We all love our families and our friends. We do what is best for them and hope to see them grow. We share our joys with them, comfort them when they are sad and assist them whenever they are in need. Transpose this up one level. That is what community work is all about.
Community work has always been advocated by the government. Youths, working adults and even the man on the street are all encouraged to do their bit for the very community they live in. No matter how tiny and insignificant the contribution may seem, it shows the individual’s desire to play his part within the community and his contribution certainly goes a long way in helping the community.
Since the beginning of time, Man has learnt to live together in communities. In the beginning, it was just a tribe. Responsibilities were relatively simple. The men would hunt and gather food from the wilderness while the women would stay at home to do the household chores and look after the children. Slowly, more complex communities evolved. There was a social hierarchy, consisting of the dominant monarch, the nobles and aristocrats, the scholars and officials, and the lowly commoners and peasants. Gradually, as people became more advanced, cities saw a government. The people were divided into the upper class, the middle class and the lower class.
However, even though the structure of these communities changed over time, there was one thing they had in common. It was the purpose of the community. Communities constantly sought progress and advancement. In order to do this, everyone had to play their part in the community. They had to contribute.
What would happen if today, there were no longer charitable organizations to care for the needy, no more homes for the aged, and no more orphanages for abandoned children? I cannot bear to imagine.
I am not supporting altruism. Rather, I am advocating public-spiritedness. It does not take a lot for you to do your part in the community. Borrowing a quote from the movie “Evan Almighty”, God tells Evan Baxter to change the world by doing “one act of random kindness at a time”. Likewise, you can do the same too. A simple gesture like holding the door for somebody else or offering assistance to the elderly is sufficient. Slowly, each small act of kindness cultivates a sense of selflessness in you and eventually, community work will come naturally.
When we engage in community work, we bring joy to others. The elderly, the disabled, the orphaned, the needy are all just examples of groups of people we can offer our services to. From the article itself, we see how a simple gesture of acceptance “awoke something in the drifting, restless teenager”. Imagine how much impact community work can make.
Just like a jigsaw puzzle, each individual in a community is crucial for it to function properly. One missing piece would render the puzzle incomplete. Let’s not be that missing piece.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Article for Term 3
http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_250147.html
June 21, 2008
Once a thug, he's now 'son' to the elderly
Chance encounter at senior citizens' corner in his teens leads to life of volunteering
By April Chong
AT 15, Tommy Yu was a neighbourhood thug.
He turned up one evening at a senior citizens' corner in Redhill where he lived, intending to pick a fight over the loud music the old folk were enjoying.
Instead, the boy, who had picked up smoking and dropped out of school at 11, ended up befriending the old folk.
Today, nearly 30 years down the road, he is still looking out for them. He runs a charity which looks after their welfare, and even picks up the tab for the funerals of those without family.
Of his first encounter with the old folk, MrYu, now 43, said: 'I was there to look for trouble.'
But an elderly man welcomed him and invited him to take a seat among his group of friends.
That simple gesture of acceptance awoke something in the drifting, restless teenager.
When a pair of youths turned up shortly after that, also bent on picking a fight over the noise, Mr Yu said he found himself standing up to them and saying: 'If you want to find trouble, look for me instead. How can you bully the elderly?'
In the following days, he became a frequent visitor of his new friends and stopped loitering in the neighbourhood coffee shops.
Laughing, he said: 'I did not know what volunteering was about.'
But he rallied his friends to 'volunteer' at the senior citizens' corner anyway. They talked to the old folk and kept trouble-makers away.
From a poor family himself, the young man did not earn much, only about $200 a month from odd jobs.
But he forked out what he could, especially for funerals for old folk with no family.
'Everyone looked down on me. But there, I felt I could actually do something,' he said.
In 1986, at 21, he named his group Love And Unity.
Trips to orphanages and senior citizens' homes to spruce up the premises and take them gifts of food burnt a hole in their pockets.
'We could not do much because we had no money. Spending $300 on each visit set us back by three months,' he said.
