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Vol 1 Issue: 2
May 2000
MITA Permit No.: 123/12/99 New Logo for Turner-Link In this issue, we are proud to present the new logo of the Turner Support Group which appears on the top left-hand corner of this page. This logo is the winning entry submitted for the logo competition in December last year. The heart symbolises love, warmth and concern for one another in the support group. The letters TSG stands for Turner Support Group. TSG Meeting on 18 Dec 1999 The last meeting held on 18 Dec 1999 was a memorable event, with ice-breaker games and a talk by Dr. Ken Ung on 'Coping with Turner Syndrome'. Prizes were presented to the winners of the logo and essay writing competition during the meeting. In his talk, Dr. Ung proposed interesting strategies to cope with the social and personal problems faced by Turner children. It is important to develop life strategies to deal with what is expected in life. In a nutshell, this involves:
Those who attended the talk would agree that it was both informative and interesting. TSG newsletter on the internet You can now read the Turner-Link online and http://www.med.nus.edu.sg/paed/support_grp/. You may also wish to read more about the TSG in the "Patients' and Parents' Corner", as well as about the Turner Syndrome Society of United States at hyperlinked from our website. In addition, a webpage dedicated to TSG will soon be created. Winning Essay The winning entry of the essay writing competition "My Dreams for the Millennium" is published in this issue of the TSG newsletter. MY DREAMS FOR THE MILLENNIUM The millennium, a point whereby a new era is about to begin. In such a millennium, the world sees, a new glimpse of hope. While others harp on the ideas of dooms day and the blazing asteroid approaching our planet Earth, many would want this century to be the golden age of man, where things would change for the better, the world would be a better place to live in. My dreams for the millennium would be for world peace and order. Whenever we flip through the pages of any newspaper, our eyes rarely miss the red headlines describing wars and bloody battles. Such news only bring tears to the reader as men, women and children suffer under the unforgiving heat of conflicts. In these three categories, children in such war torn areas are the ones who suffer most. These innocent beings are deprived of their childhood and to control their unceasing hunger, most end up digging for scraps of food in rubbish bins or work for ruthless companies that exploit street kids. Rarely do these children have the opportunity to go to school and experience childhood like any other child. Such children only pose as future threats than give a glimmer of hope. Since most are uneducated, they tend to mix about in the streets and get influenced by bad company. This results in many taking up vices such as gambling, stealing and drug trafficking. Such cases can be seen in countries like Indonesia whose situation has been even worsened by the current economic downturn, Thailand and other undeveloped countries. Since, today's youngsters are tomorrow's leaders; countries around the world should take conscious efforts to improve their lives and provide a caring and warm environment to live in. Companies hiring child-workers as young as seven should be fined heavily as they are only exploiting these defenseless beings. Those who also use children as sex slaves should be punished heavily since they are making use of these children's bodies to earn money while they suffer silently in pain. Nuclear weapons are another sizzling topic. Such life threatening machines should be done with as it only further aggravates the current situation and its problems. Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein is one classic example of a walking threat. Despite repeated pleas by the United Nations to let their officials check his weapons, Saddam resisted, standing firmly undeterred by the threat from America's president, Bill Clinton to bomb his nation if he refuses to co-operate. Later, he had to pay the bitter price as this only led to more fiery action as the U.S force in the wee hours of the morning blasted merciless shots onto populated areas of Iraq and at campsites holding soldiers. The result was many innocent victims and retaliation by the Iraq's troops. Such actions could have been avoided. Saddam should think of what would result had a nuclear bomb been dropped onto his land. Perhaps he has a vague idea of what had happened in World War 2, and someone has to remind him of the devastation Japan had undergone during that span of time. Till today, Japanese suffer the wrath of nuclear weapons as abnormal babies are being born to increasing number of people. Such effects do not just stop here, but continue for generations. The result of the bombings on Nagasaki and Hiroshima the state capitals, had caused vast destruction (buildings demolished), genetic mutations (offspring born deformed) and many more effects. These still remain fresh in the minds of the Japanese. Therefore all nations should stand against the use and presence of nuclear bombs. Another aspect to look into would be poverty and the ever-widening gap between the poor and the rich. Here countries like Somalia and Ethiopia are examples of poverty stricken countries. Such people who come from agricultural areas should be taught productive ways on how to take care of their land so that it would not lose its fertility and turn barren. Due to the fact that the rich are getting richer, the poor, poorer, many conflicts arise where the poor steal from the rich and out of jealousy burn down their houses and in extreme cases kill them. Examples of such behaviour were recently exhibited in Indonesia where many rich Chinese merchants were stripped off their savings and home. Most in fear of being killed by the angry poor have fled to neighbouring countries in search of shelter. This only results in and even worse condition as the existing rich people of the country and the investors have gone leaving the economy looking even gloomier. To prevent the gap from widening the wealthier nations should give their hand in helping poor, undeveloped nations. Here, they can invest their money in projects that aim to improve the lives of many. Projects can include building of schools, hospitals, proper roads, houses, sewage systems, providing electricity and clean drinking water. In this way a country would be able to pick itself up again and the number of refugees entering other countries in hope of finding a job will drop. This also prevents them from being discriminated against and seen as 'stealing' away the locals' jobs. Instead of giving a man fish so that he does not starve, one should teach him how to fish and he can feed himself for a lifetime. This is the way wealthier, more sophisticated nations should work with the poor by teaching them the basics like instilling in them the importance of education. On the whole the world will attain world peace if the majority co-operates. Though it looks like an impossible task, everyone has to try to make this world of ours a better place to live in. The essential characteristics one requires would be understanding and mutual respect for one another. Therefore I hope that our world would end its conflicts one day and merge as one. THE END The Next Gathering - the 5th TSG Meeting Time flies. The last time we met was about 6 months ago. We are now in the process of organising our next meeting, which is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, 15 July 2000, at the Hotel Grand Plaza. This will be our first gathering, away from our usual venue at the National University Hospital. We have organised a tea-talk on Social and Table Etiquette, which will be held in the Hotel Grand Plaza. The speaker, Ms. Denyse Tessensohn, is an Image and Speech Consultant who is well known for her fascinating and lively sessions. You will be able to further refine your social skills and learn the appropriate and proper behaviour when attending social events and formal dinners. This is one opportunity which you should not miss. We would like to invite TSG members who are 11 years and above to come and join us for this session. Unfortunately, due to limited places available, only TSG members who reply early are allowed to attend this session of a first-come, first-served basis, and we will not be able to accommodate siblings and parents. If you are interested, please fill up the attached application form and return it to us with the self-addressed envelope enclosed. We will notify you of the results of your application. So hurry, the earlier you reply, the more likely you are to be selected to attend the session. Please contact us if you need any other
information. Tel: 772 4112
Published by: Turner Support Group
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