The Roaming Pikes

We had a fantastic time celebrating our little guy’s 2nd birthday. We were up late the night before putting the finishing touches on the Thomas birthday cake. There were a few mishaps with the cake resulting in its semi lumpy & leaning appearance.

Thankfully to a two year old it looked perfect and Peter was thrilled to come out in the morning to see it sitting on the table.

We were a bit unsure of how he would take us eventually putting a knife to his new Thomas but there was little time for sadness when there was chocolate cake to be eaten!

Peter really enjoyed having his friends both big and small around to party with him. Copious snacks were eaten and some special new toys & clothes were added to the collection.  The top two items have been a model taxi and bus that have been taken everywhere this week: bath, bed, around the house, on walks, etc.

Thanks to all his special friends that helped make it a great day for him!

On this day 2 years ago our lives changed forever when Peter was born.  He is the sweetest boy and brings much joy to our lives. We are so thankful for him.

Happy Birthday little guy! Love, Mum & Dad

Today we went on a whirlwind adventure with some visiting friends. We took a ferry to a little fishing village called Tai O.  As soon as you step off the ferry, all you can smell is fish! Everywhere you look, fish are drying in the breeze, on baskets in the sun or some are still flapping in containers.  Almost every home is made of aluminium and is on stilts over the waterways so their boats have easy access.

As we are always conscious that these are people’s homes, we didn’t take too many photos. You can get an idea from these photos of what the area looked like.

We have had some very hot days recently (over 34c) which made it feel like perfect 4th of July weather.  This was Christy’s tenth 4th celebrated outside of the US and as our US contingent is small, we pulled in a few friends from other countries. We had  great hamburgers, jello, apple pie & even some Dr Peppers to celebrate.

Here are a few photos of the table before eating.

What to do when the observatory hoists a heat wave warning, the temperature hits 35C, 90% humidity and you have a Violet Crumble melting in your pocket?

We have a child computer genius in the making. Here he is controlling his empire!

Numbers, numbers, numbers

Think back to the movie the matrix and the screen filling with strings of continuous falling numbers. Have the picture in your head? Great, keep it there as you read on.

For the past month Christy has been busy helping to pull together figures for our annual audit in addition to her usual accounts activities; reconciling accounts, tracking volunteer support for our team and much, much more. Understandably, her head has been spinning and everywhere she looks she sees “numbers”; she sees the dollars it costs to send the latest shipment being loaded to Uganda. Sitting down for a meal she is able to mentally see the dollars it costs to feed our 70 member team.

The operation of an organisation of our size and breadth of activities requires both significant funding and generosity of organisations with in kind donations. We have been amazed to see the faithfulness of funding that allows our organisation to keep on keeping on; to continue to send shipments to people in need, to impact the local community by providing fair trade products and education, to encourage partnership between the public and private sector and to educate the local Hong Kong community about world need.

Unlike a regular nine to five job we believe those who support us are far more than employers, they are very much partners in our work. This brings another set of numbers that we try not to bring up but feel that this is a time to do so. As many of you know, neither of us receive a salary for the work we do. In fact, we need to raise funds to help cover our accommodation, food, utilities as well as our personal expenses. After covering what we owe to the organisation each month, we need to raise approximately 260USD per week to cover our personal costs. Of this money, a large proportion is spent on Peter’s expenses (nappies, food, etc.), the weekly doctor visit for Christy’s back and neck, toothpaste and of course the essential coffee!

We currently have over 200 people on our mailing list and now that we post to our blog, many more potential followers. Of the 200 people who receive our emails, we have sixteen families and individuals that support us at least once a year; five in the US, ten in Australia and one in Hong Kong. That is 8% of our readers.

To you our donor friends, we appreciate each of you and your significant generosity! We are so incredibly touched when we hear your stories; the generosity of our supporters even when they themselves are facing difficult situations. We do need to highlight our financial situation as we peer into our accounts in all three of our “home” countries and find them almost empty. Wonderfully we have been able to cover the amount due to the organisation to cover our rent, utilities and basic food, but we are struggling to cover our personal costs.

Needless to say this also ties into any plans to travel overseas to have a holiday. At present we simply cannot afford the tickets to either of our home countries. It has now been 2 ½ years since we visited America and 18 months since we were in Australia as a family. Many ask us when we are coming to visit and we sadly we cannot reply. The numbers are simply too big for us!

If you could consider supporting us in any way, we would be very appreciative. Please see our Support Us page for more details.

This Month

Tom is the manager of both the electrical and computers departments and has a wonderful team working underneath him. This month we’d like to share two of the recipients, one local and one international, of the computers we refurbish.

An International Shipment…

When Crossroads recently sent a container of educational supplies to a poor community in Zambia, 50 computers were an integral part of this shipment. For most of us in the developed world, computers are a daily part of both our work and personal lives. We could not begin to imagine our lives without the blessings of these modern and necessary tools.

