The centre pages     THE CHINA MAIL, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1969

Kam Ching has varied activities

A 50-mile expedition through rugged country and competency in sports and safety techniques¡K

These qualities make a person physically fit for a great many outdoor activities.

And they are the basic requirements for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme's Gold Award and part of the pre-requisites of being a full member of the Kam Ching Association.

"Kam Ching" is the Chinese abbreviation for the holder of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme's Gold Award. And it can also be interpreted as "genuinely innocent".

The Kam Ching Association, which is exclusively for boys, currently has 45 full members and about 200 associate members who have silver awards of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. They include secondary school pupils, workers, post-secondary students and civil servants.

Success

Members of the association are good sportsmen and experienced hikers and they use their physical fitness and knowledge to good effect. About once a fortnight, they organise free public outings in which an average of 100 people take part. Their most successful project which was held a few times was overnight hiking. Participants for the latest overnight hike was more than 40. And the association aims at spreading the idea among industrial workers.

The association assists and participates in many activities organised by other bodies. Last month, they provided instructions and camp wardens for the Western City District Office's Endurance Project and have won the overall championship in the CDO's Banner of Challenge Project.

The boys also helped distribute used clothing in remote New Territories villages, accessible only on foot.

Tuition

Since last year, the association has started tuition courses for secondary and primary pupils living near its premises in Portland Street, Mongkok. At present, there are about 30 pupils taking these courses in the association's match-box sized office.

Working on an individual basis, boys of the association have helped rehabilitate former inmates of corrective centres. They built up personal contacts with a few ex-inmates while they were taking part in Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. Currently, a few former inmates are mixing with them and they have contact with more than 30 others.

Friends

"The Kam Ching Association provides good leadership training for us" said member Chan Kar-kui, who entered the Hong Kong Technical College this month.

He said: "We had to lead people who were older than us or who were better educated than us. We could make friends with other people easily and our friendship grew rapidly during outdoor activities, because we needed to help each other."