After a long series of health checkups by our team of medical students and doctors, the night was finally upon us.
Stepping out into the lawn in front of our little house in the school compound, a couple of us tried to find the stars in the night sky. Having grown up in Singapore, we seldom saw a night sky in the absence of light pollution. All of us were eager to see a night sky full of stars, just as we had envisioned it to be.
However, we were sorely disappointed to see nothing but a dark sky, spotted with the outline of clouds. One of us attributed this disappointment to “light pollution from the city”.
“So much for all the hype of enjoying the non-existent view”, I thought to myself.
Later that week, one of my friends in Cambodia on another mission trip sent me an email, remarking that the stars in the night sky were beautiful and shone brightly.
I was curious; why she was able to see the stars, whereas our group of students didn’t see anything remarkable?
Reading on, she remarked in her email that “the funny thing was we didn’t see it immediately and had to stare at the sky really, really long to see it.”
Sabai has been a lesson beyond the classroom for me, and sensitized me to the worldly struggles the less privileged among us face. Growing up in Singapore, we have become accustomed to ease and convenience. We enjoy peace and stability; we live with familiarity and security.
In Cambodia, our worldly comforts were stripped away. We faced children and teachers who spoke Khmer, we did not know our way around their community. Yet, upon entering into the Don Bosco schools, and interacting with the students, teachers and sisters, we felt welcome and fit right in immediately. The warm hospitality showered upon us was truly heartening.
Despite the poorer living conditions in Cambodia, the children remained cheerful, the teachers and sisters were optimistic. I cannot recall a single instance of a frown on their faces in the 10 days I have spent there.
One might wonder – how can these people remain positive with such living conditions?
I believe the reason is because these individuals live contentedly. They were able to see the stars in their dimly-lit lives, because they found joy in what they had, rather than focusing on what they did not have, and it took me – an outsider (with vision clouded up by our earthly comforts back in Singapore city) – quite some time to realize this fact.
The children of the Don Bosco schools do not enjoy the same comforts of our Singaporean children. We like to complain of how education in Singapore is competitive and stifling to the creativity of the young mind. However, we forget that education isn’t always readily accessible to those in need.
These children largely come from families who struggle to make ends meet; school is both a haven and refuge for them. The well-constructed school compounds provide the children a conducive environment for learning. Through project Sabai, we were able to enhance the development and growth of these young children through the provision of essential medical care and aid.
During the village clinics and school health screenings, it was common to see children with insufficient nutrition. The malnutrition was so bad that we were ritualistically dispensing multivitamins from the make-shift pharmacy, until we ran out of them and had to purchase lower quality substitutes from local firms. The growing females suffered from a host of gynecological problems, while the adults often complained of aches and pains arising from overwork. Such complains were not commonly seen in Singapore.
However, the adults did not wear a frown on their faces during the consultations. Despite the aches and pains, they kept their spirits up, and were genuinely grateful for the medical care provided by the team. The children were also resilient in spirit, and remained active and energetic. They were also a stronger lot than most other kids I’ve met in my life – the pain experienced when sterilizing their wounds during wound cleaning could not be seen on their faces, as they silently bore with the stinging in their wounds. The tenacity of both old and young was admirable and a trait which I strongly value and aspire to achieve someday.
During health education for the teachers and older students of one of the Don Bosco schools, we taught them about the various first aid procedures. We were quickly awakened to the fact that they did not have ready access to first aid material when they asked questions such as – “Can we use a towel in place of the bandages to wrap the wound” or “What if we don’t have antiseptic cream?”. It was apparent that much more could be done for them – by providing the teachers and students with the necessary first aid, thus allowing them to become self-sufficient in providing care for simple injuries and maladies.
I further realized the importance of health education, when we were teaching the older children sex education and puberty. Puberty is a critical time in a child’s development and transition to adulthood, and these children often lack the necessary parental guidance to lead them through this time of change. When the children asked questions pertaining to bodily changes associated with puberty, our team realized the gravity of our lesson plans and prior research. It was not only important to provide them with relief for the common cough, cold and flu – we also had to ensure that the children knew what was essential to good health and growth. After all, nothing can be more important than having good health, as it sets the precedence for a child’s overall development physically and mentally into a contributive member of society.
Through project Sabai, we were only able to give this little to the children whom we sought to benefit. Yet, the children gave us much more than what we could possibly ask for. The children of the Don Bosco schools showed us love through their smallest gestures.
Despite the language barrier, they whole-heartedly organized celebratory Christmas parties and invited us as guests, providing us with food that was lavish even by local standards, and put up a myriad of performances. They were cooperative during the health screenings and did not cause trouble. They were well behaved, and responded well during our health education programmes. Their excellent manners and spirit of contentedness left a lasting impression on me. There was no other better energy-booster or a pick-me-up after a tiring day of health screening, compared to the smiles on the faces of these children.
In our lives as medical students (and even in the lives of busy Singaporeans), we become overwhelmed with the trivial battles of our own – deadlines, tests, assignments, having to meet key-performance-indicators, answering to our superiors, that we fail to see the bigger picture of how blessed we truly are. We forget that we ought to be kind, for everyone around us (including ourselves) is fighting a hard battle.
Sabai has shown me that even in the cloudiest of skies, stars can be seen shining, if we stare hard enough. Perhaps, we ought to take a moment to slow down, and take stock of what we presently enjoy in Singapore. When we realize what we are blessed with and how much we’re empowered by our circumstances, we will be motivated wholly to give and to only give more, to the children and people of the Don Bosco schools of Cambodia for the years to come.
