What: weareone: our fifth chapter Spring Cleaning

When: End Sept/Early Oct

Where: Jalan Bukit Merah

Participants: Bi Hui, Jiamin, Joanne Chong, Madeline, May Yen, Ming, Pei Jun, Rui En, Xinyi and Yanling

–

May Yen, Participant:

I consider myself privileged to be able take part in the weareone Spring Cleaning. This experience left me reflecting on my own blessedness and determination to do more whenever possible.

I was tasked to pack and clean up the kitchen area so that we could give the kitchen a fresh coat. Cockroaches came crawling/ flying out from all directions when we were cleaning the kitchen. That was the greatest obstacle that we faced. Most of us were afraid of these little insects, so cans of Baygon spray were always by our side so that we could spray at them instantaneously before they could come close to us! This was the first time I have seen so many roaches (in the hundreds) ranging from baby to adult – one very apt Chinese phrase to describe this is 祖宗三代.

Before…

… and After!

It took us 5 full days to “transform” this little unit into a warm and inviting home. What warmed my heart were the commitment and the enduring spirit that Rangels have shown during the spring cleaning. All of them put in 101% effort in all areas, even in the littlest tasks such as clearing the rubbish. No one uttered a word of complaint; in fact, everyone was cleaning the house with a joyous spirit.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Rui En join us in this spring cleaning activity. She dirtied her hands by packing and cleaning the house, and she also witnessed the flying insects and braved it together with us even though that’s her greatest fear! One incident I remembered vividly was when she actually climbed up the kitchen cabinet and joined me to scrub the kitchen grill on the last night of our work. She also chatted with us while working, and also with the family members as well as their neighbours. She enjoyed herself thoroughly and served humbly.

One thing that I experienced is that serving and giving derives much more joy than receiving.

–

Madeline, Participant:

I’m very grateful to have been part of this year’s weareone spring cleaning project. I joined the team for the first 2 weeks of spring cleaning, where we cleaned out the flat in the first week and scrubbed the flat the next week.

I still remember the first time I stepped into the flat – I simply could not comprehend how such a large family could all fit into, much less live in such a small and cluttered space. At that moment, the idea of cleaning out the entire flat seemed so daunting, but thankfully once we started the packing and sorting, the mountain of clothes and bags slowly started to disappear.

On one of the days, a few of us were tasked to clear out the kitchen area, which was full of opened food items and cockroaches ranging from egg to monstrosity. We were all quite afraid of picking up the cockroach-infested items and ended up spraying the can of (useless) Baygon most of the time, and so things were progressing pretty slowly. Everything changed when May Yen came and was able to speak in Malay to the owner of the flat who allowed us to throw everything away, which speeded up the process quite considerably. Having never seen so many cockroaches in my life before, this was quite an experience for me.

It was very heartening to see how welcoming the family was – the lady owner trusted us so much with her belongings even though I could barely communicate a word with her, and the kids looked forward to our presence and were so full of energy while they helped us with the cleaning.

It was also quite a surprise to see Rui En join us on several occasions. It’s not every day that you get to see your idol lug trash bags across the corridor or bend down next to you to sort food packages, and then appear on your TV screen the very next day. Seeing her sincerity in giving back to the society and helping out so earnestly really made me respect her even more.

Even though I wasn’t around towards the end of the project, seeing the photos of the happy family in their clean & newly-painted flat really made my day. It would take a lot of effort on the family’s part to prevent things from reverting back to their original state, but I’m glad that we did whatever we could, and were able to make a difference to this family.

–

Community, weareone