Help Wanted, Help Given

Here's a post from Gerard Ee, the executive director of Beyond Social Services. (The FSC I'm helping out at, Whampoa, is part of this network)

This evening, 6 secondary 2 students will be receiving tuition from some volunteers at a Residents’ Committee Centre. Nothing unusual but over the past month, these students started to ‘repay’ their volunteers with an hour of dance lessons after tuition ends at 8.30 pm. It was not something the volunteers had asked for but it was something these students knew that they could give.

For the past 6 months, these students have been dancing in the street near where they live and sharing their moves with children and others who cared join them.  Their energy and enthusiasm have added a vibrant vibe to their neighbourhood which is much appreciated.

Next month, as a gesture of appreciation to the Residents’ Committee for allowing them to use their premises for tuition, these students will be performing at an RC event. I wonder if they will eventually get the volunteers to be a part of their performance too.


Communities have a wealth of resources that just need to be activated. In the neighbourhoods we work in, we have found people to most willingly to step forward despite not having very much themselves. Perhaps, in the absence of material wealth, the value of social capital becomes more apparent.  A mother of 2 willingly welcomed 3 young children from a friend who found himself temporarily homeless. Last Sunday, this mother cooked a big pot of stew and brought these children together with her own for a picnic as a farewell gesture to the children she was looking after briefly. She told us of the wonderful time the ‘expanded’ family had at the beach and how her own children have become good friends with her little visitors.

When a 16 year old girl learned that a neighbour had wanted to return to school she arranged for us to meet him together with his parents.  During the meeting, she reassured the boy that we only had his best interest at heart and we will not be holding his past mistakes against him. Though only 16, she knew exactly what it meant to be offering non-judgemental support. The school we connected the boy with wanted a letter of intent from the boy which required him to provide the reasons why he had dropped out earlier. It was a reasonable exercise in accountability but the boy saw it as yet another obstacle. Again this young girl offered her support as she really did not want the boy to miss a decent opportunity for furthering his education. She sat with him; spoke to him gently and slowly coaxed out the various reasons why he had dropped out of school. She helped the boy organise what he could say and he penned that letter of intention.

In our work, we build on the positives within the people we serve. We must always remember though that people do not have to be perfect before they can have positives; so there is always something to build on.

Gerard Ee
Executive Director

BEYOND SOCIAL SERVICES