HS Planning Retreat - 23-25 Apr 10

Just came back from our HealthServe annual planning retreat at a very nice chalet somewhere slightly off Melaka - El Sanctuary. Really loved the place. It had a nice rustic, back-to-nature feel to it, really helps people to slow down and peace out. It is run by a very hospitable and friendly family of 12 (in-laws and pets included) who really helped us feel at home. They keep the place nice and clean, and serve fabulous home-cooked meals.

Apart from the great place, it was a good time of getting to know my co-workers better and the work that they've been doing in the different components of HS. It was slightly different this year as we had the AEF brothers join us, got to talk more to a few of them and found out that they've been ministering to South Asian workers near dormitories in various parts of Singapore every Wednesday evening. They have few which is in Tamil and one in Telugu. It's really funny, the way they describe it. They said all they need for this is a large ground sheet and a light. If the weather is fine, they lay the sheet on the ground and sit at the open space. If it rains, they'll tie the ground sheet to poles and use it as shelter. Despite the simple set up, there are plenty of encouraging testimonies that the AEF brothers shared. Such exciting work! I resolve to go see it for myself one day.

One incident we would reminisce about in years to come, would be the jungle trek we decided to take one afternoon. With only the 4 dogs as guide, the whole group of us (apart from Vincent, Ruban and Vijay who conveniently disappeared) embarked on the trek. We were challenged by the inconsistent terrain, leaves, branches, cobwebs that blocked our path and hungry mosquitoes that saw us as a buffet spread. The most challenging obstacle however was a raging river (that came all the way up to my knees) where we had to navigate across by using 2 ropes tied to trees on either side. The more muscular used the ropes, while I decided to be brave, kicked off my slippers and waded across. We came out sweaty and triumphant after what couldn't be more than 30mins of walking with just 2 casualties of one bee sting and one with a leech on the foot. Glory Hallelujah! How proud we were. Haha... good times.

Few photos from the retreat

City on our Knees

Just love the words to this Toby Mac song...

Through the fog there is hope in the distance
From cathedrals to third world missions
Love will fall to the earth like a crashing wave
Tonight’s the night
For the sinners and the saints
Two worlds collide in a beautiful display
It’s all love tonight
When we step across the line
We can sail across the sea
To a city with one king
A city on our knees
A city on our knees
Tonight could last forever
We are one choice from together

I just heard 2 lovely messages from 2 different people over the weekend, one was a gathering in appreciation of the staff and volunteers of both HealthServe and Karunya clinic at GWL's (check out the pictures below!), the other at service the next morning. They both touched on the passage about Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. But with 2 different emphasis. I think it's amazing how one story can be seen in such different light yet fit together so beautifully.

What is true religion?It is when we encounter God ourselves, be transformed into His likeness and start to feel and see what he feels and sees for His creation - a love that I still struggle to comprehend. That love then compels us to feed the hungry and thirsty, reach out to the unlovable, touch the untouchable and introduce salvation/hope to the hopeless. -- A tall order, I know, but with each step, with each success or failure, hopefully I'll get closer to how he sees me to be. I've heard these messages before, but I've only just barely begun to catch a glimpse and really understand what it means to live it out.

Celebration@Goh's Lodge
It was a celebration of imperfect people who've decided to lay themselves aside
and learn to live the preaching, I was honoured to be in their company.

Assumption Pathway School - Reflections

(An article I wrote for the upcoming HS newsletter, which will be summarized to fit the 200 word limit... here's the article in all its glory. Haha..)

Many of us in Singapore take education for granted, assuming that our children like us, would go through kindergarten, primary school and up till secondary school at least. What happens when a child’s grades do not qualify him/her to get into a secondary school even after several tries?

Healthserve has recently finished conducting a course of 10 weeks that teaches basic life-skills to students in Assumption Pathway School (APS). APS is vocational school that takes in students that have not gotten placements in the secondary schools and trains them in practical skills such as hair-dressing and pastry making, skills that will hopefully prove useful in providing future employment. The team goes there twice a week, each session employing a group of five or more volunteers led by Fong Lin, an active volunteer and certified life-skills trainer, to a class of approximately thirty students. The volunteer to student ratio is deliberately kept high to complement the curriculum that seeks to instill positive mindsets and values through good role-modelling and mentorship.

Initially I was a little weary about helping out in such a school, getting an impression from the teachers themselves about how the students can be such ruffians, streetwise and merciless to those who are weak or gullible. However, within the first few sessions I found them to be like any other group of young people, forthcoming and lively – as prone to breaking out in laughter as to flaring up in temper over slight teasing. Behind the come-what-may attitude many of them adopt, they are simply young people trying to deal with their circumstances the best way they know how. Issues like broken homes, dysfunctional families, autistic disorders and poverty are just some of the range of problems these youths face on a daily basis. Hearing such dramatic/unimaginable stories being told and brushed off by students as a fact of life can be disconcerting, and a sense of hopelessness sometimes follows as I am faced with the littleness of what I can do to help.

Nonetheless, the response of the students has been very encouraging. Relatively attentive and participative in the weekly lessons, their readiness to engage in relationships with the volunteers and even organized a celebration for all the volunteers at the end of the term. At the celebration, all of them mustered their culinary and hospitality skills to serve us a delicious treat of spaghetti and pastry desserts. Seeing their enthusiasm in setting up the celebration for us helped me see that even through something as small as offering an empathetic ear, those few minutes of listening will go the distance. As a clichéd but true saying goes “people don’t care how much you know, till they know how much you care”.

Looking forward, the principal of the school – Mr Wee Tat Chuen, has agreed to let us continue running this course till the end of the year with this same group of students. Hopefully, the relationships that have been fostered will continue to grow and make a lasting impact.