Just before I visited Mercy Wings I was presented with an unexpectedly large farewell ceremony at Saints. It looked like the whole school was there, and there was a printed program which said on the front "In Appreciation of Mr. Henry Chin" complete with mugshot. I was sung to, read poems to and given two speeches of appreciation which was a little overwhelming. I was also presented with a very fancy plaque from the Toronto Alumni association and another small gift from the school itself. Naturally I responded by giving a short acceptance speech. It was a very nice end to my stint at Saints - if a little grander than I had expected! At the end one of the girls who had written a poem for me handed it to me and said she wanted me to keep it, and I was handed another poem from an English volunteer teacher at the school:
Our 'Enry !
Fixed I.T. at Saints, a visit by Mum
Our 'Enry liked partying, bad food and rum!
Also not good for his overall health
Being leff in the jungle to fend for 'imself
David (Louis) Stevenson April 2010
My time has Saints has certainly been very interesting - after being given rather low expectations from people I had spoken to about it, after a little while it appeared that things were not so. Of course the school has its problems mainly rooted in heavy underspending in the education system by the government, but at the same time it has probably the best IT facilities of any government school (if not any school) in the country, and is a lively place full of intelligent people. I hope that things continue to progress, particularly in the IT department.
