Christine Lim

“If I can take 30 minutes from my house to a shopping mall in the city, I can take the same amount of time and distance to visit a village. This outreach is just in my neighbourhood.”

“如果我能够花 30 分钟的时间从我家开车到城里的广场,那我就能够花同样的时间的路程去探访一个乡村。更何况这个外展活动的地点就在我家附近。”

 

Christine Lim started volunteering since the pioneering of the Carey Island Community Outreach programme in 2015. She was initially a helper by instructions, she then grew versatile to help out in various roles and needs of the programme, becoming one of the core coordinators that enters into the community every fortnight to teach children English.

Christine Lim 从 2015 年就开始参与加厘岛社区外展活动的先锋工作。一开始,她只是一位需要被指示的志工,现在她已经熟练到能够配合活动里的各个岗位和需要去帮忙,她也成为了这活动的主要核心策划人,每隔两个星期就回到当地去教导儿童学习英语。

 

What got Christine transitioned from a helper by invitation to a helper of personal conviction was when she realised the children are progressing from the lesson plans. With that, she was afraid that if she do not support and help anymore, the initiative could one day then disappeared.

当 Christine 发现这群儿童从自己的教学里逐渐进步时,她就从一个受邀来当志工的人化身为满怀热忱的助推手。也正因为这样,她也担心如果自己停止支持和帮助,这个活动将有一天会消失。

 

She emphasised on the importance of continuity, “We do not just stop at blessing them with food supplies, but things that are non-perishable like education. We choose not to just provide food for one month, we want to feed them for longer years. This is the reason why we go in on a Saturday and be in their environment and to show them that even in this condition, you can learn for your own future.”

她强调了持久性的重要性,”不止是要以食物来祝福他们,我们更是要用那些用不腐烂的东西如教育来造福他们。我们选择不要只为他们提供一个月的食物,我们要的乃是长期来喂饱他们。我们进去的原因乃是要住在他们当中,活在他们的生活环境里,然后让他们看见尽管自己处在如此的环境里,他们仍然能够为自己的未来自强不息。”

 

She also shared that one of the challenge to volunteering is that at first it could be a “let us go in and help”, but when the volunteering slowly demands a routine, it is hard to have it placed as a permanent schedule.

 

“I realised if while I could still make time on a Saturday, then I should continue taking it up, as long as I can.”
她也分享身为志工的其中一个挑战,就是一个人或许一开始是抱着 “让我们进去帮忙” 的态度,可是当他被要求委身于一个长期性的时间表的时候,他就发现自己很把它融入自己的固定时间表里。

“我觉得如果我在星期六仍然可以抽出时间,那我就应该继续帮忙,我尽己所能。”

 


 

Timothy Kwan

“The knowledge that there is this bond with the community really keeps me going. It is a two way thing, I get blessed by the love that they show to me. These kids are really loveable kids. Even though they have a lot of challenges, they are still loving and warm.”

“每当我看见自己和这个社群的联系时,心里就有一股推动力。这是两面的,他们对我的爱心也让我深受祝福。这些孩子真的很可人。尽管他们自己面对各种挑战,他们的内心仍然充满爱心和温暖。“

 

Timothy is a volunteer teacher in Agape Missions School for the past 2 years. He started from being an observer and now, he spends his Saturdays teaching major lessons in this refugee school along with a passionate team.

Timothy 在过去两年里担任了 Agape Missions School (Agape 宣教学校) 的志工教师。他从一个观察者的身份演变成这所难民学校里的主要教科的老师。

 

Just as the students learned from him, he is also drawn to what they are teaching him as they communicate their personal history and ask questions that are usually foreign from the voice of a child.

正如学生们向他学习,他也从这些学生所发问的问题里学历良多,这是因为他们所发问的都不是普遍的问题。

 

“What struck me at most is the way they talk about tragedies. There is this context that we do not know about, that we are oblivious to all of their troubles.”  

“最让我印象深刻的是他们对于灾难悲剧的看法。由于这是一个我们很不熟悉的背景,因此我们也不能够完全理解他们的问题。”

 

Timothy and many of the Agape Missions School volunteers’ desire is to equip and ready the children with whatever challenges they are facing, whether it is to go back to their home country or wherever they will be.

