S.W.E.E.P

it’s so interesting what i learnt. all these years, i’ve worked in social welfare homes, be it NGOs or Government runned homes. but i never thought of it in a social worker’s point of view. the closest was probably Jaci, from Birthright. she told me more or less how it was like, and interestingly enough, i thought it was a cool job to have. after i left the home, i didn’t think twice about it.

until confronted with the idea of SWEEP that is. 12 people came together, not knowing what in the world is in store of them, like naive little sheep guided by indifferent shepherds. to the slaughterhouse, or to the pasture, who’s to know?

thankfully, the shepherds were humane (or at least that is what they made us think), and so preserved our lives. but in doing so, (speaking for myself. for others, i pray they saw the same light, and in the event they differ from trains of thought, they may comment and i would hence alter the entry) a part of our lives broke through and also a part of our lives went silently dead. thus, throughout the programme, weeping was heard. of the loss, the grief that our hearts shattered into bits and pieces because it was so conformed to fitting the big M-E.

our days were summarized into single words. mine was as follows:
wind
resolution
sense
quality
timing
release
excitement
free
purpose
help
open
Him
focus
confirmation

doubt it would make sense to you. but it does to me. every word represents an altar i’ve laid. a sacrifice, a revelation, a prayer. and everyday something new is birthed.

(technically i’ve not seen as much as the rest since i came late but…) we’ve seen the poor and homeless, the sex workers and drug addicts. made friends with HIV positive people. the transvestites and the homosexuals. we’ve been blinded for half a day, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. we tried learning new things with a mentally challenged friend for a partner, and at times it was frustrating (although my friend was totally cool, we can totally hang with him. he’s an artist too!). we met the very criminals i loathed, the youth seemingly without a heart, and learnt they were just too playful and too naughty. not that they were evil, but that things just got out of hand. each activity, each talk was a lesson learnt, and what a lesson did we learn.

so ok, i’ve been rambling on about the SWEEP programme for two entries now. so here i end. just wanted you to not only know how i was feeling and certain pick up moments throughout the course, but also what exactly we went through.

thanks for the FES fellas that helped (all you folks, even those who came with our Chap Fun Dinners, and our Blind Guides - esp Chia Hui! :P), and the Shelter People and the children and youth… it was some programme. thank you. also for the Pioneer batch of SWEEP! you guys rock! (pseudo gymnast pose… lights out… end.)

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