When our computers arrived in this rural community in Zambia, 99% of the students had never sat at a computer before. Our consignee was able to set up a computer lab within one of the schools and, in his words, “many children discovered that it was doable to learn IT skills.”
“The answer to so many of our problems is education and we must start early,” our consignee told us, “and our vision for not only our community but the whole of Zambia, comes from what we see is lacking.” Since the establishing of this computer lab, this particular school has become very well known throughout Zambia for providing quality education to vulnerable children in the poorest of the poor communities.

Local Recipients…

Mr. Chen, a retired factory worker, lives in a single room of approximately 35 square feet, with his wife and 12 year old son. Two wooden bunks are attached to the back wall and a small black and white television perches on a shelf. Clothes, bedding and eating utensils are piled up in every available bit of space. Guests stand in the doorway or join Mr. and Mrs. Chen on their wooden bunk.

The Chen family is one of an estimated 100,000 people who live in such ‘storage cupboard’ accommodation in Hong Kong, a city one would perhaps least associate with extreme urban poverty. In fact, out of a population of 7 million, 1.23 million are living below the poverty line, in conditions similar or worse to the Chen family.

When an international school in Hong Kong donated 200 Apple Mac computers to Crossroads last year, it specified that these were for children in Hong Kong whose life situation would make it impossible for them to own a computer. Children like Mr. and Mrs. Chen’s 12 year old son.
With education requirements now making it a necessity for students to have internet access, computers are not a luxury of the privileged, but a basic tool all children are required to have.
Recently Crossroads was able to give a computer to a local group in Hong Kong, who are making the computer available not only to children whose parents cannot afford to buy one, but also to Philippine domestic workers who can use it to keep in better touch with their families back home.

It is a privilege and a joy to be able to pass on such valuable and life changing gifts to the many in Hong Kong who are simply struggling to meet basic needs of accommodation and food.

What’s in a name?

As mentioned last month we have the wonderful opportunity of having interns join us over the summer. The interns join us from local universities and seek to gain experience working as part of a team in a large organisation. The demand for internships has been so great this year we have extended our program to a third intake. The interns bring valuable skill and enthusiasm to our organisation and work on many important projects over the summer.

The English language enjoys many interesting and meaning laden names which people have inherited through their family line. We are all familiar with surnames that point to occupation such as Cook, Butler, Taylor and Mason.

The first US census, in 1790, lists people with surnames such as Fudge, Madsavage and Toogood! And of course the nicknames we give to our friends can reveal a lot about them – and our relationship with them.

We have the opportunity to meet and work with hundreds of people from our community, all volunteers, who give their time and skills, and many with wonderfully interesting, and even fun, names which, in many cases, are the literal translation of their Chinese names.

We have worked alongside Woodwind, Harmony, Echo and Serenade; we have enjoyed the company of Mango, Cherries, Toffee and Chocolate; Cash and Telly have volunteered, as have Camelot, Lancelot, Trickle and Lithium.

When two students walked into the office whose names were Yesterday and Tomorrow, some of our team wondered what happened to Today! When Life xperience had the pleasure of working with an intern last summer called She, grammar became a point when anyone would say “Give this to She!”

A ‘perfect match’ also happened last year, when a young man called Chicken became very interested in one of our female volunteers called Soup.

However the best ‘match story’ for 2010 so far, is an intern who will spend this summer volunteering his time and skills in our kitchen.

And his name is… Hot Sauce!

Our organisation has recently sent some goods to two organisations in Cambodia. Our consignee’s goals are to improve the lives of orphans, vulnerable children and disadvantaged people, in order to give them hope in life and the prospect of a better future. They are involved in education and vocational training and provide orphans and vulnerable children with a safe home, food, healthcare and education. They are also promoting environmental education and working on job recreation in a number of sectors.

Recently one of our staff was able to visit these consignees and was able to video some of the work which our consignees undertake. This type of feedback is what keeps us doing what we do, to see the goods which we have spent hours cleaning, packing and preparing with our own hands out in the world helping those in need.

We’d also like to thank those who support us, without your generous financial contributions we could never do the work which we do. So from Nit and the 47 other children we say thank you!

April has arrived and with it the first rain shower of the season. Peter was thrilled to discover puddles and the joys of gumboots. He spent much of his time watching the rain drops fall on his see through raincoat. We love seeing his joy in the everyday and wasting afternoons jumping in puddles, chasing frogs and eating dirt.

Recently we were looking at him whilst he was sleeping, how far he has come from being a tiny baby! Our tiny baby boy used to be the length of our forearm, he is now the length of his cot. His new found length has meant that it is time we put him into a big boy bed, a challenge to say the least. Tonight for instance, we’ve put him back into bed 11 times! He remains a very busy, curious boy even after bed time.

Peter has also taken to baby sign language and has become very adept at signing “please” and “more” when cookies are offered. He has also developed the ability to use a slide by himself which he does with great relish.