MrYu registered the group as a society only in 2004.
It has 30 active volunteers who organise festival celebrations and outings for old folk.
His volunteer work has since expanded to other neighbourhoods in Redhill and Jalan Bukit Ho Swee.
Today, he spends no less than three evenings a week, making visits in his beat-up pickup to look in on the almost 200 old folk there.
If any of them fails to turn up at the void deck, he goes to their home to look them up.
He now handles about 22 funerals a year for them, as well as for unclaimed bodies from homes and hospitals.
He does not just pay for these last rites. He also plays the role of a 'son' and performs 'filial duties' during the annual Qing Ming festival.
At last count, MrYu has more than 80 'mums' and 'dads' to whom he pays his respects every year.
He now runs a modest Chinese flag-printing company and has a family with three children to look after, but he still mans a 24-hour hotline for old folk under the Love And Unity Volunteers Establishment.
He cannot afford to hire someone to do this, he said. 'Whatever donations I get now are barely enough for the funeral arrangements.'
But he will not stop his volunteer work any time soon.
'I will not stop until the day I die myself. I want to do what I can while I can,' he said.
June 21, 2008
Once a thug, he's now 'son' to the elderly
Chance encounter at senior citizens' corner in his teens leads to life of volunteering
By April Chong
AT 15, Tommy Yu was a neighbourhood thug.
He turned up one evening at a senior citizens' corner in Redhill where he lived, intending to pick a fight over the loud music the old folk were enjoying.
Instead, the boy, who had picked up smoking and dropped out of school at 11, ended up befriending the old folk.
Today, nearly 30 years down the road, he is still looking out for them. He runs a charity which looks after their welfare, and even picks up the tab for the funerals of those without family.
Of his first encounter with the old folk, MrYu, now 43, said: 'I was there to look for trouble.'
But an elderly man welcomed him and invited him to take a seat among his group of friends.
That simple gesture of acceptance awoke something in the drifting, restless teenager.
When a pair of youths turned up shortly after that, also bent on picking a fight over the noise, Mr Yu said he found himself standing up to them and saying: 'If you want to find trouble, look for me instead. How can you bully the elderly?'
In the following days, he became a frequent visitor of his new friends and stopped loitering in the neighbourhood coffee shops.
Laughing, he said: 'I did not know what volunteering was about.'
But he rallied his friends to 'volunteer' at the senior citizens' corner anyway. They talked to the old folk and kept trouble-makers away.
From a poor family himself, the young man did not earn much, only about $200 a month from odd jobs.
But he forked out what he could, especially for funerals for old folk with no family.
'Everyone looked down on me. But there, I felt I could actually do something,' he said.
In 1986, at 21, he named his group Love And Unity.
Trips to orphanages and senior citizens' homes to spruce up the premises and take them gifts of food burnt a hole in their pockets.
'We could not do much because we had no money. Spending $300 on each visit set us back by three months,' he said.
MrYu registered the group as a society only in 2004.
It has 30 active volunteers who organise festival celebrations and outings for old folk.
His volunteer work has since expanded to other neighbourhoods in Redhill and Jalan Bukit Ho Swee.
Today, he spends no less than three evenings a week, making visits in his beat-up pickup to look in on the almost 200 old folk there.
If any of them fails to turn up at the void deck, he goes to their home to look them up.
He now handles about 22 funerals a year for them, as well as for unclaimed bodies from homes and hospitals.
He does not just pay for these last rites. He also plays the role of a 'son' and performs 'filial duties' during the annual Qing Ming festival.
At last count, MrYu has more than 80 'mums' and 'dads' to whom he pays his respects every year.
He now runs a modest Chinese flag-printing company and has a family with three children to look after, but he still mans a 24-hour hotline for old folk under the Love And Unity Volunteers Establishment.
He cannot afford to hire someone to do this, he said. 'Whatever donations I get now are barely enough for the funeral arrangements.'
But he will not stop his volunteer work any time soon.
'I will not stop until the day I die myself. I want to do what I can while I can,' he said.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)