http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/features/npfo28.html Singapore singer Kit Chan returned last week after a World Vision charity trip to Ethiopia. Here, she tells you about the experience ... which included fainting in a gift shop! Aug 23, 2000 Photo/MY YOUNG FRIENDS: Kit spending some time with the children in Tiya. DEPARTING SINGAPORE ON the highway to the airport, our emotions were running high. We caught the National Day fireworks display and suddenly, we felt very patriotic, like we were going on a mission for Singapore. AUG 10: REACHING ETHIOPIA Just before the plane landed in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia's capital), I acted a bit kiasu. I looked out of the windows to see the river drainage patterns on the land. When we met our guides, they told us it used to be drier. The weather was cool. The guide said it was winter. FIRST DAY FLUBS BUNGLE NO. 1: I was buying an Africa national costume at a hotel gift shop when I suddenly felt giddy. Then I fainted. I think fatigue and alcohol did it. The last time I blacked out like that was in Hongkong in 1998 and it was because I was tired and I had red wine with dinner. This time, I had a few sips of their local wine - honey and rice wine. Anyway, I have the costume. I asked who paid for it. Vivian, my colleague, said: "You, lah. We took the money from your wallet." BUNGLE No. 2: I went to bed after the fainting spell and was woken up by Vivian, who said it was 7 am and time to leave for work. I told her to wake the camera crew. Soon, the guys came pounding at our door. They said: "What's the fuss? It's only 3 am!" It is still a mystery why Vivian's watch said 7 am because she had adjusted the time difference (five hours) and had the right time for everything else that day. AUG 11: DAMOTA We drove 440 km to Damota to visit the World Vision relief sites. Water is not as scarce as we think. The River Nile runs through the area. In the poorer parts, they don't have catchment areas to store the water and process it. Once they tap the source, they actually have very good mineral water. But in some places, they drink out of little ponds where the water is muddy and filled with maggots. BASIC NEEDS: The staple food in Ethiopia is enjera, which looks like popiah and is made of malt and sour dough. It's too sour for my liking. The people there cooked rice specially for us. We had potatoes, lentils, beans and sometimes meat and eggs. Sometimes, we dined in restaurants. But it was nothing like what we know it to be. Going to the toilet was no fun. The loo in the restaurant had flies and other things in the toilet bowl you don't want to know. That's why the men do it right there in the open - with their backs to us, of course. AUG 13: TIYA Gerbo, the child I sponsored is here. The money you donate doesn't go directly to the child. Part of it goes into a money pool that helps build schools and amenities for the community. It's more efficient. When I saw Gerbo, he wasn't as tall as I imagined even though he is 13. Where he lives is like a wilderness, so I can understand why he is a little undernourished. I bought him pants that were too big. I also picked up a map to show him where I was from, but it was too difficult for him to understand. Gerbo cannot read or write but he will be sent to school soon because of the money I give - a year's donation of $540. I will continue to sponsor him yearly until he grows up. The other children were lovely. They liked to laugh a lot, take pictures and run after us. We communicated by drawing and through an interpreter. The best way is to touch them. Language is not that important. They can sense it if you care for them. I also met this other boy Berhane, whose father is blind and mother is half-blind. His father earns a maximum of $3 a month, sometimes a few cents. When we asked what Berhane means, the father said: "My Light". I was quite moved. On the way back, I wrote a poem about him. AUG 17: BACK HOME Nothing happened when I was in Ethiopia but when I came back home I got food poisoning after eating chicken rice. Of course I got teased. "You are from Africa, you better go back there," they said. Yes, I would want to go back. It could be a land of peaches and avocados THE trip was very inspiring and educational and I am so glad I was a geography student! Did you know that the land in Ethiopia is actually very suitable for growing expensive cash crops, such as peaches and avocados? It is not all dark and hopeless, which is usually what we associate with images from Ethiopia. We are so fortunate as Singaporeans. I hope we do not forget to be charitable towards our fellow men who live in conditions we cannot even begin to imagine. For child sponsorship, call World Vision's Hotline on 221-1040. --

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