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You find no problem with the list ? In that case, you must be at least 10 years younger than me.

I shall leave aside the questions why on earth they wished to measure body fat in those earthquake survivors, why they preferred UV light rather than antiseptic solution for hand washing, what "螢火粉" is, and the problem of a short notice (the faculty knew of the list 5 days before the deadline, including a weekend).

The real problem is: Why can't our university students, who are about to be practicing doctors in a few years, solve a problem of measuring tapes and spare batteries ?

To be fair to them, there are a few possibilities:

1. It is a gesture that they do not really want to go, and this "voluntary work" is merely a kind of window dressing of some senior officials.
2. Our students are actually highly skilled bureaucratic administrators; the sole objective of all their activities is to get the rules and procedures right - result is not in their consideration.

Maybe I've read too much Humphrey Appleby.

PS. When I told this story to LS, she reminded me that students were actually soliciting donations for this Sichuan work some weeks ago.

She was right - I donated HK$1000 myself.