We might aim to save the world but our directive may be just to care for those we meet day to day.

Coming home…

As many of you will know by now we have made our decision to return to Sydney
in early January. Having made our decision to return we were delighted to find
out that Neville’s brother, John, will marry Lyndall on January 13th. This now
leaves us, sadly, with a rapidly dwindling amount of time left here at
Crossroads. So there is much to do as we prepare for our departure. Along with
getting ready for the usual vibrant Crossroads Christmas events we will be
tidying up loose ends and handing over our jobs here.

Nicola
and Vivien having a
night on the town in Macau

For Neville, leaving Global Hand has not been an easy decicison to make but
things seem to be well in hand for the UN project for which there is now some
breathing space while processes are completed at the UN side of the partnership.
There is still some remaining work to do and changes to make to the various web
pages and processes. Neville hopes to be able to continue to assist with the
project in his spare time in Australia. One of the highlights this month in
Global Hand has been to spend some time evaluating new ways of doing things as
the team begins to consider new projects. For example, a charity in the UK is
keen for Global Hand’s assistance in setting up an online resource sharing
system for the pharmaceutical industry. They want to divert excess medical
supplies to those in need, especially in disaster situations.

Lynda
and Vivien

Meanwhile, the applications for shipments keep rolling in so Vivien is
frantically trying to get them all up to date before she leaves so that the
transition to the next “Applications Officer” is smooth. She has really
appreciated some help with reducing the backlog from Lynda and Nicola (Vivien’s
Mum).

In the midst of all this we’ve greatly enjoyed being in the community here.
The Big Wedding was in early October and didn’t make it into our last
newsletter. What an occasion it was, with people from around the world
congregating on our site for the marriage of Elizabeth (Whiz) Watson to David
(DJ)Begbie. The wedding was wonderful, if a little unusual, being held in our
Crossroads “slums” and in various national costumes, guests included.

Vivien’s
Dad and Mum,
Peter and Nicola

The other special highlight was having Vivien’s parents here. Vivien’s Dad,
Peter, came for two weeks while Nicola stayed on for a month and assisted Vivien
in the processing office. We enjoyed some lovely days out including a trip to
the Big Buddha and the old fishing village of Tai O. Vivien and Nicola also went
to Macau for a night. While Macau has now surpassed Las Vegas as a gambling
capital, there is still plenty of the old Portuguese town to explore.

A typical Crossroads Week

There is never a dull moment at Crossroads. We thought it might be
interesting to mention a few of the goings on over the past week. And most weeks
are just as busy and varied.

Arrivals

• A variety of people arrive from places as diverse as northern China,
  Switzerland, England, India, and Australia
• Vivien’s mum heads home to England
• Our friends, the Kingsleys, visit us en-route to London
• June Dally Watkins comes back for a few days to present her new book,
  “Simply Cooking”

Container loadings

• Two 40 foot containers for Macedonia: these will contain bathroom fittings
  along with medical equipment and furniture including hospital beds. These will
  be used for an ear, nose and throat clinic. We are also sending cots and kids’
  supplies for a paediatric clinic. The toilets and bathroom fittings will be
  used for a school assistance project called Flush With Pride.
• Israel: We are sending lots of household furniture and goods for
  distribution to poor families, both Jewish and Palestinian.

Volunteers

DJ
hassles a “refugee” in the simulation.
Who’s that mean looking
soldier?

• Hong Kong schools, the Canadian International School and the South Island
  Schools come for community service days
• Ladies Group, the Mormon group come to help, as usual
• Students from another school come to participate in the “Refugee Run” (see
  photo at right)
• A Rotaract team and a corporate group participate in the “Paper Bag Game”
  poverty simulation
• Two US navy teams of 30 were supposed to come to help for two days but,
  due to some red tape, their aircraft carrier, the Kittyhawk, had to bypass Hong
  Kong (quite a shame for us as a few of the team had booked in for a ship
  visit. Next time maybe…)

Team movements

• Mal and Sal Begbie contine to meet with various UN agencies in Geneva,
  Paris and Rome to build support for the new UN and Business Website
• Daniel and Paulo go to the Philippines to develop a partnernship with
  another charity to train some computer technicians

Hong Kong

• Batman comes to Hong Kong but doesn’t want to swim (See this CNN article)
• Locals go to the polls to vote for new Hong Kong government (and, as we
  had a polling station at Crossroads, we had a captive audience for our Silk
  Road Cafe and Global Handicrafts shop)

Being very, very ignorant I couldn’t see the point of it all but then I sometimes wonder the same thing about a commercial, western Christmas.

Highlights included the Cyclone roller coaster which saved me from the need to visit the chiropractor but scared the wits out of me. The other great attraction that was fun as a bystander was the gently-named “Shoot the Freak”.   For only US$20 you could purchase 35 paintballs and empty them all at a very fit, young fellow dressed in body armour who would try (not very hard) to dodge them.  Something for the whole family.

Our aim was to finalise some details regarding the resource sharing project that we’ve been working on all year (and much longer in Sal, Matt and Katey’s case). By Friday we were all face to face with lawyers, IT technical folk and keep people from various UN groups. It was a case of being careful on what to say, when and how – but very interesting.

At the end, though, I decided that I’m not really the laywer type. I seem to want to acknowledge the other person’s point of view too readily whereas in these meeting you need to know “when to hold ‘em and when to fold “em” (as Kenny Rogers once said…).

Left overs from a BBQ at the Gold Coast hotel! Not our BBQ unfortunately (fortunately?)