Timothy 和 Agape 宣教学校里众多志工的愿望就是要装备好这群孩子,让他们有能力去面对未来的挑战,无论他们是要回归国土或移居到异乡。

 


 

Nicoleen

“I have always known that there is something important about children. Once, I heard these children asked their parents, ‘How come they can go to school but I cannot.’ Even gifted children among them cannot go to school. There is something more that we must give.”
“我一直以来都觉得儿童们是非常重要的。有一次,我听见这些孩子们问自己的父母,‘为什么他们可以上学,而我就不行呢?’ 尽管是他们当中很有才华的孩子也不能就学。肯定的是,我们一定有可以帮忙的地方。”

Nicoleen had herself involved in the supporting of the Somali Refugee Community for five years since she first volunteered for a Christmas project. She and her team teaches children, teens and adults Art, Mathematics and English.
Nicoleen 从五年前的一次圣诞节活动开始了自己在索马里难民社群的志工路程。她和团队教导这些儿童,少男少女和成人学习艺术,数学和英语。

She believes in bringing school (even simple subjects and lesson plans) to these children as many of them knew knowledge that are in the elementary level, “In a normal school, you would roughly know the level of knowledge of a kid from their age, but you cannot be sure of the level of these kids. A twelve-year-old kid here might only know as much as a common seven-year-old kid.”
她坚信必须要把学校 (尽管是简单的科目和教学) 带给这些孩子们,因为他们仅有小学成都的教育,“在一所普通的学校里,你可以从孩子的年龄推断他们的知识程度,可是对于这群难民儿童,你就不能如此推测。这里的十二岁儿童或许只有七岁孩子的知识程度。”

And she and her team continues to volunteer by the motivation that the children are trying, “I am grateful that the children come because they could choose to do other things, but they come because they want to learn more.”
她和团队看见这群孩子不断学习向上,这也成为了推动了她和团队继续当志工,“看见这些儿童来上课,我很感恩,因为他们大可以选择做其他的事情,然而他们却因为想学习而来上课。”.

 


 

Emily Soon 孙慧贞

“If I close my eyes and imagine what these people are going through, and if we were to forget about these people because our life is comfortable, then our heart would turn cold and hardened that we would not know what is God’s love.”

“如果我闭上眼睛想象一下这些人所经历的,然后如果我们因为自己身处在很舒逸的环境里而把他们忘了,那我们的心就将变得冰冷和坚硬,我们也不能体会什么是神的爱。”

 

Emily Soon faithfully volunteers in Chin Children Education Centre for her fifth year since waves of volunteers were called for the pioneering effort to help in this refugee school.  

自从五年前发起了招募志工以开创这所难民学校,孙慧贞当下参与了钦族儿童教育中心 (Chin Children Education Centre) 的志工工作。

 

“I believe that all of us, if we are blessed, then we are blessed to be a blessing. And all of us are actually really blessed, we have families and we are not in poverty, we are in a good position.”

“我相信我们每个人,如果自己蒙了福,那就要造福他人。我们每个人其实都很蒙福,因为我们都有家人,也不是处在极度贫穷的处境里,我们都是活在不错的环境里的。”

One of the greatest things she has received in exchange of investing her time and effort

is the correcting of mindset, “Knowing that the children who have so little can be joyful in life teaches me to be joyful in my circumstances, so no matter how hard my life is, it cannot be as hard as others.”

当她热心地付出自己的时间和努力时,她自己更是受益良多,其中最大的是自己的思想受纠正,“当我看见这些儿童,他们拥有的很少,可是却很快乐;这教导我应该时时喜乐,无论自己的生活有多艰难,它不可能跟这些孩子的生活相同并论。”

 

She pointed that all of us have needs, and the building of relationships through this community work introduces something better than life itself, “We live for more than just needs, there is more to life than just breathing.”

她指出说我们每人都有基本的需求,我们透过这个社区工作建立了各个关系,而这些关系让我们看见一些比生命本身更好的事物,“我们活着不止是为了基本需求,有些东西远比呼吸本身更为有意义。”

 

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