to distract yall from the mundane life in singapore, work, etc, i'll tell a story.

ok this blog is not even remotely a political satire (and for once, i dun think i'm gonna make fun of anyone). its jus about a short trip i had to m'sia.

basically, one of my friends invited me to join him on this volunteer thing to bring kids from low-income families to port dickson in negri sembilan. its a really nice place -- we were staying at this infant jesus' sisters bungalow (built in 1915) which was just beside the beach. and it had sand so fine that when you wriggled your toes they would just sink into the sand. and there was the softly-sighing waves.

so we brought the kids there to have a short holiday. yes it might jus be malaysia, and i doubt the bungalow was renovated ever since it was built. but to some of the younger kids, its their first trip overseas. and to others, it was difficult even getting out of singapore; they were stateless. to the older kids, it might not be their virgin experience, but they were clearly quite excited about it nevertheless. perhaps they are happy jus to be able to take a break from their not-so-ideal life in singapore.

the children have quite complicated backgrounds. most of them come from broken or low-income families. but they were children all the same. smiles, laughter and the carefree ways that was long ago for me.

when we were there, we played at the beach most of the time. if we were not at the beach then we were playing games in the bungalow. like whacko. like musical chair. like pepsi-cola. like pass-the-pokey. like trust-circle. lame games that most people can't stand. but they enjoyed it. immensely. we had trouble getting them to stop to bathe and eat and stuff like that.

but i guess it was at the beach that we spent the most memorable times. we buried each other in sand (show you guys the photo once i get it from my friend), played in the water, built sandcastles, dug for hum (we actually cooked them with ginger and garlic, and it tasted like heaven). it was fun piggyback-ing them, emptying buckets of water on each other, sun-bathing, making sand-angels (think snow-angels). i'm so sorry i'm not that gd a writer, i can't share with you the time i had there. but trust me, it was simple, very simple. but it felt gd. gd to do nothing and stand in the seabreeze with the kids holding your hand, asking you to piggyback them.

perhaps i should highlight something from the trip. there was this small outlying island near the beach. when the tide was low enough, you could actually wade over to the island. and thats exactly what we did. they were like little jesuses walking over the water, it looked quite spectacular.

and there were some that were quite scared. like one kid i was with quite often during the trip. his name is zul. and his very gd friend (they would join their beds together and cuddle up together at night, its quite adorable really), dayan. they weren't very gd swimmers (but neither was i admittedly) so they were quite apprenhensive about doing the mud walk. so before the walk, they came up to me, von dutch caps and all, looking all funky and cool. then they said, "ah song gor gor (thats what i asked them to call me, like my cousins do; 'yunsong' was a little difficult to rmb for some of them), can hold my hand during the mud walk, i scared the water too high for me." it was jus that moment when you would smile and say, "yes, of course."

i guess i smiled because the insecurities of a child were so simple, something i forgot, and they so kindly reminded. it jus made me miss being a child so much. when everything was so simple, when hugs and kisses were given and received for free, with no price attached. i guess i also smiled because they were normally those who act cool, and its just kinda funny they would reveal their insecurities.

anyway, we all survived the mud walk with no casualties. and when we were there, we caught crabs, even more hum, and or lua (oysters). so we had black pepper crab that night, gee sure tasted good. oh and we managed to crack a coconut as well, without knives ok. so we were like Peking men hitting the coconut against a sharp rock, as one of the volunteers said, "satisfying your Neanderthal survival instincts". haha too bad there wasnt much juice in the coconut.

oh and we had a campfire, which a few of the younger volunteers (me and my 3 rj friends) managed to start (thanks lw for keep-the-fire-going tips, helped a lot). we sang a lot of songs that night: hokey pokey, amazing grace, country road, and the banana song! haha it was fun, although we were like pyromaniacs trying to keep the fire going for as long as possible so the kids had no excuse to stop singing. and we had a nice supper after that (with potong ice cream).

yeah and then we went back to singapore. although i was only with them for a few days, i was inspired. esp by the adult companions. they work ceaselessly with these children, almost 24/7, some really rebellious, some had really bad grades, some had illnesses. but they still stuck with them, patient as ever. yes they get angry with them sometimes, but they love them again after that. its after this that i kinda realised i want to be like them, lead a life which is not all me, myself and i.

and their work is very meaningful, in the deepest sense. these children have their own share of behavorial problems (some may term), but i think they are just angels with broken wings. fix them, and they can soar. some of them are so very needy, some just need the feeling of being loved. i really wanna work with them, i think i'm gonna go back whenever i'm free during term time.

i think its really meaningful. i think its quite different from being in the school council, or being in interact club, which i think is founded with gd intentions but really just lack the human touch although all of it is under the category of service. its abt touching young lives, inspiring them, telling them there's always something more out there that they can work for. and hopefully, they'll be able to realise it. at least i'll know on the day i die, that i have touched another person's life, even if it's just that one single person in the whole wide world, i have led a meaningful life.

--yunsong