaching and dental care for the students. EMAS will fund $6,000 next year.

 

                (More on website http://www.cmdsemas.ca/projects_grace.html)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 (Sunday 9/4/2000)

                We arrived at Kunming Airport around 12:30pm after departing from Singapore at about 8:30am.  Immigration and health declaration was smooth.  The team consisted of 7 people, 3 of us are doctors.

                Then comes the baggage claim. It took almost 45 minutes for all the bags to be put onto the conveyor belt.  One of the bags got caught in the X-ray machine and so we were waved past that check point quickly in order not to hold up the queue as there were important officials visiting Kunming for the Tourism Festival the next day.   None of our bags were emptied and checked.

                Mr and Mrs Fong, the missionary couple was there at the Airport with their assistant to receive us.  We headed for lunch after leaving the airport.  They told us as first time guests, we are to try the local “Guo Chiao Mian Xian” which means “to cross the bridge noodle”.  There we had our first taste of Kunming food which is usually hot soup with lots of boiled vegetables mixed with chili and monosodium glutamate added to the soup.  Without the flavoring, the soup is usually rather bland as meat is a rarity in Yunnan as the area consists of poor minority groups of villagers.

                We checked into the local hotel which is newly built after lunch and proceeded to unload the items which we have brought over for the Mission trip.  They were carefully repacked into another bag and brought out of the hotel room into the car so as not to arouse any suspicion.

                Mrs Fong then brought a few of us to attend the local underground church group for Bible Study.  We were briefed that we are to pray with our eyes opened and to mask our sharing sessions and Bible study with loud television or radio on to drown our voices.  Christians are not allowed to attend churches which are not approved by the Central government.  People running the ‘approved’ churches have been screened carefully so that no undesirable material can be preached accidentally.

                We had a good time at the house church and the meeting ended with a time of fellowship with the usual offering of local fruits and sweets. 

                We returned to the hotel to find out that we cannot stay at the hotel as the management has not received the  “license to put up foreigners” including us (we are considered Hua Chiao which means Chinese from overseas).    Obviously we were discovered that we have deviated from the normal routine of ordinary tourists visiting Kunming.

                The manager called another hotel to put the group of us up.  We had to check into another hotel which has already received the “approved license” to allow foreigners to stay.

 

                That evening, we met with the 34-member bare-foot doctors team for the first time at Project Grace in Kunming.   Most of them come from the various tribal village representing their respective minority race.  They may not be highly educated, but the village headman for being outstanding in character, moral, compassion and innovativeness have nominated them.

                This group of students were special as they had been to Project Grace previously a few years ago.  They are here this time to attend the 1^st Advanced Village Doctor Upgrading Course.

 

 

 

 

Preparation of the medication for the Field Trip (photo 1)

 

 

                The students together with our 7-member Singapore team, the nursing officer, a lecturer from the Kunming Medical University specializing in infectious diseases, 3 American missionary doctors were all divided into 4 teams.  We went through our final coordination meeting including packing of the medicines needed for our trip to the village for the next day.  The head of the Project Grace briefed us about the different kinds of illnesses we would be seeing during the out-station trip.  For the others who belonged to  non medical professions, they were briefed about their responsibility in crowd control.  This is necessary as the villages usually swarm the make shift clinic in hordes to receive free medical care.

 

 

Day 2 (Monday 10/4/2000)

                We woke up at 7:30am to go down to Project Grace after being driven from the hotel.  We have repacked our bags into 2 so that we only need to carry our utility bags to the village.  The other one can be left locked in Project Grace.  We do not anticipate to shower or take baths and were prepared to rough it out for 3 nights and return to Kunming on Thursday morning.

                The 4 teams were separated into 3 buses as we drove along the main expressway out of Kunming to the town of Hua Lin (flower forest).  The journey took about 6 hours.  We arrived in the town and was met with the village officials who took us further to the rural villagers as escorts.   They brought us as prearranged to the Police quarters of Yu Lu (open rain).  Yu Lu will be the central point of all the villages we will be visiting for the next 3 days amongst the 4 teams.

 

 

            Uploading of baggage and medicine onto the Minibuses (Photo 2)

Loading onto the minibuses to go to the villages (Photo 3)

 

 

 

 

                They allowed us to move freely within the police compound, but we are not to wander around in the village without permission. 

