The experience

I had my first ever volunteer gig two weeks ago by going over to the family center for the first time. At first look, the center looks like any after-school care center. The only difference is the kids in that particular center are underprivileged. Some do not have parental care - their parents are either in jail, rehab or just not there. Some have parents who have to work all day and night and that leave the kids with an empty home to return to.

I was very nervous attending. Not least because I was late as I couldn't find the center. I didn't know what to expect. I was certainly not expecting the kids to gather round me and chatting amongst themselves, trying to figure out what language I spoke or what race I was. It became quite funny when I started introducing myself and a couple of hands were raised to get help for homework. However, my first assignment was to help a P2 boy with his Malay homework by virtue of the fact that the other volunteers couldn't help him with that homework.

The one-page assignment took longer than I anticipated...that little boy could hardly recognise the alphabet, let alone read. Sigh. I wanted to teach the boy some phonics, I cajoled him into making the sounds of the letters that were in front of him. He left the table after every 10 minutes because he lost interest. Each time, I had to call him back to the desk and reminded him he needed to complete his homework or else he wouldn't be allowed to join the other activities.

Once that homework is done, the boy quickly shoved the worksheet in his bag and ran off to another group who was playing a boardgame. I didn't realise this but I had a little girl who had been patiently waiting for me to finish with the homework. She had a book in hand and had wanted me to read the book to her.

She took my hand and led me to the reading corner and sat down next to me. We read a book about a spotty bunny how this bunny was very different from his siblings who were all white and had pink eyes. While reading, I asked her a couple of questions about the story to see if she was listening and she was. I tried asking her to read a couple of lines, but she just kept silent and pointed me back to the book. I only learned her name at the end of my 3 hour visit there. She asked me if I was coming back soon to read to her again.

I think I will.