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"Thinking Aloud"
The challenges I am facing as a start-up is daunting. It’s fine when you get hit by one set back, but when they come in a slew, that’s another matter. My presumptions are being tested in the world as it is and not as what I think it is. This is not reality TV. This is REAL life.
The biggest challenge is cash flow. How do I make digital storytelling (DS) sustainable for the long haul. I want to use DS for social good. I know it can. I see DS becoming a great tree from which many will find shade, shelter, a place to nest, and food to eat.
I can allow obstacles to paralyse me or I can rise up to the challenge. We are made of greater stuff than we often realise. Attitude is what makes the difference.
What do I do when the road ahead has never been trodden? There are no manuals no crystal balls to tell me what to do. I was a missionary from 1988-2010. I did not have a salary like working people do. I have stories — the kind you read in story books but cannot imagine will happen to you — stories of how he provided for me. God has never failed to look after me and those I love.
Isaiah the prophet said:
Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear what I say.
When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
When he has leveled the surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,
barley in its plot,
and spelt in its field?
His God instructs him
and teaches him the right way.
Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,
and cumin with a stick.
grain must be ground to make bread;
so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it,
but one does not use horses to grind grain.
All this also comes from the LORD Almighty,
whose plan is wonderful,
whose wisdom is magnificent.
God knows my need. He also knows what it takes to make a harvest. He gave the farmer understanding of each type of seed. He taught the farmer timing, technology, and treatment.
He will teach me how to make digital storytelling thrive.
* Isaiah 28:23-27
My parents never gave me a Chinese name. My grandfather who was influenced by the British somehow didn’t think it was necessary. My brother Brian, however, was given one because Mum said he was a boy – and it won’t do for boys to have no Chinese name because they are supposed to carry on the family lineage. So no Chinese names had my sister and I. 
I asked a friend to create a Chinese name for me some years ago. She wrote 許 for KOH and gave me 安 宁 based on the sound of my name Angeline.
Angeline or Angel for short of course means “Messenger of God” or “Bringer of Good News.” It was given me by my grandfather although I am not sure if he was a believer.
In Japanese calligraphy it is written 
(in katakana) or 
(in hirakana) and 
(in kanji). (Katakana is the standard way names are translated to Japanese and is how names appear in Japanese dictionaries)
KOH 許 OR 许 (shortened form) is my family name.
許 when combined with different words carry different meaning. For instance, 许愿 means wish and 应许, promise. 许… 很多 or 许多 means many. It also means praise, perhaps, promise, allow.
The rest of my name which my friend gave to me… 平安 means peace, or 宁静 quietness. And 宁 tranquil.
So my name 安宁 translates peaceful, quiet, mostly serene, even if that’s really far from where I am but where I want to be.
Today I discovered that 許 in Japanese is read KYO or YURUZU and means forgiveness.
Although someone else chose my names for me, it was my Father in heaven who gave me my names. John 10:2 says “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ” I love my name and pray that I will live up to what Father created me for.
P.S. In case you are impressed with my level of Mandarin… the meanings were all typed out and explained to me by my friends.
I have a regular listening diet of TED talks. Speakers are given 3-18 minutes to talk on any topic of their passion or expertise. It’s their 18-minute opportunity to change the world.
Tim Longhurst blogged about the TED commandments every speaker needs to know. No wonder the talks are so captivating.
I decided to compile a list of my favourite talks. They are not in any order of rating. I’ll add on the list as the days go by.
- Here’s a short one to start with: Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days. Hmm I’m thinking now what I should do for a 30-day challenge…
- Emiliano Salinas: A civil response to violence. The problem is not the things we feel victims of. The problem is that we play the role of victims. We need to open our eyes and see that we are not victims.
- My mother often talks about how as a child the toys she played with were ones they made out of scrap materials they could find. I did a lot of that myself myself growing up. Watch this delightful clip how Arvind Gupta is Turning trash into toys for learning.
- See Yemen through My Eyes — Nadia Al-Sakkaf, editor of the Yemen Times shares her vision and is bringing about change in a politically hostile environment where women are not embraced or welcomed in a man’s world. A role she has taken on not without great sacrifice, including taking over editor father when he was killed.
I’ve been observing the kind of stuff that gets posted on FaceBook or other social media. It made me think a lot about how easy it is for anyone to become a publisher. I like how it empowers us to have a voice.
Along with freedom comes responsibility. We need to be aware of the power that we have in our hands and to be able to tell if a public platform is the place to air our thoughts. A good principle for me is:
…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
I like to replace the word think with publish.
Certainly, there is a place and need for social issues to be raised to help public become aware of them in order for change to take place. What I am disturbed about, however, is the way personal issues are vented out on FaceBook’s “What’s on your mind?” or other social media.
If we have a personal issue with someone that needs resolving, FaceBook or blogs aren’t the best platforms for expressing our angst or anger. When private or domestic issues become public, we make it hard or even impossible for the issues to be resolved or for healing and reconciliation to happen.
The repercussion on ourselves too isn’t going to help us. What if a potential employer or client reads my post? What would a total stranger conclude from the ONE statement I made? How will they view ME or the person I’m posting about? Is that what I want to be remembered for?
As much as I am able, I try to talk to the person privately. Hitting the “enter” button is not an option for me in such matters. I like to work at finding a win-win solution. It take a lot more courage to talk to the person face-to-face. I’m grateful that the efforts I’ve put in to clarify things privately has reaped rewards beyond measure. Now that’s something to publish about!
…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—publish about such things.
I went to the service centre to get my broken speakers repaired this afternoon. I had barely walked a few steps outside the building after I was done when there came a heavy downpour. I ran across the road desperate to find shelter.
I started to walk under the sheltered five-foot way hoping the rain would stop long enough for me to run across the road to the bus stop. All of a sudden I saw a rundown building. It was the clinic of the doctor who delivered me some 50 years ago. It was an uncanny. I walked closer to the faded glass panel to look inside the vacant clinic. I had told myself often that I wanted to go back to the clinic again to see if I could find my doctor and to take photos of the old place. Of course I never did.
Until today.
This past week, I received a phone call from a woman who identified herself as an old classmate from Baharruddin Vocational Institute (BVI). The school is now Temasek Polytechnic. Emily said that our cohort had reconnected at the funeral service of a classmate of ours who had passed away of cancer. It was a wake up call for many.
I started receiving emails from a few of them.
I don’t have many memories of my time in BVI. Maybe I really didn’t want to remember. Only 40 had been selected of the 400 (?) applications for the Graphic Design course. For someone who was drifting for most of my secondary school days, BVI came as a shock to my system. The long hours, the pressure, the homework. I never coped. After six months, my principal called me in one day and suggested that I leave on my own accord. It would look better on my record than if they ask me to leave.
That was a catastrophic for me.
How interesting that my visitors have come back to me at this time in my life. I am no longer who I was 30 years ago. I walk with my head held high and a song in my heart.
God is in the business of redeeming lives. He has redeemed mine.