                Anyway the journey was long and tiring and we were not in the mood to explore.  We quickly settled down in the dormitories and got ready for the next day.

 

 

 

 

            View from the top of my dormitory in the center of Yulu Police Quarters. (Photo 4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View behind my dormitory along the Main Street through the village (Photo 5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 3 (Tuesday 11/4/2000)

                I was put into Bravo Team.  We had a total of 12 students (bare-foot doctors) with us.  Dr Yan, the lecturer from Kunming Medical University as well as Mrs Fong and her lady assistant were in the team. Our first stop was a primary school with 240 students.

                We drove through treacherous mud roads with the steep slopes on one side revealing a dangerous plunge into the gorge below should the minibus loose control.  The same driver who drove us along the expressway were not allowed to continue the journey with us.  Another set of drivers were acquired as they are more familiar with these treacherous roads.  Unfortunately these buses looked as if they were the “city-rejects”.  On the other side of the road, is another steep slope rising to the peaks of the mountain range.  The roads which the buses traveled were mainly large enough for one way traffic.  Should they meet with on-coming traffic, they would either engage in a honking competition to see who will back up, or they will back to a path which is marginally wider to allow 2 minibuses pass precariously close and get on with their journey in opposite directions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set of buses which further took us to the village from the Police Quarters (Photo 6)

 

 

 

                The team traveled in 2 minibuses and the Project Grace jeep into the surrounding village.  Farmers mostly occupy these villages.  The school as well as the village head hut was the central buildings in the village.  Some of the schools offer lodging for the students who stay very far from the village.

                Our minibus refused to start and all of us have to get down the minibus to push.  Fortunately, the Police Quarters was situated at the top of the hill.  We pushed it out onto the street and he put the bus in first gear and jumped started the bus.   We hopped onto the bus without thinking what if it stalled at the bottom of the gorge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                Sleeping quarters in the Yulu Police Quarters (Photo 7)

 

 

 

                We arrived at the school with the whole school turning out to welcome us in 2 neat rows on both sides of the courtyard clapping and shouting “welcome”.  The primary school was 24 km from the Yulu Police Quarters.  The school was named Lu Chang Wan Primary School.  It means “aluminum factory” primary school.  It was really a grand sight as we could see them in the distance as our bus rumbled into the valley.  The school was located at the foot of a wide valley.

                We unloaded our medicines and other equipment and then assembled the students at the courtyard in separate rows according to their standard.  The teachers and principal were also there to greet us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                We started our program, after changing into our white coats and caps, with an anti-smoking advice to the students.  Of course, it was difficult to convey the message with their form teachers puffing away behind them.  Then comes the Personal Hygiene message.  Most of these students do not have a habit to

 

 

 

wash their hands after they have gone to the toilet.  The toilets in the village is terrible as there is no proper flushing system.  All the villagers pass motion into a designated latrine which is just a large hole  in the ground under a concrete shelter from the elements.  Usually one can see the piles of human waste amongst the paper, flies, maggots and solids of different shapes, colour and consistency.

                Furthermore, the children play by the roadside where the donkeys, water buffaloes and dogs pass their waste indiscriminately on the road to be later flattened by the passing vehicles.

                Anti-smoking Campaign at the First Primary School (  Photo  10 )

 

                Therefore we taught the students the reasons for washing their hands regularly as well as the technique to scrub with soap and water.  This included using their nails to remove the dirt under their fingernails and also regularly trimming of their nails.

                                Lunch Time At Lu Chang Wan Primary School (Photo 11)

 

                After the lesson, comes the practical.  We lined them up behind a basin of water and gave them a piece of soap.  We showed them how to wash their hands and stood there to ensure it is carried out correctly.    We noticed to our dismay that the well water drawn for their washing is just as dirty.  The water used for washing turned black after every 4 children have gotten their hands inside.

                After hand-washing, the students lined up to take their de-worming tablets.  Some of them participated in  a study conducted by Dr Yan who got samples of sticky tape prints obtained after pressing the tape to the anus of the randomly selected students.  By performing such a maneuver,  cysts and ova of the worms infesting the children can be studied carefully after fixing the tape to a glass slide.  The slide will be brought back to the university  for further study under the microscope.

