http://web3.asia1.com.sg/archive/tnp/2/features/npfo32.html She's all knitted up for week-long charity trip She's off to Ethiopia in Africa BY YONG SIEW FERN Aug 8, 2000 TRAVELLING LIGHT: Kit Chan all packed to go to Ethiopia. Pictures/ KC WONG THE longest time Kit Chan went without a bath was three days. That was when she had measles as a child. "Two or three days, MAX," she emphasised. Tomorrow, Singapore's pop singer will leave for Ethiopia, Africa, for a charity trip. There, she may have to go without bathing for a while. In her backpack are baby wet wipes to "dry clean" herself. The week-long trip is organised by World Vision for her to visit relief sites in poverty-stricken areas, shoot a video to promote its programmes, and visit a child she recently sponsored - 13-year-old Gerbo. The trip will be physically and emotionally demanding for Kit, 27. "You never know how you may feel when you see the place and people there," she said. Fatigue is also another factor. She had returned recently from Hongkong. The day after this interview, she went to Malaysia. On National Day, she leaves for Ethiopia, returning on Aug 17. At 7am on Aug 18, she leaves for Hongkong again. To start shooting Hongkong TVB serial Healing Hands II, a sequel to the popular Healing Hands (Miao Shou Ren Xin). In it, she will play an ER doctor. "I have no idea what the script is for that day or what scene I'm shooting." HER PREPARATION About the trip to Africa, she said: "I don't know what to expect from Ethiopia. But I think you have to be mentally prepared. If not, your body won't be able to take it. "I'm expecting it to be an eye-opener. It will give me new thought and feelings. One of my friends even went so far as to say it will change my life forever." As her lifestyle here is comfortable, she admitted that there could be "a tendency to act like a spoilt Singaporean" there. "It's quite a typical reaction - when things aren't normal or go our way - to say, 'Why is it like that?' but after a few days, you just get used to it." She took vaccinations in June to prevent getting yellow fever, tetanus, meningitis and hepatitis A and B. She is on a course of malaria pills. A doctor has prescribed antibiotics, for emergencies. The sight of only a backpack and a knapsack on the floor was unusual, considering she "usually has 100kg of luggage" on her work trips. "This is the barest minimum I have ever packed. Even lighter than my leisure trips." She was not joking. Take her makeup kit, for example. On a usual work trip, she has two - each the size of a supermarket plastic bag. There will be a pouch filled with nothing but lipstick. Another pouch with only eyeshadow, a pencil case of eye and lip pencils, plus two zip-cases of foundation, makeup brushes. But for Ethiopia, she is taking only one pouch the size of a styrofoam lunchbox. Said Kit, who cut her hair short for the trip: "I don't want to wear too much makeup, in case there is no water to wash my face. Water may be scarce there, and I will not want to use it for such things." Nor to wash her clothes. She'll leave them there for the poor. "Normally, I can't tell you what I have in my bags, but now, I can actually count them. It's quite scary, taking so few things for work." Makeup and dressing up, she contends, are the two most important tools of her trade. "I always believe that my face, stripped bare, is only for my family and personal friends to see. Makeup is like an armour for work. You put it on, and you feel you are a different person. Same with clothes and high heels. Suddenly, you feel like a diva. "So this trip actually forces me to reconcile my private and public self." Did her parents say anything? "Just to be careful," she said. "My mother got me a talisman from the temple. When they knew I was sponsoring a child, they wanted to do it, too. So I am looking to get them one from China." Kit will be flown by Ethiopia Air, business class. "That was the only thing I asked for. I am not trying to be a prima donna, but I really need to conserve my energy as much as possible." What about SIA, which she normally flies with? It did not want to sponsor World Vision Singapore, she said. "I was rather disappointed because I felt they should be more supportive of local projects. "This trip will be hard, but worth it. Because it is something I may get to do only once in my lifetime." IN HER BACKPACK Seven T-shirts, two pairs of jeans, a pair of track pants, thermal underwear, a raincoat, a vest, socks, a pair of hiking boots, a pair of sandals, a hat, disposable underwear, sarong sleeping bag, gifts for the children, eg tracksuits, tins of Khong Guan biscuits, stationery and books. surgical masks, gloves ("I get cuts easily, it's for protection.") IN HER KNAPSACK: tinted sunglasses, money pouch, mini torchlight, Swiss Army knife a pouch with make-up that's "all-in-one" a medicine pouch filled with creams for allergies (she gets hives, sinus, rashes), mosquito repellent, water-purifying tablets, diarrhoea pills, motion sickness pills (one relief site is 440km away by road from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa) a pouch of facial cleansers a travel journal --

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