Bukit Brown Cemetery - Is there no other alternative?

Read with sadness the planned development of the Bukit Brown Cemetery for housing. The Urban Development Authority has earmarked the 86 hectares sprawling ground for housing development. According to a statement from the URA, " ‘We have to take a balanced long-term approach in land-use planning, and be very selective in what we conserve because of our land scarcity.As our population grows, we have to meet increasing land needs for various uses. Bukit Brown and Bidadari occupy large land areas that will be needed for housing purposes, and are not included in our conservation plans.’

Behind all this mumbo jumbo crap, what is the guy really trying to say? Let me try to interpret. Dead man pays no tax, the ground does not generate any income and is a valuable piece of land which is a gold mine. So forget any idea of preserving the sites. It is just not economically feasible.

And that is the plain truth. To said that there is land scarcity and we have to be balanced in how we make use of the land is utter rubbish. Yes there is land scarcity. But there are also a lot of lands that are being used for very unproductive (in my opinion) purpose and worse, only a small number of the population is making use of it. What am I talking about?

Free the Dolphins

Resort World Sentosa reportedly stated in a letter to the papers that its upcoming park will exceed international standards for animal welfare. It noted that dolphins in the wild 'do not enjoy a totally carefree life, but fight for their survival from predators, fishing boats and pollution'.

It said studies show the captive dolphins can live for more than 40 years, double the average lifespan of dolphins in the wild.

Right. Applying the same logic, human living in our urban jungle also do not enjoy a totally carefree life but has to fight for their survival from fellow humans, germs, road accidents and pollutions. Human in jail enjoy free access to medical care, free meals and time off for exercise daily without worrying about being run over by a car or wondering where their next meal is going to come from. So why not we put everybody in jail? After all, it’s for our own good?

Fact is, RWS is not keeping the dolphins for research or any noble cause. It is purely for the bottom line. Maybe someone should start a FB boycott of RWS until it relents and agree to release the dolphins. But even if it does so, will it be a matter of too little too late seeing that the dolphins have been in captivity for some time and may not be able to adjust back to life in the wild?

But damn, the dolphins do look damn cute. Maybe if dolphins can be breed, then it won't be so bad?

Racing the Sahara

A young friend of mine is going to do something real crazy. She is going to run 250km in 7 days in one of the toughest terrain in the world – the Sahara Desert.! And all this with only 3 years of running experience and without a full marathon to her name!! Oh yeah, she did completed the latest edition of the Sundown marathon finishing in 12 hours 35 mins or thereabout but what 84km compared to 250km?

You can find her almost every weekend morning at MacRitchie Reservoir or East Coast Park with a 7 – 9 kg load on her back doing 20 – 30 km runs. So why is she putting herself all this torture?

She is running to raise funds for a very worthy cause – the World Vision ‘s Vision Fund. The Vision Fund is built on the premise of "teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime". Its purpose is to:

        · provide micro loans of $50 to $500 to families
        · help develop necessary business skills
        · provide material resources to help families develop their own business within their communities and become self-reliant.
The key is to help shift families and communities out of the poverty cycle by providing loans at reasonable interest rates to families who would otherwise have found it difficult or near impossible to obtain financing.

Jane aims to raise US$40,000.00 and as of todate, she is still rather far from the target. She will be holding a fund raising drinking session on 5 September 2010 at LOOF. So do turn up to lend your support or pledge your support here. Every cents count!

For more information on the World Vision’s Vision Fund, click here
For more information on the Loof ‘s Desert Party, click here
For more information on Jane’s click here, here and here. 

Click-4-Klick 1 Jan 2010 3am - 2 Jan 2010 9 am

What a wonderful way to start 2010. Together with many others, we witnessed a jaw breaking sometime heart wrenching scenes as Kelly started on her mission at Bedok Reservoir and completed it 30 hours later at MacRitchie Reservoir.

She battled fatigue, lack of sleep,, blisters all over the foot, a bloated stomach, the heat and then the cold and rain to overcome the odds to clock 150km in 30 hours. Although she did not managed to hit 160km, her self imposed target, nevertheless, it was a super achievement. Myself, I doubt at this current moment, I can last even 3 hours on the road.

The amount pledged to date is still short of the target of $50,000.00. Hopefully, the pledges and donations will continue to come in during the next few days.

However, I am heartened at the support of friends who stayed with her throughout the 30 hours, and those who popped in at BR or MR to show their support. After the rain and towards late evening, when it was clear that the original plan to use 1 pacer per loop was no longer workable, calls were made and many responded turning up in the early morning to pace her.