                Lunch was simple.  A basin full of vegetable soup and parts of chicken and pork mixed with salted vegetables was served with large helpings of rice.   The town officials accompanied us during lunch as they filmed our every movement.  The school caretaker who did all the cooking was serving us with a large ladle.  He was from the Yi tribe and it is the custom of the Yi people to make sure all the guests’ bowls are filled with rice throughout the meal.  This included the bowl must be full when the guest leaves the table.

                Most of us were not familiar with the custom including the bare–foot doctor students.  We tend to obediently finish the bowl of rice which is in our hands.  To our surprise our host caretaker kept filling our bowls with rice.  We came to a point that we are too full and tried to escape by leaving the table with the empty bowls.  Now I realize why he has such a long and large ladle.  He would skillfully fill our bowls even when we are quite a distance from the table.  It was quite a comical sight as each of us tried to evade him, until the town officials explained it is their custom that the bowls must always be full.

                While we were taking our lunch, the school children were told to go home and tell their families that we are providing free medical health care to them.

                After lunch, the entire village came to meet us.  We saw a total of 300 patients between the 14 of us that afternoon.  When we left, the teachers and principal gathered the school children again in 2 neat rows just outside their school to say farewell to us.

 

                That night just before we retired, there was a large discussion to iron out the administrative difficulties which we faced during the day.  We were also briefed about the schools and villages that the 4 teams will be visiting the next day.  Lights out was quite early that day as most of us were very tired.

 

 

 

Day 4 (Wednesday 12/4/2000)

                The next day, Team Bravo was to walk to a village which is about 2 km from the Police Quarters.  The school was called Guo Ler Primary School (Happy Fruit).  This village consists of many Bai tribal people.  They are called Bai because it means white.  They like to wear white as it symbolizes truth and purity.

                We were met by the village head who led us on foot to his village.  We took approximately 45 minutes carrying our medicines and lunch, walking through fields ripe with wheat as well as herds of water buffaloes.

                We entered a very old building which looked like a temple.  There are no more churches and Buddhist temples as the Communists will not allow the practice of religion

                                                Guo Ler Primary School (Photo 13)

                The school takes only primary one to four students.  The older ones have to stay at the Yulu Village where the Police Quarters were.  The teachers live in the school.  Well watered is carried by the students each day from the village well into the school and poured into a concrete container in the middle of the school.  The water looks muddy, but it is used to boil tea for us.

                We followed the same routine of Anti-smoking campaign, Personal Hygiene Campaign, practical of hand-washing and cutting of nails, sick parade for the students and then break for lunch followed by seeing the students’ families later.  We saw a total of 150 patients.  But because the village is small and the primary school only has an enrollment of 40 students, Mrs Fong told us to pack up early to reinforce the Team Charlie which has gone to provide medical care to the Yulu Primary School.

                                Street Fair along Main Street in Yulu (Photo 14)

 

                As we walked out of the Guo Ler Village and walked towards Yulu Village, we were surprised to see there were many people from other villages gathering at the main village.  We could here the noise and the bustle of the Main Street which was rare since we arrived in Yulu.

                Main Street was filled with merchants selling their vegetables, their livestock (piglets, donkeys, chicken, duck) as well as other wares like farming tools, clothes, shoes, traditional herbal medicine.  We realized why we needed to come to Yulu Primary School to reinforce Team Charlie.   The street fair has attracted many other villagers and they all got to hear that Project Grace is providing free medical care.

                Team Bravo was a welcomed sight for the former team who were running out of medicine and they looked tired catering for the hundreds streaming into the primary school.

                We quickly opened shop to support our colleagues and helped in crowd control.  Additional medicine was brought by our team.  Despite that, we were also overwhelmed.  God was good because when we could no longer cope with the number of patients, Team Delta arrived showing surprise on their faces with the chaos within the school premises.

                Their medicine was quickly finished and by 4:00pm, we were turning away patients as we no longer have any medicine left with us.  The people left the school dejected.  We could not help anymore.

