KINGSPARK NEWS

Club Number: 30119

2007-08 Rotary Year : Issue 14 : 2 February 2008

Contents

Editorial (I'm Your Mentor - Trust Me) - By Francis Wann
From the Charter President (Back From Antarctica) - By CP John Wan
Letters to Editor
The Board

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EDITORIAL

I'm Your Mentor : Trust Me

I was just reading Anwer¡¦s email and I¡¦m glad his encounter with his mentees was a positive one. In the last edition of Kingsparknews, Webmaster John gave us a word of caution, and cited university mentorship programs and how they operate within certain parameters.

Call it any names, but most of us should not be new to such programs. Most students would become prefects when they go to alevels, and that must be their first taste of authority ¡V and responsibility. They also become ¡§Big Brothers and Big Sisters¡¨ and take care of their juniors. BBBS schemes have been popular among secondary schools here, but how successful are they? It¡¦s not something which you can quantify with statistics.

Perhaps John¡¦s queries were not unfounded, but it would be difficult to imagine if any of us would ever meet the stringent requirements laid down before us. Indeed it all depends on the mentality of the mentors, and their will to make it work.

But don¡¦t forget we¡¦re dealing with other individuals whose views of the outside world might not be the same as ours. If you have no idea what you should do as a mentor, you¡¦d better read the mentor¡¦s guide from Dominic which sets out to discuss the roles of a mentor, and for one thing ¡V we¡¦re not here to change (reform will be an even more undesirable word here) them.

Well, change would occur over time ¡V if the chemistry is right, and if you win the trust of them. What¡¦s more important is our expectations and approach. Developing rapport takes time, and trust takes even longer.

Mentorship also works both ways. Don¡¦t try to instill moral values into their minds, and of course how we see things may not necessarily be how they should see things. Don¡¦t ever try to give them an illusion that yours is the standard. How you manage this new human relationship with your mentees is indeed no inconsiderable art in itself. You would be amazed how in many cases your students have become your teachers!

Anwer also suggested a joint event where all mentors and their mentees meet and socialize. It¡¦s an area we should handle with care and sensitivity as there are potential situations where confidentiality may be at risk. It wouldn¡¦t be easy in the first place to establish a trusting relationship with someone else, but it¡¦d take only seconds to wreck it.

Having said that, I have to admit that being a mentor once again places the burden of responsibility upon ourselves, but again, it¡¦s a question of how far we want to go, and how much we want to get involved, and how we know it¡¦s really in their interest.

I¡¦ve seen outreach workers and social councilors dealing with kids living rough and taking drugs. I¡¦ve seen mentors dealing with students from broken families and whose families survive on benefits. By comparison, our students from Ho Tung, a Band one English secondary, would seem a much milder nut to crack.

I¡¦ve just received their UE exam papers from my mentee KK, and we had several email exchanges. I¡¦m optimistic that the scheme will work, Here I would appeal to other mentors to write about your experience for our next edition.

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From the Charter President

Back From Antarctica

I had meant to upload this issue from the Star Princess, against all odds. I received the Editor's Editorial around 15 February and began working on it. Communications on board the ship relied entirely on the satellites, which is not only very expensive, but also unreliable and very slow. I wrote a few paragraphs, booked a slot at the Internet Cafe on board, but then found that the technical difficulties were too much. The next thing I knew was that satellite communications came to a grinding halt. The disruption lasted a few days, so that by the time it resumed, I lost the steam and decided to skip an issue - something I have not done for a rather long time.

The disruption has deprived me the opportunity of sending you my warmest greetings from the coldest place on Earth. I had picked up odd bits of information from the satellites about the club and had learnt, for example, that a few of you, notably the very charismatic Anwer, had started mentoring activities with the students of Ho Tung, and so on.

Yes, out in the Antarctic, communications with the outside world depends entirely on satellites. Mobile phones would not work and satellite connection is about US$7 per minute. Internet connection is slightly cheaper, less than US$1 per minute and it can get cheaper if one buys time in units of 100 minutes, but it means that unspent time cannot be refunded and so on; and it happened to me.

I had been trying to clear the inbox provided me by my ISP and to keep the watermark down, and it had proved to be a rather expensive and ineffective process, but at least I was trying.

By the time I returned to Hong Kong last week, I had not met most of you for more than a month: I last met you at the club Christmas party. I had since been to the United States and back. I left Hong Kong for South America on 3 January and boarded the Star Princess on 10 January.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and experienced for the first time the unique pristine environment, geography and awesome landscape and weather of the Antarctic. The Star Princess started from Burenos and rounded Cape Horn before it went back to Burnos Aires. Cape Horn has been known to be the worst nightmare for sailors and seafarers and is widely considered to be the southern most tip of South America. The waters around the cape are particularly hazardous because of the strong winds and the big waves, and of course the icebergs. These dangers have made Cape Horn notoriously known as a sailors' graveyard.

The Antarctica is the coldest and most inhospitable place on Earth. It is a frozen desert with little precipitation and the South Pole itself receives less than 10 cm per year on average. Temperatures can reach a minimum of between -80 to -90 degrees Celsius in the interior in winter and would reach a maximum of between +5 and +15 degrees Celsius near the coast in summer. The Antarctica is colder than the Arctic for two reasons. First, much of the continent is more than 3 km above sea level, and temperature decreases with elevation. Secondly, the Arctic Ocean covers the north polar zone so that the ocean's warm currents would warm up the icepack and prevent temperature in the Arctic region from reaching the extreme temperatures typical of the land surface of the Antarctica. The ship's Captain and staff have treated us well physically as well as mentally. There are scholastic lectures every day on various aspects and while we were closing in on a research base around the South Shetland Islands, we were joined by some scientists on board - they came by a zodiac - who shared with us their experience which was so unique and even spiritual in areas.

Passengers were reminded, for example, that they had joined a very exclusive and privileged group pf people in the world who had been to the Antarctica - of the seven billion living on Earth, less than 300,000 have been that close to the Antarctic. I should stress that we were close, but not actually on the South Pole itself. We were told that Nature could be extremely harsh and unimaginable - winds could get up to more than 260 nautical miles, volcanoes could erupt, temperatures could reach so low and so on. In such conditions, it is useful to be more spiritual and be mindful of what Nature and the God Almighty can mete out. I'll talk to you later. I had tried to upload this issue earlier, but there were technical and physical problems.

So, I have done nearly 5,000 nautical miles (4,724 to be exact) on the Star Princess in the 16 days and have been to the southern most point on Earth. There is a city called Punta Arenas which is part of Chile and the name can be loosely translated to mean the ends of the world.

I took many pictures, mostly of landscape, and I lost count of the number of pictures I have taken on icebergs - I was simply captivated. I intend - and I may still do that - to give a more detailed and personal account of the trip, but I am now preparing for my next trip. In a few hours, I would leave the flat again for Sydney and then Tasmania. I would pack my laptop in addition to a few golf clubs; and I expect I can write a few things in between savouring good wine and oysters.

See you soon.

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Letters to Editor

Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response from the latter for publication in the same issue if possible.

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The Board

President : Marvin Lai
President-Elect and Membership: Joyce Mak
Vice-President and Public Relations: Michael Eyles
Secretary : Kennedy Tsang
Treasurer : Ted Ho
Rotary Foundation : Patrick Wong
Club Administration : Edward Lau
Service Projects : Peter Lo
Sergeant-at-Arms : Alexander Kar

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