"Humanitarian spirit is to respect lives and put oneself in the places of the others."

Awake the Public Respect for Life

Mr Pasu Ng Kwai-lun was an arts student in university. After graduation, Mr Ng worked in the funeral industry to provide body restoration and embalming services. "Death is a taboo to many people. I believe we have to use to face it before understanding the meaning of death." A few years later, Mr Ng joined the dissection lab of the Faculty of Medicine in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He realized that most of the bodies used for anatomy teaching were unclaimed. "No one claims their remains, but it doesn't mean there is no need to respect them." Mr Ng thought that these remains should not be seen as teaching materials only, so he came up with the idea of developing the "Silent Teacher Body Donation Programme" . After launching and promoting the scheme, the Faculty of Medicine has sufficient body donation and does not need to use unclaimed bodies anymore. Mr Ng also advocates the public to respect life, "The body was a precious life. Student can take a moment of silence before dissecting, and send a letter of thanks to the donor's family. The university holds an annual ashes scattering ceremony." These rites can show gratitude to the "silent teachers" and their families and cultivate students' respect for life

Extend Service to Communities

Mr Ng provides support to families with members who died of unnatural death, however, no matter how well the body is restored, the dead cannot be brought back to life. He and his wife have visited many elderly people living alone and have noticed the importance of afterlife planning. Many elderly people worry that no one will arrange for their funerals, or their spouse will live alone after they died. "I once met a family. The parents were nearly 90 years old. When their daughter died in her fifties, they have to arrange for their daughter's funeral by themselves. The husband passed away this year in the early stage of the pandemic, then I paid regular visits to his wife and provided necessary supports, including medical supplies, emotional support, care home arrangement and afterlife planning. In September, she joined her husband and became a silent teacher." Everyone has to face death at the end. We should try to understand it and learn to respect everyone's life.