Taman Jurong School Assistance Scheme
On 9th March 2014, we gifters
were invited down to the Taman Jurong Assistance Scheme held in Yuan Ching
Secondary School! So what were we doing there? Well we were there to conduct a
45-minute session for the award recipients there. It was a great experience for
me! Honestly it was a little intimidating thinking that we had to conduct a
session for a bunch of children we weren’t familiar with, but we were all ready
for the challenge!
So on that Sunday where the sun shone and
the birds chirped, I ran down the steps of the auditorium all jumpy and full of
sparkle to greet the children! I was really really really nervous actually. Not
only were we conducting a session with a bunch of unfamiliar faces, their
parents were also there and we had a big age gap of 4-12. Actually I was pretty
stressed out seeing all the parents looking at us. I’m pretty sure that when I
looked up to all the families I got a little stunned. But with the other
volunteers in my group standing beside me and supporting one another, I didn’t
feel so nervous anymore. I also got courage as I saw a few of our very own
children smiling to us!!! In fact, during the sessions itself, I think we got a
little carried away and Aini said we were crazily loud haha!!
We had to conduct 2 sessions in total, and
I really had fun for both of them, and I thought the all of us did really well.
We did experience some slight problems like last minute changes to our time
plan and activities, but we were able to think on the spot, out of the box and I
liked how we were able to cooperate and work together to make the sessions fun
and engaging for the children. We were also able to accommodate to the large
age gap rather well!! We had so much fun jumping around, singing songs and
doing craft activities like making windmills!! By the end of the 2 sessions, I
was drenched in sweat even though I was in an air-conditioned room the whole time.
You don’t need to do sports to get exercise; being in a room with a bunch of
enthusiastic children is good enough, and its actually more fun for me at least
heh!
One of the highlights was actually after
the sessions itself. Since we had a bunch of pretty windmills left, Hayati and
I got a little inspiration and we decided to spread some joy by giving a whole
bunch of windmills out to children we saw around the school! We really had fun
giving them out and dancing to music at the same time before heading back to
the auditorium to join the rest of the volunteers before heading for lunch.
The most memorable part of this event was
definitely when I saw a few familiar faces coming up to me and excitedly
telling me how they recognize me and see me during our gift sessions at TJCC.
Although its just a simple acknowledgment from them, it really touched me when
our children come up to us volunteers and say they know who we are, it makes me
feel that we have made an impact on them through our sessions, and its great to
know they’re having fun every Friday and Saturday with us!!
As a whole, I didn’t regret waking up on an
early Sunday morning for this. It was a great morning with the children and of
course the gift family! I’m so glad I came for this and it was a great way to
spend time with the people you love and such a joy to watch the children have
fun!!
Xoxo Nat
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