Tagged with labor …

May 03 2012
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after thought, charity, culture, environment, social-economic, travel, volunteering

post-trip post

I am back from my Bacolod mission trip! Mixed feelings surface: the moment when ifc is in front of me, Causeway Bay hustle in the day time, concrete building, suits and high heels bustling, caring mom trying to prepare me food, massive work and persona emails, my lovely bed and macbook etc…I am back to the ‘real world’, the world which is real in my context. But I just can’t get my mind off the trip, the people and the land. The intensive 4-day trip is like a crash course telling you so much about the other side of the world where poverty means life; where scarcity equates normal; where heat is nothing; where you exchange things with labor; where smiles is natural. I’ve been to some other similar trips before, but never a place with so much smiles. Bacolod is also known as the City of Smiles, it’s nothing like those you see in the ad for airlines or tourism board, it’s not a city branding campaign, it’s REAL. I get to know so many new friends now – both kids and adults, I get to know where God is at work in another context, I get to know it’s really a matter of choice on how you want to live your life. My mom although could not find the destination of my trip agreeable, when I showed her the photos of the trip, she shows interest! During this trip, the Key Performance Index is our progress in building a Comfort Room (aka Toilet) for 3 families at a slum area. So many things are intertwined in this process, team spirit with a bunch of people you don’t really know, your tolerance of the harsh weather and un-hygience location, your trust and belief in God.  Take a look at my photos, click here to browse them and read through my captions, hope that can inspire you a bit. If you want to know how you can experience something similar, let me know – bring your gang and try something larger!
Daily Quote
If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,’
Job 9:27
I pray to God that I wouldn’t just stop at this trip but pray that this is just the beginning.

Postscript Quote 
Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
Finly Peter Dunne
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Jan 30 2012
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after thought, social-economic

an apple a day?

Have been reading quite a bit on Apple’s allegation of labor abuse especially on iPad’s production line, which coincides with Apple’s record high earnings. Almost each and everytime when Apple has new product release, the new edition of the existing products’ price would go down to attract users to make the brand switch so they got addicted to the whole product line. But these ‘benefits’ has a price: factories are nearly open and kept like day-light bright 24 hours where workers need to stand up almost 16 hours daily and they have to stagger back to their bed for the minimal rest and start all over again, and this keep going on forever as they don’t really have paid leave or any break. No wonder one of the supplier’s factories – Foxconn keep having people jump off the buildings either to get the compensation or to end this infinite pain. This moment when I am typing via my Macbook and checking out the whatsapp message on my iPhone, I have great guilt. The more I purchase the Apple products, the more Apple would try to produce to catch up with the demand – it’s like Charlie Chaplin’s mime movie about factory life, sad that it’s 2012 and it’s not a movie. I will pray for the society to put their conscience into corporate operation – it’s sad that we only focus on profitability but not social responsibility.

Daily Quote
Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.
Mark 9:3
I pray to God that there would be more of us who would care about the society instead of our own.

Postscript Quote
Liberty means responsibility. That’s why most men dread it.
George Bernard Shaw

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Jan 24 2012
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after thought

stoned-heart

I read from the newspaper that there is this heart shape ‘land’ dimensioned of 7x6m made of small stones specks in a local beach at Ma On Shan. It’s man-made. Who made it? It’s done by a retired uncle, every day between 10am to 4pm he would work non-stop by cleaning the beach and bring forth the stones to make sure the heart shape is maintained because the high and low tide would cause the water to blur the heart shape and flushing trash to the heart, so he has to work on it every single day. This is a completely self-initiated ‘project’ and whenever this uncle sees people taking photos with this heart-land, some couples take their wedding photos here – he feel accomplished and happy. After reading the piece, I am completely stunned that someone in Hong Kong in 2012 would spend the time to do something that needs so much physical labor which in most people’s standard or definition, would be seemingly so ‘useless’, for so many years! The heart-land took 2.5 years to build, and after the construction, requires every day work to make it in shape. He refused to reveal his name to the reporter, and just said: a person’s hard work is many people’s joy. When he said that, there are people laughing next to his ‘heart’. This uncle is rewarded in a way not many of us would experience or understand. When you believe in something for a good cause, carry on and God will empower you to move on.

Daily Quote
Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:3-4

I pray to God that I will trust in God and do not stay conformed but transformed.

Postscript Quote
Faith has to do with things that are not seen, and hope with things that are not in hand.
Saint Thomas Aquinas

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