We've just returned from another camp over the National Day hols. We took 27 girls away to the seaside and set up our tents not far from the beachfront. The girls all come from underprivileged backgrounds, and are recipients of a sponsorship program with GGEF(www.ggef.org). We had a wonderful time at camp, collecting shells for an assorted array of craft activities, teaching them ultimate frisbee, organising sand sculpturing competitions, etc. One of the staff members commented how she had previously never seen the girls laugh so much - I was really encouraged to hear that! It was also good to have some local friends from Shanghai join us, as they were able to relate more deeply with the girls. Besides having the advantage of language and culture, they were able to better appreciate some of the challenges in transition from high school to university, hence give some useful pointers and words of advice. Good job!

Throughout the activities, we had many opportunities for one-to-one interaction with the girls. It was good to be able to share more personally with them, to hear their stories and tell some of our own. =) While we go on living our lives, it is all too easy to forget the poor & needy, not too far from our very own backyard (no, no, I don't have a backyard - just a manner of speech, unfortunately)! So yes, I always enjoy getting out of the office, spending time with the campers. Speaking of which, our next program will be in Nov in Hengyang. Best part is, Gwen's coming too!! Yippeee! By far, my *favouritest* bunch of campers is from Hengyang. SO looking forward to November...

But for now, this coming week will be spent mainly preparing for our Board Meeting over the next weekend 15th & 16th. In the meantime, NT & AX will be off to Yangshuo (Guilin) for a week, taking their visiting friends and family for a bit of a tour. Hmm... Yangshuo... nice coffee.... y-u-m-m-y...