This week, we went for two really meaningful excursions to the Onesimus Garden and HealthServe. Christian leaders who sincerely believe in serving the community started up both organizations. They spoke to us, and told us a little about what they did, and most importantly, why they are doing what they do.
At the Onesimus Garden, we had the privilege of hearing the testimony of Uncle Charlie, an ex-convict who is now a believer, working the fields of the garden. What I could really sense from his story, was that if all these misfortune that happened to him was what it took to bring him to Christ, it was all worth it.
I really admire Pastor Andrew Choo and his wife Grace, for committing to this farm project, because besides helping ex-convicts, like Uncle Charlie, and the juvenile teenage girls get back on their feet through counseling and therapy, they also offer them jobs to work on the farm, so that they can sustain and support themselves.
The excursion to HealthServe was also a very enriching experience. So far, I have worked with children, youths, and the elderly, but never once did I have the opportunity to work with the migrant workers. A group of three of us was assigned to a Mainland Chinese migrant worker called Song, and we had a chat with him over dinner.
We asked him why he came over to Singapore, asked why he was at HealthServe, asked if he was attending church, and basically all sorts of questions to try to get to know him better. And when it was almost time to get back, we asked Mr Song where he was going after dinner, and he replied in Chinese, that he was going back to the place he slept at. The way he phrased his sentence, implied that he didn’t think of Singapore as a home, but merely as an accommodation, somewhere which provided him a roof over his head.
For me, this brought to light the isolation many migrant workers might feel in our community. It is definitely not easy to be alone in a foreign land, so instead of “tolerating” these migrant workers, we should really learn to “accept” them, embrace them, and invite them into our community.
In conclusion, these two trips enforced the point that community service is an avenue through which we can share God’s love with others, and that mission work can and should also be extended to community service.
Sheryl Chng
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