 

                That night there was a tremendous sense of relief as the bare-foot doctor students as well as the rest of the mission team knew that we have come to an end of a successful trip.  There was a short briefing.  We were surprised that the Mayor of the town turned up after we have finished to greet us.  He was very pleased with our work.  Apparently the town as well as the village officials were pleased with our public relations work amongst the villagers.  We have not shown that we were in anyway breaking our agreement that we will not evangelize.  Little do they know that we have already sown our seeds of love amongst the people. There was congratulatory dinner in honor for us at the Police Headquarters.  All the Police officials were invited to sit with the Mayor for a time of celebration and toasting of whisky.

                After the dinner, there was the usual exchange of thanks and encouraging words from both sides.  The events were filmed on tape.  The students gathered to sing the Chinese national anthem as well as 2 patriotic Chinese songs for the Mayor.  It was quite a grand affair.

 

 

                                Photo Taking Session with the Mayor of Hua Lin (Photo 15)

                        Mayor is one with tie standing to the left of the American missionary

                        Doctor

 

                After the Mayor and the rest left the Police Quarters, the students had a time of celebration by teaching everybody the steps of their tribal dance.  We spent the night dancing and singing away.  The mood was compounded by the blackout which affected the whole village.

 

 

Day 5 (Thursday 13/4/2000)

               

                We packed up to return to Kunming.  The journey was long and tedious, but it was made tolerable by the continuous strains of Chinese hymns sung by the students all the way back to Project Grace.

                We arrived in the late afternoon and unloaded our things before we checked into a new hotel for the night.

 

Day 6 (Friday 14/4/2000)

                For the rest of the team, their responsibility is almost over.  I came back to Project Grace in the afternoon to look for the Director of  Deaf Training.  The person is Ms Ingrid Simms.  She came to Kunming 3 years ago, trained as an audiologist and a teacher for the Deaf.  She is from Ireland and came to work as part of Project Grace.

                (She can be contacted at Project Grace c/o Huaxia Vocational School, Tudui, Yuchilu, Kunming, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China 650118.  e mail :  Ingrid@maf.org    telephone: 8221231    13708850474)

                When I first saw her for the first time, she was sitting outside her office with a group of deaf girls and they were learning how to make slippers by knitting the top of the slippers with cotton flax. 

 

Deaf Girls from Different Minority Groups at Project Grace holding balloon sculptures

 

                We soon got to chat about her work here amongst the deaf people in Yunnan.  As much as the Village Doctor Project aims to provide free medical care for the villagers in Yunnan, the Deaf Project aims to help deaf people from the various minority groups.  Each year, she conducts 2 stay-in camps for the deaf people from the villagers.

                She first approaches the different villages in the rural districts to find out the whereabouts of the deaf people. The Chinese government is very good with statistics. Thus the records of all disabled people are kept carefully.  This helps her to find  all the deaf people in the villages.  Then she approaches and reaches out to the families establishing rapport so as to ask their permission to allow their deaf sons and daughters to follow her back to Kunming (sometimes may be a day’s bus journey) to stay with her for 3 months.

               

 

 

                                                Deaf Friends at our Farewell Party

 

Most of these deaf people are illiterate.  At least the village knows that though they are not able to hear,  they are as capable as any normal person in the village to work.  They are able to work in the fields, for the girls, they look after and clean the house.  They do not have a sign language of their own and are very isolated from one another even in the same village.

                Ingrid brings them to Kunming to Project Grace and within 3 months, she tries to teach them simple Chinese Sign Language to communicate.  She shows them the love and care to live together as a community.

                The deaf people are taught how to look after themselves as well as for one another.  For the boys, they are taught a trade such as repairing the bicycle, carpentry, etc.  For the girls, they are taught to cook, bake and sew.  Thought this may sound easy, the truth is that it is not.  Most of them come from different tribes.  Like other deaf people in the world, they have their characters and personalities as well as their special customs.  There were disagreements and arguments many times.  Disagreements were settled with fist fights at times amongst the boys.  The girls were especially home sick.

                It was difficult to help them to live with one another.  For the girls, they were unsure of the future as mostly after the three months training, they would return to their village to be match-made and be married off.  Whether they have a good happy life or whether they are being abused, we will not know.  There were very few workers and volunteers to help Ingrid work with them.  In fact Ingrid works alone with some other older deaf adults. 

                Ingrid knows at least these deaf people have at least 3 months of life where they can feel the love of God and learn to depend on themselves instead of others.

