2025, Year in Review

kwankew
6 days ago
4 min read

Sunrise at Newcomb Hollow Beach, Wellfleet, Cape Cod

Another year has galloped away in the blink of an eye.

Wars, ravages of war, fragile ceasefires, refugees, and internally displaced people continue to plague the world. It is hard for us who are not directly affected by them to imagine what life is like for them. I often worry about children and youths who are growing up and their education is interrupted by these man-made disasters.

This year, I have been unable to volunteer in disaster responses; personal matters do sometimes get in the way. I missed a few volunteering opportunities, including in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa devastated the Caribbean. I am hopeful the response will continue through the early part of 2026.

The civil war in Sudan, a power struggle between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), started on April 13, 2023, and has shown no signs of ending—nearly 13 million people, including 8.6 million displaced within Sudan and 3.8 million refugees and refugee returnees.

On November 4, the RSF captured El Fasher; the 18-month siege has cut off food and aid, resulting in famine conditions. Reports and satellite images of mass killings, gang rapes of women and girls, attacks on hospitals and aid workers, emerged after the fall; the violence is reminiscent of the Darfur genocide of the early 2000s.

Right after Thanksgiving, I joined a team of five doctors to travel to Port Sudan, then to Dongola, in the Northern State of Sudan, to volunteer with MedGlobal, an organization with which I had previously volunteered in Bangladesh for the Rohingya people and in Yemen during the midst of war. We provided medical care primarily in the Al Afad Camp for internally displaced people, whose number had increased from 2,000 to over 10,000 in a couple of weeks since the fall of El Fasher. IDPs traveled by various means, walking, donkeys, trucks, as far as 800 km to the camp. For us, it is reached via a four-hour round-trip journey through numerous military checkpoints from Dongola to Ad Dabbah. We stayed in Dongola because Ad Dabbah is prone to drone attacks. On the day of our departure, a drone attacked the UN Peacekeeping force quarter in Kordofan, south of us, killing six Bangladeshi peacekeepers and injuring several others.

I continue to travel, but I do miss my growing family and also my cat, Kuchi, who is older now.

In February and March, I solo-traveled for 25 days in northern India, visiting the Rajasthan region and the national parks to track the royal Bengal tigers. You could read about them in my blogs.

In April, I finally fulfilled my wish to visit Iceland in a 7-day trip, where I was thrilled to view the Aurora Borealis two nights in a row. The magical landscape and natural phenomena of Iceland do not disappoint. Iceland has Yule lads instead of Santa Claus. If you are bad, you may be left with a potato, not a lump of coal in your shoe, instead of a stocking.

On August 5, I went to the Canadian Rockies for a week of camping, experiencing the Canadian wilderness. The glacier-fed turquoise lakes impressed me.

In August, my sister, Khoon Eng, and I went on a road trip in South Dakota, and we later traveled the lower country, visiting Georgia, North and South Carolina with my brother, Boon, and his wife, Janet.

Wellesley College, my alma mater, celebrated its sesquicentennial. Pauline and Henry Fowle Durant founded the college in 1870. They wanted to prepare women for “… great conflicts, for vast reforms in social life.” In the 150 years since Wellesley College opened its doors to 314 students on September 8, 1875, Wellesley College has educated many women who have made a difference in the world. Here is to another 150 years!

Publication/News:

The Christal Ann Rice Cooper Website featured my memoir The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly. Persimmontree.org published my short essay: Make Way for Ducklings

Into Africa, Out of Academia: A Doctor's Memoir was featured in Snow Flakes in a Blizzard.

The fall issue of Wellesley Magazine celebrated the 150^thanniversary of Wellesley College and published my short 150-word piece.

I signed a contract with McFarland for my fourth book, the final title is Finding Independence in America: An International Student’s Journey from Malaysia to Medical School. Cara designed the cover. Publication is possibly late 2026.

The Belmont community came together and planted a Miyawaki Forest on Oct 4th.

This summer, my whole family enjoyed a 2-week Cape Cod vacation in Wellfleet. It was a relaxing vacation, and it was wonderful to have all the children and grandchildren together. I am truly blessed to have this precious time.

This Christmas, we are scattered around the world. Tim, Ju-Lin, and their twins are in Hong Kong visiting Ju-Lin's parents, Charles and Mel are with Mel’s parents in Taiwan, and Scott and I will spend Christmas with Cara, James, Huck, and Rumi, my youngest granddaughter, born this past September, in Hinesburg, Vermont. Kuchi will tag along. Our School Street home will be very quiet, and for the first time, no Christmas tree. The Christmas lights will blink on the porch, thanks to Charles and Mel, who put them out while I was in Sudan.