We prepared ourselves with some cleaning tools at 9.00am in
the morning after joining the launching of the Reading Bus Club in Yoke Kuan
Secondary School. We arrived at our destination at around 9.30am which is half
an hour earlier than the time scheduled for preparation. Pastor Chan, the
person in charge of the church welcomed us with open hands. After a short ice
breaking session with each other, Pastor Chan gave us a briefing on the
cleaning job we are going to do for the day.
The weather in the morning was calm and windy, where we
start our work mainly on removing the grass and weeds around the garden in the
church. Wild grass and weeds will affects the growth of the flower around and
the important plant especially fruit plant. We did gain our knowledge about
gardening stuff, some species of the plants, and how to take care of them. It
is great to get to expose to these knowledge where we usually do not have the
opportunity to learn in our daily lives especially in University.
It was great that Pastor Chan joined us on the gardening
stuff, which also reduced our loads. The weeds and the grass removed were
placed under a big tree to be collected and discarded soon. The area around the
church had not been cleaned up for 2 weeks, due to insufficient of workers and
volunteers. This was an opportunity for us to join the community in the church
to help up the church on cleaning the compound.
Although
the first gardening compound is small, but we did took around 2 hours to finish
up the job, which due to lacking of technique. It is not an easy stuff to clean
up the area because some parts of the area is dangerous due to the torn found
in some plants, especially the cactus and trees. The sun shone redundantly
during the afternoon and it had the hottest temperature at the moment. Our
group members did shows their hard work and commitment to finish their job
although it is a hot day, especially the girls in our group.
After 12 in
the afternoon, Pastor Chan brought us to Restaurant Chie Shang for lunch. We
had Chicken rice and honey chrysanthemum tea as our lunch. The chicken
drumstick served was crispy as everyone was satisfied with it, while the
ice-honey chrysanthemum tea was a suitable choice where it can reduce our
thirst and cool down our body. Pastor Chan is so kind that she treat us so well for
the lunch.
After the
lunch, we went back to the church and started to collect the dried leaves
around the compound. Lacking of cleaning at the moment of gathering the dried
leaves, made the rest of the member to collect the removed wild grass and weeds
and discard them in a nylon bag. This is where our teamwork comes in. Working
stuff were separate equally so that everyone can work as a team to increase our
efficiency. During the process, we found various kinds of animals such as snails,
bugs, birds and butterflies around the compound, which means that the
environment around the area is healthy.
There is actually a kindergarten located beside the church
and within the inside closed area. By doing cleaning stuff and gardening, we
are not just cleaning up and beautifying the church compound, but also creating
a comfort and safety zone around the compound for the kids. Playground
equipment such as swings is also available at the area nearby the kindergarten.
We cleaned the equipment and arranged it nicely as it can be lifted.
After all the hard works, finally we managed to clean up the
compound, and arranged the objects in a good manner when the sun set. We are
really satisfied with our work with the Pastor Chan and the community at the
Church, besides gaining a lot of knowledge of various fields. Volunteering to
help the others is indeed the right thing to do. Being able to engage to the
community despite the differences in our beliefs is indeed a blessing. We will
surely pay a visit here again in the future!
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| Group photo before leaving |
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