GEORGE NEWS - Megan Harris, a former York High pupil and a qualified occupational therapist, has had some interesting experien-ces in the East as a volunteer for Youth With A Mission (YWAM), a non-profit Christian missions organisation.

She joined the organisation's staff base of 40 volunteers in Hong Kong in June 2012 after having done various programmes with them since the previous year. During a brief visit to her family in George recently, she told the George Herald about this adventure.
"I have met people from all over the world and it has been a good cross-cultural experience. Young people from Australia, Fiji and Europe, among others, are part of YWAM."

After completing her studies, Harris did her community year at the Mosveld Hospital in Ingwavuma, Northern Kwazulu-Natal. "I stayed on at the hospital for another six months, but when I heard of YWAM through a friend, I wanted to be part of it."

It has been a huge adventure. In addition to experiencing bustling Hong Kong, she has also travelled to India, Thailand and Cambodia where they reach out with dance, drama and mime. She says she has had to adapt to a very hot and humid climate. "We did not
really have much of a winter this year. The humidity is between 95 per cent and 100 per cent and it rains a lot!"

The language barrier is quite a challenge, says Harris who has learnt some basic mandarin. "Cantonese is a lot more challenging and I can say only a few short phrases and words."

Harris has found that the food is delicious. "At our base we normally do a mix between Western and Asian food, however, we always eat rice once or twice a day. In India, people eat with their hands, which can take some getting used to, but I love it actually. I've eaten a lot of strange-looking things, but it is part of the experience and teaches one so much about other people's cultures. Hong Kong is one of the most expensive cities, but shopping in the markets is quite economical."

For entertainment they play sports at the base, have each other over for dinner or go out for a meal or to the movies. "Some volunteers enjoy hiking and cycling and we visit beaches or go bowling now and then."

Reaching out to people on the street was very daunting at first, says Harris. But she has been surprised at how friendly the people are. "We have mi-nistries reaching out to drug addicts and women in prostitution during the even-ings. We go in groups and also meet with the bar owners at the clubs and try to get permission to speak to people who hang out there."
Megan is also on the mission's communication team.

Joining staff at the base is a two year commitment and in June this year she will have completed her first year.

Megan has to raise sponsorship to enable her to remain on the team for the remainder of her committed period. People who wish to contact her can send an e-mail to meg2009@live.co.za.


Megan praying for youngsters.

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