Document Actions
Update 39
Quality Testing?
Hello all!
ZAMBIA: QUALITY TESTING....
We like to say that nothing leaves the Crossroads warehouse without being tested. But that policy might be stretched slightly when the goods in question are 15 toilets! At the moment, some of our warehouse guys are preparing these ceramic toilet bowls and cisterns for a shipment to Zambia. The toilets, which were donated by a supplier some time ago, are beautiful quality (hmm, never said that about a toilet before!) and will be a great gift to the group in Zambia. They run a vocational training centre in a part of the country where unemployment is as high as 85%. Teaching practical skills like carpentry and computer operation, they are giving people a chance to escape the poverty that they're stuck in.
So, while these toilets won't be 'tested' in the way you'd think, they will certainly be well prepared and packed to send to Zambia to equip the training centre. It's hard for us to imagine what it's like for the vast majority of a community to be out of work. It means most people are living in poverty, and many are depressed, children are neglected and malnourished, missing out on education, and the cycle just keeps going. We hope this container, which will also have sewing machines, computers and woodworking equipment, will support this group in helping this particular community break the cycle.
STAY WHERE YOU ARE, EUROPE, MATT'S COMING OVER!
At the beginning of October, Matt will be travelling to Europe for the latest series of Global Hand consultations. We'll give you more news about the consultation as it unfolds. Meetings are being held in London, Amsterdam and Romania. Delegates will be coming from freight and logistics companies and charities who moving and distribute aid to those in need. At the moment in Hong Kong, the Global Hand team are working very hard on an updated version of the website, due to be finished this week. It's been flat out, but a joy for Matt and the others to be working on something with such a great end goal.
The website and the internet are wonderful tools, but there's nothing like meeting people face-to-face, bouncing ideas off each other and sharing valuable information, which is why these international consultations have become such an important part of the Global Hand project. A couple of our photos from last year's consultation in Hong Kong at http://www.matt-ad.com/photos/ghconsultation/index.htm
And yes, we do intend to update our website soon....new photos coming, we promise!
MOON CAKES
It's a salty, hard boiled egg yolk, hidden in a lump of bean or lotus paste mixed with lard, covered by a crust of pastry. Does it sound appetising? It is!
Hong Kong, along with Chinese people all over the world, has just finished celebrating Mid-Autumn festival. It's a lovely festival to look at: families gather in the evening in parks or on beaches to see the full moon and they surround themselves with lanterns, candles and other lights. Of course, not all the lanterns are traditional - hanging from Kate's desk in Adelaide's office at the moment is a beautifully tacky Finding Nemo inflatable plastic lantern that plays a tinkly tune when the battery-operated torch is switched on! But the real business of Mid-Autumn festival is moon cakes. As described above, these little treasures are unique. During the festival it's traditional to give tins of moon cakes to friends and family. There are always oodles of moon cakes around our workplace during this season, gifts from kindly community volunteers or others. There are plenty of varieties to try if lard and egg yolk aren't your thing. You can get pineapple-filled mooncakes, 'snowy' mooncakes with a white coating, Garfield mooncakes, Haagen Dasz ice cream mooncakes and Starbucks chocolate mooncakes! There are even low-sugar, low-fat moon cakes for the diet conscious Hong Konger.
The legend of the mooncake is interesting: during the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Baked into each moon caked was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend. Or so the story goes.
But here's the piece of Mid-Autumn tradition we liked the best: "Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them." We certainly are thinking of our relatives and friends far from us, and not just during this season - full moon cheers to everyone!
Love,
Matt & Adelaide
ZAMBIA: QUALITY TESTING....
We like to say that nothing leaves the Crossroads warehouse without being tested. But that policy might be stretched slightly when the goods in question are 15 toilets! At the moment, some of our warehouse guys are preparing these ceramic toilet bowls and cisterns for a shipment to Zambia. The toilets, which were donated by a supplier some time ago, are beautiful quality (hmm, never said that about a toilet before!) and will be a great gift to the group in Zambia. They run a vocational training centre in a part of the country where unemployment is as high as 85%. Teaching practical skills like carpentry and computer operation, they are giving people a chance to escape the poverty that they're stuck in.
So, while these toilets won't be 'tested' in the way you'd think, they will certainly be well prepared and packed to send to Zambia to equip the training centre. It's hard for us to imagine what it's like for the vast majority of a community to be out of work. It means most people are living in poverty, and many are depressed, children are neglected and malnourished, missing out on education, and the cycle just keeps going. We hope this container, which will also have sewing machines, computers and woodworking equipment, will support this group in helping this particular community break the cycle.
STAY WHERE YOU ARE, EUROPE, MATT'S COMING OVER!
At the beginning of October, Matt will be travelling to Europe for the latest series of Global Hand consultations. We'll give you more news about the consultation as it unfolds. Meetings are being held in London, Amsterdam and Romania. Delegates will be coming from freight and logistics companies and charities who moving and distribute aid to those in need. At the moment in Hong Kong, the Global Hand team are working very hard on an updated version of the website, due to be finished this week. It's been flat out, but a joy for Matt and the others to be working on something with such a great end goal.
The website and the internet are wonderful tools, but there's nothing like meeting people face-to-face, bouncing ideas off each other and sharing valuable information, which is why these international consultations have become such an important part of the Global Hand project. A couple of our photos from last year's consultation in Hong Kong at http://www.matt-ad.com/photos/ghconsultation/index.htm
And yes, we do intend to update our website soon....new photos coming, we promise!
MOON CAKES
It's a salty, hard boiled egg yolk, hidden in a lump of bean or lotus paste mixed with lard, covered by a crust of pastry. Does it sound appetising? It is!
Hong Kong, along with Chinese people all over the world, has just finished celebrating Mid-Autumn festival. It's a lovely festival to look at: families gather in the evening in parks or on beaches to see the full moon and they surround themselves with lanterns, candles and other lights. Of course, not all the lanterns are traditional - hanging from Kate's desk in Adelaide's office at the moment is a beautifully tacky Finding Nemo inflatable plastic lantern that plays a tinkly tune when the battery-operated torch is switched on! But the real business of Mid-Autumn festival is moon cakes. As described above, these little treasures are unique. During the festival it's traditional to give tins of moon cakes to friends and family. There are always oodles of moon cakes around our workplace during this season, gifts from kindly community volunteers or others. There are plenty of varieties to try if lard and egg yolk aren't your thing. You can get pineapple-filled mooncakes, 'snowy' mooncakes with a white coating, Garfield mooncakes, Haagen Dasz ice cream mooncakes and Starbucks chocolate mooncakes! There are even low-sugar, low-fat moon cakes for the diet conscious Hong Konger.
The legend of the mooncake is interesting: during the Yuan dynasty (A.D. 1280-1368) China was ruled by the Mongolian people. Leaders from the preceding Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1280) were unhappy at submitting to the foreign rule, and set how to coordinate the rebellion without being discovered. The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes. Baked into each moon caked was a message with the outline of the attack. On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attached and overthrew the government. Today, moon cakes are eaten to commemorate this legend. Or so the story goes.
But here's the piece of Mid-Autumn tradition we liked the best: "Whenever the festival sets in, people will look up at the full silver moon, drinking wine to celebrate their happy life or thinking of their relatives and friends far from home, and extending all of their best wishes to them." We certainly are thinking of our relatives and friends far from us, and not just during this season - full moon cheers to everyone!
Love,
Matt & Adelaide