 

                The other project that Ingrid is involved is to meet up and search out the Deaf Christians in Kunming.  Apparently  long ago, they were reached by the German missionaries.  The adult deafs can still remember the time they were taught to say grace and read the Bible.

                Unfortunately, they were also seek out by the Communist Party.  A few years ago, the Community Party inserted a few deaf people who support the Communist Party in order to spy on the Deaf Christian community and discover their leaders.  These deaf leaders were found and persecuted after they put in jail for teaching their followers.  They knew that the community will break down once the leaders are removed or jailed.  It was a time of danger and suspicion.  But praise God, the group of deaf Christians have survived till this day with God’s grace and blessings.

                I sat in the sunlight with the girls who smiled at me shyly, but we were unable to communicate.  Ingrid showed me a simplified Chinese Sign Language file with all the essential words.  Then she gave me a dictionary of the Chinese Sign Language as a gift.  I look through the pages of the file to see crude pictures of hand shapes with Chinese characters but mostly pictures of the meaning.

                It is difficult to teach sign language to the illiterate.  Many words cannot be represented by just using pictures.  Ingrid has done her best to compile that file.  She hopes that one day, a pictorial Chinese Sign Language book can be printed and given to the deaf illiterates.  This will enable them to remember what they are taught and use it the sign language with one another when they meet in the market place.  Communication amongst the deaf is essential and also for the Gospel to be told and shared amongst the illiterates in the village.

 

                I could not stay very long because the Village Doctors Group was calling me for a medical debrief for our field trip.  I bad my farewell to the girls and Ingrid and made another appointment with her the next day.

                The doctors from the Singapore team sat as a panel of experts in the front of the class and we went through the path physiology of the conditions we saw at the villages.  It was a rewarding 3-hour conference and the students left satisfied that their field trip has been worthwhile participating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 7 (15/4/2000)

                I woke up early for breakfast and then met up with Ingrid who took a cab with me to the neighboring park.  She has told the Deaf Christians about me even before I arrived in China and they were very keen to hear about my Deaf Christians in Singapore.  We were holding a secret meeting in a public place so as not to arouse any suspicion.

                As long as there are no deaf spies around, the hearing people around will see the group as a group of visitors walking or having a picnic in the park.  Most people are still not familiar with Chinese Sign Language.

                We met up with the group after arriving at the gates of the park.  They arrived in couples.  There are no young people except for one girl.  She is actually from the Bai Tribe and is about 24 years old.  The rest are couples and 1 couple brought their hearing daughter along.  We struck off quite well because I offered her some sweets.

                It was a great time as we exchanged greetings.  Of course I was using my American Sign Language and they tried their best to teach me some Chinese Sign Language.  (I tried to have a crash course myself in the hotel the night before with Ingrid’s gift of Chinese Sign Language Dictionary.)

                The group went around the garden and finally settled beside a lake.  There we started to share about our lives.  The leader of the group shared how she hope to see the group grow and build “ A Church of a Thousand Deafs”.  She mentioned about a group who wished to be baptised and discussed  the location.  They were wondering if they should be baptised along the river in the middle of the night or should they be baptised in the public pool where no body would understand what they were doing.  The group was against being baptised along the river because most of them are elderly and they are afraid they may catch a cold.  In the end, they will discuss the matter another time.

                They turned their attention to me and asked me about my trip to Kunming and how I got involved with Deaf people.  I shared with them about MHI and how this trip was very special because I felt called to come.  Later they demonstrated Tai Chi to me as one of the elders is an expert and she has constantly taught the members some moves to keep healthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Park Beside the Lake

                Later on we moved on to another part of the park to have something to eat.  I shared a simple English Gospel song with them in signs.  The weather turned suddenly very chilly and we had to leave because it was rather old.

                We bade farewell to one another and went our different ways not knowing when we will meet again as we returned to Project Grace.

 

Day 8 (16/4/2000)

                We packed and went to the airport after we checked out.  Mr Fong and his assistant came to pick us up at the hotel.  Half way, one of the landrovers broke down along the highway. We were delayed for a while as the front vehicle realised that they are no longer followed and thus returned to help us.

                We still arrived at the airport on time to meet some of the students who have come to see us off.  Each of us received a bouquet of flowers from the students as we checked into customs and leave Kunming for Singapore.

               

 

 

 

 

 

(The End)