What: Door knocking with Bukit Ho Swee Family Service Centre

When: 19th & 20th December 2012

Where: Jalan Bukit Merah

Participant(s): Celest, Jasmine, Jean, Jiamin, Joanne, Lionel, May Yen,
Pei Jun, Phyllis, Sandra, Xinyi and Zhiqing

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Celest, Participant:

This was my first time doing such kind of volunteering work. To me, it was definitely a new experience communicating with the people living in one-room flats. It was somewhat a challenge for me; not because I was talking to strangers but rather, I felt that it took a bit of an effort to engage in a conversation with them. Also, I had to overcome the language barriers by trying to converse in Chinese with those dialect-speaking elderly.

Among all the households I went to, most of them were very welcoming and were willing to talk to us. There was an affable aunty who even opened her door and let us into her home for a chat. At that instance I could sense that she was lonely and yearned for someone to hear her out. Regrettably, Jiamin and I couldn’t carry on the conversation further with her as both of us were not proficient in speaking Hokkien.

But on a brighter note, I too witnessed smiles on some of their faces when I was talking to them. Some of them had a big family while majority of them came from small families. For example, a young Malay lady who lives with her 3 kids and husband looked happy albeit living in a crowded environment and an uncle working as a cleaner who lives with his wife claimed that he was very satisfied with his quality of living.

Despite the fact that most of these residents belong to the lower-income groups and are less privileged, I was heartened to see that they are very contented with their simple lives. Although we did not help them directly in terms of their needs, personally I feel that we had shown our care and concern through the surveys and most importantly provided a listening ear for them. My encounters with these people serve to remind myself to be always happy as well as be gratified with what I have in life. I am really grateful to have this opportunity to volunteer with the Bukit Ho Swee Family Service Centre and RBKD.

Our volunteers in action.

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Pei Jun, Participant:

It was my first time stepping into the Jalan Bukit Merah estate. The moment I walked out of the lift to join the rest, it seemed like I have walked into a TV drama.

After getting prepared to face cold stares and door slamming rejections, it was surprising that some of the residents invited us into their apartment with warm welcomes when we requested to conduct an interview with them. They seem to be happy to have somebody to share their story with. Besides, I have also realized that the elderly are contented with what they have and rarely requested anything from us, even though we offered our help.

This door knocking experience made me realized how much more fortunate I think I already am and I developed a stronger sense of helping out the community in need.

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Community