The wheelchair reached the edge of the water. All around, the sound of happy laughter rang in the air as the more mobile children splashed around in the water, having fun with the volunteers. Teng Quan looked at the scene before him silently.
Eric asked “Do you want to go in?”
“Can I?” Teng Quan asked earnestly
“Sure!”
And the next moment, Eric & I lifted Teng Quan’s wheelchair and placed it deep enough for him to feel the sea water gently lapping around his ankles & legs.
Teng Quan looked up and his eyes shone brightly…
We call this a “MasterCard moment”- cos it is priceless. The way Teng Quan’s eyes lit up as he got to share in the same outdoor experience as his other peers, never mind that he was wheelchair bound.
And it is such “MasterCard moments” that kept me active as a Happy Friend’s Club (HFC) volunteer for the last 15 years.
The mission of Happy Friend’s Club is to allow physically challenged children to have a chance to experience the outdoors just like their peers in school. While most schools tend to avoid allowing them to participate in outdoor camps & events to ensure their safety, we at HFC believe that they deserve just as much right to experience the outdoor and sports.
Hence, during every major school holidays, we organized camps with modified sports and outdoor activities so that all who are physically challenged can take part.
Personally, I volunteered as I wanted to contribute back to society. Yet over the years, I realized that these children were helping me more than I am helping them. They have shown me the true spirit of perseverance, hard work and optimism in the face of their physical challenges. They have taught me how to appreciate the simple joys of life and having the courage to face adversity with a smile.
I still recall one camp in which we had a game where the children needed to run a thread through several needle heads on a board. One of the participants had very limited mobility of the hands. Yet, despite several failed attempts to go through even the first needle head, she did not give up. It took her a good 15 min to get the job done (much to the cheering of the volunteers & her team mates) while others took merely 1 min. It is such positive attitude & perseverance that touched me deeply and made me reflect how much I have taken my own mobility for granted.
For every camp, encouraging independence is one of the camp objectives that we always have. No matter if one is wheelchair bound and could not reach the sink to wash their own plates, we ‘brought the sink’ to them by filling a pail of water and lifting it to the level where their hands were just able to reach out far enough to slowly wash the plates. Never mind that this meant we need to hold the pail of water and make several trips to change the water. At the end of it, seeing how the children realized that they could engage in simple acts of independence (no more waiting for the maid or parents to clear their dishes after them), we soon forgot how much our arms & legs ached.
In recent years, we even brought the older teenagers to do outreach programs such as volunteering for the needy in Penang or Cambodia. There, the teens showed us that despite their own disadvantage, they were all ready to do their part to contribute to society. When the locals shared how touched and inspired they were by the teens who helped them despite their own limited mobility, we could clearly see the sense of achievement & pride on all their faces. Another “MasterCard Moment”.
The advantage of volunteering for 15 years meant that I get to see some of the camp participants grow up over the years and benefited from our camps. From the shy boy in his first camp who needed encouragement to try out new activities, to the young man who is now able to come back to the camp and help out as a volunteer; inspiring the younger children that volunteering is not limited by one’s mobility status.
Volunteering for HFC camps has now become such an integral part of my life that I planned my holidays around it. It is my sanctuary from the chaotic working life, allowing me to not only contribute back to society, but be constantly reminded not to take my health and mobility for granted. We are all only temporary mobile. An accident, illness or simply old age can easily rob us of the mobility that we are so used to. And should that ever happen to me, I know who and where to draw strength to face life’s challenges with a smile.
The physically challenged children at each HFC camp has taught me well over the years. And in return, I get rewarded by how their eyes lit up and how amazed they are when they realized there is so much they could accomplish on their own, never mind their mobility status. Such “Mastercard Moments” are indeed…priceless!
