15. LIVING THE TEACHINGS

Jan '05

Doing my bit for a tsunami hit village in Sth India. 13 families received gifts of prawn nets to get them back on their feet. Donations came from friends in Singapore.

The fishermen with their new prawn nets....beaming with happiness...

Jan '04

Reading to my Indian kids in Uttar Pradesh, North India, at a Home run by a Singaporean.


Taking 5 with a jam session

We almost lost this boy to Japanese Encephalitis which had killed a few hundred children in this part of the State. Fortunately in this Home run by my friend, a Singaporean, he had enough to eat and was healthy and strong enough to recover. He was rushed to a goverment hospital, 2 hours away. The doctors refused to admit him insisting there was no hope. My friend had to make phone calls to some influential people to get him admitted. I was thankful I survived this trip, I did'nt realise there was an outbreak of the disease during my stay. I was cut off from all news.

As a young Girl Scout in school, I was involved in community service, chiefly with a school for the blind where I read lessons to the blind students who in turn typed it in Braille. I enjoyed that.

For many years after school, I got caught up in the adult world of education and working, homemaking and child-minding but somewhere at the back of my mind, was a desire to contribute.

It was very natural than, when I forged my own path, to get into service work. I had no problems in that area, from day one, no questions asked. I simply showed up at a mental hospital (!!!!!) to meet the rest of the small group and found out that I had to work with long term patients who were declared OK by the doctors. I sang and danced and painted with them and sat down to tea with them. At the time I did'nt know it but our mental institutions suffer from a lack of volunteers. (this should'nt surprise anyone!). Only loonybins would fly over this cookoo's nest.

Although safe, it takes courage to walk through its dim corridors, even more so, to mingle freely with them in their wards surrounded by up to 200 patients, with the door locked and windows barred. Some patients look spaced out, others behave weird.

I contributed my energy for 2 years before moving on to a hospital for bedridden patients when they asked for volunteers.

I fed lunch to these patients whose bodies were completely useless. Surely this is Hell that we are born into to work out our karmas. Imagine being bedridden for one's entire life which can stretch 50-60 years or longer, lying on a bed, completely dependent on others for every single need, the only body part that works independently are the jaws to chew the food and eating being the only activity they can look forward to.

At another home, the patients were not just bedridden, they were mentally retarded. The chewing and swallowing were mechanical actions which they carried out when food was placed into their mouths. I ponder once again - if this is not being condemned to Hellfire, where than can Hell be after death when there's no physical body?

I enjoy most the hair-cutting service at another hospital and nursing homes. Most patients are elderly with hair that's neglected and unkempt due to prolonged lying in. They always leave looking neat, fresh and smart....beaming too. I've had no training in this area but from the day I picked up the scissors, I snipped away - the only practice I ever had was cutting my dog's hair and pruning my plants!

After several years carrying out my seva in Singapore institutions, (I still cut hair), I ventured overseas with groups to Cambodia and alone to India. It is in India that I found my calling........

HANDS THAT HELP ARE HOLIER THAN THE LIPS THAT PRAY - BABA