Into the Wild (2)

The kids are back from the wild.  Covered in mud and completely exhausted though, they are all full of joy and pride.

The parents, lining up in front of the main gate and welcoming them as if they are soldiers returning from a war, are more happy and proud.  You may think we are over-reacting.  But if you are in Hong Kong you should know the weather that we are now having.  Wind, rain, lots of wind and more rain.  In the last few days, the kids hiked with their gears in downpour and spent their night in the open with nothing but a plastic sheet over their heads and another plastic sheet beneath their sleeping beds.  They were cold and wet but their spirits remained high.  The kids from an ESF school left after the first night (and they got tents!).  So did the kids from Guangzhou.  But the ISF kids marched on, faced the rain, ate their soaked bread, took care of each other, looked for the right branches to make their rain shelters...

"I feel for the refugees", "Four walls and a roof are so precious", "My legs shook uncontrollably when I reached the camp site", "I was so happy to have reached the top of the mountain. It's beyond words", "Sai Kung looks even more beautiful in rain", "The raft broke in the sea", the kids just can't wait to share their experiences.

"They have grown so much in just a few days. You have to see it to believe it", a teacher who went with them said.

A big thank you to the teachers and trainers from Outward Bound.

Into the Wild

October is always a month blessed with nice weather.  It also marks the beginning of the hiking season.  Not this year.  A strong easterly monsoon, a broad area of low pressure and a tropical depression over the Western Pacific are working together to bring us a lot of rain and strong wind.

After learning the lives and writings of Voltaire, John Locke and William Wilberforce in their humanity class in the comfort of an air-conditioned classroom, the Grade 8 ISF kids are out in the wild to experience the fears, feelings and life of a refugee.  This year annual camping (called experimental training) is designed to be tough and meant to let the kids have a taste of the life of a refugee.  On day one, after visting Christian Action Workshop, a service development for ethnic minority residents in Hong Kong, the kids are bused to Sai Kung and spend their first night in some makeshift shelters (no tents, just a few plastic sheets).  They have to cook their own food with some very basic stuff.  On day two, the "refugee simulation" continues, they will hike to no.19A campsite and spend the night in the wild.  On day three, they will experience a "shipwreck" - raft building at AYP Water Sports Centre and rafting to BGCA Bradbury Camp, followed by further hike to HK Adventure Corps camp at High Island Reservoir.  On day four the last day, they will have some group sharing and do their "Life Run", mini solo presentation, with a human rights theme.

Rain and wind outside.  Am I worried?  Not really as I know the kids are in the right hands.  True that it is going to be tough in this weather.  Some wet maybe, but the kids will grow wiser and stronger from the experience.

We Will Miss You

After devoting her entire life to education, Shirley Lee, ISF Academy's Principal before Malcolm Pritchard, passed away on Wed, Oct 6, 2010.

A note from Shirley's children: 

"Our mother, Shirley Lee, passed away in the early morning hours of Wednesday, October 6, 2010. During the last week of her life, she was comfortable and with little pain. She was comforted by all of you who visited, spoke with her on the phone, and sent your thoughts, prayers, and blessings our way.
 
Shirley was a force with which to be reckoned and should be remembered for her boundless energy, bottomless compassion, and absolute belief in the potential of her students, her community, and her culture. We are all blessed to have spent whatever amount of time we had with her.
 
She is survived by her two children, Lily Panyacosit Alisse and Tawal Panyacosit Jr., her two beautiful granddaughters, Eden and Celeste, and all of you who loved her as we did.

A memorial service will take place in the next few weeks and we will do our best to apprise you of its occurrence. Please forward this announcement to all who would care to know.

Thank you again for all the love and support,
Lily and Tawal"

Lily and Tawal have expressed that, in lieu of flowers, those who wish to remember and honor Shirley should instead send donations to an organization that they will designate within the next few days.

Bach's "Sleepers Wake" and ISF Orchestra

As I was listening to Bach's "Sleepers Wake", my daughter told me they had played it during orchestra practice. A BIG THANK YOU to Ms Howard.

Report Card

ISF is now distributing report cards by electronic means.  Despite all the emails and SMS reminders, my wife and I somehow managed to completely forget about the latest report card.  Should we declare victory over schooling or call ourselves lazy parents?

Animals Schooling

One Day Some Parents will Employ a Pro to Teach Their Kids to Ride a Bike ...

I jokingly said the above two or three years ago in a meeting of a group of ISF parents.  Seems that it is happening.

My daughter's school is one of those schools in Hong Kong which sadly have become home to some of the more well-off who, feeling insecure 25 (twenty-five) hours a day, are very keen to make available what they think are "the best" to their children.  Here you can find parents who, believing that the sky will collapse if their 8-year-old son does not speak like Sir David Attenborough and their 6-year-old daughter does not sing in the most angelic voice, will pay over US$10,000 to enrol their kids in some "exclusive" Summer programme in the UK and get Teresa Carpio to teach their kids to sing, one-on-one.  This group of parents always tend to moan and complain a lot more than others.  Meeting them for more than a quarter of an hour you will wake up in a cold sweat at night with visions of a house full of the most desperate househusbands and housewives (sometimes, the former may look more desperate than the latter).  At ISF there exist another group of parents - they don't complain about this and that and are more ready to accept things as they are; they don't feed their kids with all the "required" private lessons and don't assess their kids on a daily basis.  And, you know what?  Their kids are happy and turn out just fine.  My daughter is one of the kids who do fairly well at school.  A few months ago I attended the PTA drink gathering at the Red Bar.  A lady parent approached me and asked, "Your girl does not have any extra private tuition and have only two outside school activities? How come she does so well at school?" "People get themselves mixed up with cause and effect," I said, "She does well because she is not burdened with private lessons or too many activities."  My honest answer wouldn't be well received, I knew...

Some parents are determined, very determined to make their own lives, their spouses', their kid's and everybody's lives miserable.  I am determined to stay away from them and stick to the happy ones.  Life is too short to stay close to the negative energy generators.  It's not that they are bad or foolish people.  No, not at all.  In fact, a lot of them are very good people and high achievers in their own fields.  Yet, it seems that they are convinced that they can plan everything and everything should proceed as planned.  They also religiously believe that all the good things are must-haves (or must be offered) and that if they plan well, follow the right method, get the right school, etc., their kids will turn out fine.  Is that so?   Did any of these successful men and women have any of the wonderful must-haves that their kids have?