3rd year and still going strong.

did a yearly reflection

that was what i wrote in 2009
http://averysillywoman.blogspot.com/2009/10/exactly-1-year.html
2010
http://averysillywoman.blogspot.com/2010/10/2-years.html

and now 2011, my 3rd year with them! :)

today marks my 3rd year anniversary with Bishan Home. (this is now officially one of my longest job!) I often thought of moving on to other sector, working with a different group of people but somehow i'm still here. friends are always asking me "when are you moving on? we are waiting for you!" yes it's definitely not easy to leave at least for me, after all my residents are my family now after 3 years with them. do you ever leave your family behind? but of course i know when it's time to go, i have to go. so now i will still continue working hard for them. :)

through my journey with BH, i'm really thankful to meet friends/ volunteers/ partners who are really supportive of what i'm doing and always ready to learn a helping hand whenever i need it. i know i can always count on them. they bring hope not only to my residents but me too. thank you and i trust our friendship will not end here. <3

and of course i have to thank both my bosses for giving me lots of opportunities to perform and nurturing me to become who i am. it's because of you believing in me that i can achieve all i have today. i did so many things that i never knew i'm capable of achieving, i overcome my stage fright to give speeches, you put me in charge of important event and trust that i will not screw up. thank you for always believing in me and you make me believe in myself too.

when the going gets tough... i'm finding it increasingly hard to continue with all the increased responsibilities, things and people that i have to deal with. i'm starting to feel tired of everything that i'm doing and sometimes not giving my best too. guilty. i know it's not a good sign to be feeling this way and again i need to learn to handle and overcome this by myself. i need to find my way back.

not having an easy time but i'm not giving up.

one volunteer sent this to me. thank you, i will hang on! :)

working in this industry,i get to see many different sides of human. people who are capable of showering love to a complete stranger, people who are still not willing to accept them as who they are and judge them base on their disability. it hurts to see people reacting strongly to them, avoiding them and even making rude remarks about them.

often i get questions like "why are you doing what you are doing?" "isnt it sad to work with them?"

after working with my residents, i'm more aware of the difficulties faced by them and their families. it's sad that people are still not willing to include them as part of the community, not willing to step into their world to understand them. i'm always hearing stories about the terrible things the people are doing to them like showing disgusted look when they see them. sigh, the world will be a better place to stay in if everyone can be more understanding and tolerance towards one and another.

so everyday i'm telling myself, i want to create more awareness for them. to share my stories with all my volunteers/ friends and hopefully through me and my little stories they are able to see another side of them. but of course i know at the end of the day, it's best for them to come and experience it themselves, to create their own stories.

i have learnt so much from my residents. every moment spent with them is a moment i treasure. they taught me valuable lessons that i can never learn in school. most importantly, they taught me about love and acceptance.

"For I'm one of the children, so special and few, that came here to learn, the same lessons as you. that love is acceptance."

looking at their happy faces every time when they see me makes me happy and that's what keeps me going every day. the warm smile on their faces never fails to make me feel better after a long day at work. and i often caught myself smiling to myself thinking about all my random encounter/ conversation with them. trust me, they are really loveable. :)