Here are some selected pictures of the 30 hours journey. More pictures on Facebook.

Holding on to pacers for strength

Blisters

Dazed

Icy foot soak

A quick massage

Pricking a blister

A cool way to beat the heat

An icy neckwrap

Powder bath

In the wee morning

Finish at last!

Click-4-Klick Prelude

lAnother day to go before the end of the year. Gonna spent the start of the year at 2 reservoirs. At around 2 am in Bedok Reservoir and thereafter sometime in the morning at MacRitchie supporting Wonder Woman in her quest to raise funds for the needy.

A rather meaningful way to start the year I suppose. So far, according to the latest update from the blog, nearly $20,000.00 has been raised. Not bad considering that the publicity was limited and started very late. However, this is still far off the target of $50,000.00.

So friends, why not start 2010 on a feel good mood and pledge your support for this worthy event. And if you and your family are free, come down to MacRitchie on Friday to witness this extraordinary lady doing her wee little bit.

Click-4-Klick

Everybody loves a challenge. I guess in my list of acquaintances and friends, none more so than this lady, Kelly. She among all that I know has ran the most marathon and ultra marathons. 38 in all in the past 8 years!

To kick off 2010, she has decided to take on not 1 but 2 challenges.

1) Challenge no 1 - to run non-stop for 30 hours and to cover 160km in the process

2) Challenge no 2 - to raise $50,000.00 for the President's Challenge.

I really have to salute her (actually if I am in camo, I have no choice ~ she is a Major in the SAF) but it is her mental strength that amazes me. Read more about her races adventure here.

Back to the 2 challenges, on 1 January 2010 at 3am she will start running circles at Bedok Reservoir before running from there to MacRitchie Reservoir where she will continue running the 10.5km trail until she hit 30 hours. She hopes supporters and friends will help her to complete the challenge by donating generously to the President's Challenge either with an outright donation or a pledge of an amount ($1 or more) for every kilometre ran.

Unlike most fund raising projects, all donations received for Click-4-Klick will go directly to the President's Challenge. There will be no deductions of fund raising expenses, admin charges etc. So please donate generously.

For more information on the challenge and how you can make a donation or pledge, click here. For more information on the President's Challenge, click here.

Thien Nhan Miracle Baby

This is a very sad blog. Yet at the same time it gives hope and show that out there in this world that is most time filled with war and hatred, there is love and compassion.

If anyone out there reading this feel that they can help a little, please do so. You can

1) donate directly here. In the field marked "Designation" please write: "Thien Nhan" and/or "Miracle Baby"

2) Buy a copy of Chew On It's autographed book or his T-shirt.

A very blessed lady

Sometime I think back to my childhood and think that I have a hard life. While by no means living in poverty, we were not exactly rolling in cash and most time live from day to day. Yet so what if I had a father who turns up only when drunk, so what if I had to go to school with leftover dinner wrapped between 2 slice of bread for lunch; so what if people talks of movies and all I know was the black and white tv I tiptoe outside the neighbour house to watch.

Life in those days was tough but then compared to many others, I think I live the life of a prince. Just today, reading the newspaper report on Oh Siew May, even without reading her book, I could feel the pain, suffering she had gone through and yet the picture of her in the paper was one of a joyous person, so full of cheer that I can scare believe the type of life she have.

Born with cerebral palsy, she walks and speak with difficulty. As if that was not enough, one of her sister became mentally impaired and her father died of cancer. Not enough? Her mother suffered from a chronic skin disease, was bed ridden and had a leg amputated. More - a brother is a compulsive gambler who lost away the parents' savings. Despite these and her own physical conditions, she managed to finish up to N level and held several jobs. Even then, someone up there must have been toying with her as she was retrenched from one job, had a slipped disc and had to quit another. I think even Job didn't have it so badly. But somehow despite the odds, she has managed to climb Mt Kinabalu, had her own push cart business and now wrote a book - Scaling Wall. What have I achieved compared to her?

And despite everything, how did she described herself? 1 word - 'blessed' Why - because she is mobile and not confined to a wheel chair.

I haven't read her book yet but I can feel the hope, the blessing she brings. I will buy it and I hope friends will also support this plucky young lady by buying her book. True to her unselfish character, the proceeds is not just going to her (not that she don't need the money) but she is donating part of it to the Spastic Children Association of Singapore.

Read more about her here:

Hammy's Work
The Memory Keeper