Life

A lot has happened in the Pike world recently. Since our previous news letter we have announced the impending arrival of the newest Pike into the family, settled into our work roles and bought a turtle!

This week we starting Cantonese courses this week to improve our communication and understanding of the world around us. Our first lesson was learning the tones. As a class we had to repeat the tones whilst the teacher would come around and correct us. Without exception each student received a "good" or "very good" from the teacher until she reached Tom. Digging deep into his wealth of Cantonese he delivered his impeccable rendering of the tones. Sucking her teeth she replied "You are not so good, not good at all". Shattered, Tom has decided to dig deep and continue.

Baby

Christy is now at 24 weeks (5 months) and although everyone wants to see photos of her there is really not much to see yet. The most exciting changes are being able to fill the baby kicking and spinning around at times. Tom was able to feel it kick for the first time last week which was very exciting.

Thanks to all of you who were thinking about the hospital and doctor situation. Essentially the baby will be born at the hospital closest to us in Tuen Mun. There is a good chance that they will not let Tom in the room but we will chat as the moment comes closer. The staff have been friendly and the medical care has been good. The maternity ward is set up somewhat differently from those in either the US or Australia. For example, when you arrive at your designated time you join 30 or so other women who then line up to be weighed, blood pressure taken, etc and then move on to another room to wait to see the doctor individually. There are usually 100 or so women in this large room surrounded by doors to the doctor offices. It is most likely that Christy is the only non Chinese person in the room and sometimes they will come and take Christy by the arm rather than try to say her name over the loudspeaker. If they do attempt, they will call her either Ann (middle name) or “Pee-Kay” (a different pronunciation of Pike). Christy has not been having to do this alone, at the moment there are another two mothers to be on team.

So far the baby is doing well and we have heard the heart beat several times. We don’t know if it is a boy or girl, and as they don’t offer the 20 week scan, we probably won’t know until it is born.

Bruno

We'd like you to meet Bruno our new little turtle. It has been Tom's dream for many years to own a turtle. A few weeks ago we welcomed our new little friend into our apartment. We have enjoyed learning/trying to decide how you know if the turtle is happy or freaked out by what we are doing. In the past week, we have decided Bruno is most happy sunning himself on a rock, under a lamp and shows this by stretching out his neck, tail and flippers as far as they can go. He especially likes eating piles of little worms.

Home

This is our new home. We are fortunate enough to live in block 5 which is the only free standing apartment building on site. It is a pleasant little building, extremely sturdy and has a room perfect for a baby.

Work

Tom has found himself flooded with IT work since he set foot on the site. Many of the IT systems have held together without a full time person able to look after them but they must have sensed his arrival and decided to fail in various and curious ways to welcome him. This has kept him busy repairing & upgrading various servers, laptops, printers, computers, etc. In all this running around, Tom has lost 15 kilos and quite a bit of hair!

Christy has now worked in 3 very different departments in our short time here. The first was helping out one of the director’s PA s until the anticipated person came to fill the spot. She then moved into accounts and ran the department as the manager, Peter, took a much needed holiday. Upon Peter’s return and a new volunteer arrival, some of her days have been freed up to also work in our fair trade café on site. This has been a very different but rewarding role as she gets to meet people from the community, volunteers of all ages and gets to make coffees all day. She has been thankful for her barista (coffee making) course taken in Sydney last year and it shows how the MD can use very random skills and put them to good use! So, for now, she is working in the accounts department and looking to take over management & training of new volunteers in the café.

Crossroads is in the process of reorganising it's corporate structure. There are now four arms of the work gathered under an umbrella organisation name the "Crossroads Foundation". The purpose of the reorganisation was to recognise the fact that Crossroads no longer simply ships goods, rather it provides a rich variety of services to the under prevelidged and the community around us.

• Global Distribution

Global Distribution carries on the work which Crossroads International previously was best known for. They distribute quality secondhand and superceedded goods from Hong Kong both locally and around the world.

• Global Hand

Global Hand is an attempt to link the non-profit and the for-profit world to combat global need.

• Global Village

The Global Village offers a themed, immersive environment where people can experience global need first hand through educational and simulation activities.

• Global Handicrafts

Global Handicrafts is an attempt to give under privileged artisans a stage to sell their goods in accordance with fair trade principles.

How, you may ask, do our roles help those in need as we do not particularly fit into any of these particular new arms? We both provide support services for each of these areas of work. In accounts Christy helps pay the bills, receive donations and thus keep the entire organisation running. In the café (besides the great coffee support for the team) she is able to speak to volunteers and envision them with the work which is performed on site. Tom’s IT work keeps all the computers, internet, etc on site working so the team is able to communicate with those receiving shipments, inventory the warehouse, develop websites or teach the children in the school.

Chatting

We would appreciate your thoughts as we continue to settle into life here:

• The adjustment hasn’t been as easy as we thought and has been challenging for different reasons than expected.
• Thanks to the MD in the ways in which He has so clearly shown his hand. There have been a number of exciting matches in recent weeks.
• We have both fought through several illnesses and have been feeling much better in recent weeks which we are thankful for.
• Continued direction, wisdom and provision for the work. Tom is currently evaluating projects which will have considerable long term impact for the team here in Hong Kong.
• Provision for the additional costs associated with medical appointments and baby needs not in our original support raising figures.

Support

We are extremely grateful to our supporters from both Australia and the US who have allowed us to raise about two-thirds of our support. Since our initial fund raising efforts we since gotten pregnant which though exciting taxes the budget somewhat. We are seeking additional partners in our work, people who will be able to support us financially and in doing so support the work which we do. For more support information please see this page.