There is a witty saying which goes: A true neighbour is someone you can visit in your slippers.

Well, in our affluent but somewhat alienating society, not too many people have neighbours to visit in the first place. But in other parts of the world, people might not even have slippers to put on when they go anywhere at all.

The CUHK students who volunteered their services in different remote areas of China last summer must have experienced something like that. Imagine their culture shock.

CUHK has always encouraged its students to go out and lend a helping hand. In recent years, such effort has become more organized and better coordinated. The I‧CARE NGO Internship Programme in Greater China is a good example. The feature story of this issue will introduce this initiative and look at some of the participants of this programme who did internship work with NGOs on the mainland. Such work ranges from arranging small loans to farmers in Inner Mongolia, cultural preservation in Guizhou’s minority villages, to caring for ex-leprosy patients at a Guangdong rehabilitation centre.

Mr. Lee Chi-wo Daniel is a native of CUHK who has returned after an illustrious career in professional athletics. His new role is that of a teacher to help groom the next generation of CUHK athletes. In ‘Thus Spake…’, he will tell us how he feels at the starting line of another race which would take no less of his stamina, resilience and agility.