We Branch Out!

“Wow, this place is so great. We can nest here!”

This was the reaction of the Arboriculture Society of Hong Kong when they arrived on site to survey the condition of our many beautiful and unique trees. As well as providing valuable, professional skills to us free, HKAS were so impressed by all they discovered here that they have now set up their own workshop on site. They have agreed not only to continue help us look after our hundreds of trees, but to train up more people in this specialised area. This has been a great gift and another great match story!

Foreigners Visit!

We were very excited to have Christy’s sister, Kate come and visit us. She and Peter quickly made friends and enjoyed playing together each day. Wonderfully, Disneyland was also offering passholders a guest ticket over the dates she was here so we could take her for free. It was a great provision and we had a wonderful time. Kate was even able to spend some time doing some training for our team on mental health issues which was something we had been hoping she could do for a long time.

Computer Stock Desperately Needed

Our Organisation is in desperate need of donated computers to give away to needy recipients both locally in Hong Kong and internationally. As of this week, we will have zero stock of computers. If you or your organisation can assist in sourcing computers (preferably in Hong Kong) our recipients would be extremely grateful!

Social Enterprise Bakery

A recent visit from the World Fair Trade Organisation to our Café reminded us of our desire to increase our variety of fair trade products. We already use great fair trade coffee, sugar, tea and chocolate but fair trade flour and other baking ingredients are a challenge. Such fair trade products are not readily available in this part of the world.

A few weeks later we happened to receive an email from one of our suppliers advertising a local social enterprise bakery. This bakery trains people with or recovering from a mental illness, giving them practical skills to help them earn an income. Although not certified with the official “fair trade” label, it was promoting the values of helping the disadvantaged and seemed a great fit for our needs and organisation values. We now have a weekly delivery of wonderful fresh items such as chocolate cream puffs, blueberry cheesecake as well as ham and cheese sandwiches.

Also, around this time, we were donated a large box of thousands upon thousands of baking paper cups of all sizes and shapes. These items had come from a bakery that had recently closed down. What were we to do with it? A thought came to offer this box to our newly formed social enterprise friends. They were thrilled to receive them and even thanked us with a box of their cookies and a handmade plaque! A wonderful food match for the café, a consistent flow of funds for this bakery and a match of products with another local non profit!

Social enterprise learning

Daniel sings ‘Jan jan soeng fun siu, bat jiu ngaan loey diu’ …and we repeat after him. This song ‘It’s a small world after all’ in Cantonese. We’re learning the song as a fun way to practise the complex vowels (there are fifty four!) and consonants in the Chinese language. Daniel, our teacher, is partially blind. We met him through some of our connections we made when setting up the Blind X-perience. He is providing 30 of our team with some basic Cantonese lesson. Due to Daniel’s visual challenges he finds it hard to get work in Hong Kong. We are providing him with opportunity to practise teaching and we get the opportunity to practise our Cantonese. It has been lot of fun!

Where on Earth?

Do you know where Burundi is? (Here is a hint.) Burundi is tucked in between Rwanda, DR Congo and Tanzania (Central Africa). This country is listed as one of the 10 poorest in the world. The plight of the people in Buterere, a “barracks” of Burundi’s capital city, have come before our team in recent months when requests for help from our organisation were approved. Estimates say that 97% of the community are living in poverty. Reeling from years of civil war, they are now fighting a rapid spread of HIV/AIDS, lack of sanitary water, high illiteracy rates, and scarcity of basic health services.

We are particularly excited about this shipment for another reason. Not one, but two organisations working in Buterere contacted us and both will be receiving goods in this container. They didn’t know of each other before this, but they are thrilled to be in contact now. They are cooperating with each other, as friends and colleagues, working on the container logistics, and also seeing how their two organisations can support each other in the work they are doing with the city’s poor.

The container will be loaded this week. It is, as always, an incredible rewarding experience to see items which you have personally prepared being loaded in a container, ready for the long journey to our recipients. The container will first go by ship from HK to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. From there, it will go by truck, overland, to its’ final destination in Buterere.

The Coming Month

Recently, our organisation received a valuable donation of network equipment for use on our site. We have paid only a fraction of the cost of the value of this equipment in order to cover the administration fees which helps sustain the donation programme. This kind of equipment is vital to our operations so we were very glad to receive it! We have been encouraged by participating in this example of good corporate sustainable partnership, something which our organisation is working hard to promote. The coming month will see Tom and his team upgrading the majority of the computer network on our site.

We have the wonderful opportunity of having interns join us over the summer. The interns join us from local universities and seek to gain experience working as part of a team in a large organisation. The demand for internships has been so great this year we have extended our program to a third intake. The interns bring valuable skill and enthusiasm to our organisation and work on many important projects over the summer. Both Tom and Christy have interns, it is a great privilege to have these valuable co-labourers on site. The coming months will see both Tom and Christy both train and work alongside these valuable additions to our team.