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| Students from the school being rebuilt by Light On |
--Translated by Sandy Chu
“You can do no great things, but small things with great love” It is from Mother Teresa and it is my life motto.
My first volunteer experience was in an orphanage on a
Mongolian grassland, I was 25. I didn’t bring any sweets or presents, yet a
mind full of curiosity. I would not have expected, after two weeks, the volunteer
experience would allow me to feel the endless love from the children. On top of that, I had also seen the most unforgettable
starry sky with Milky Way in my life.
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| The unforgettable smile from Jagaa, a Mongolian boy |
I quit my job after one year of my Mongolian trip and
started my globetrotting. I tried to look for volunteer opportunities in every
place where I was going. I wish, through volunteering, I could know some locals
and local cultures. Throughout two years of travelling, I served as a
care-taker in a Colombian orphanage, an English teacher at a community center in
North India, a barista, a dish washer and a rubbish recycling helper in a South
Indian ashram.
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| Children from Tibetan region in North India |
I still remember the whole interview even now. The
interviewer asked, “Why would you like to take a position at back-end as you
have much front line experience?”
“When I was in the orphanage in Colombia, I was the only
volunteer and there was a dozen of children for me to take care. When they saw
me, they all came up for my attention. I then realize that only a pair of hand was
not enough to embrace all the children at once. As a result, I sincerely hope
that through your charity’s platform and resources, I can do more in the future.”
I replied.
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| Energetic children from the orphanage in Colombia |
She looked into my resume again and told me, “I hope you can
understand that not everyone is suitable for a frontline job, some people
desperately want to work at frontline but cannot, and therefore they can only
take the supporting roles behind for the same goal.”
Her words had sparked off something in my mind. “Yes, we always want to do something ‘big’!”. At that time, I thought working at an International charity would be “bigger” and more efficient than volunteering in the frontline independently. The interview conversation had made me understand Mother Teresa’s words quoted earlier, it is not a must to do some “great things”, but instead, I should follow “Do small things with great heart”. Since then, I have decided to devote myself into volunteering services instead of turning it into a career.
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Lessons learnt
from doing a small thing with great heart such as picking up cow shit
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“Everyone is like an incense stick. When we can, we should
‘burn ourselves’ the most to spread the beautiful fragrance for the world.” I learnt this sentence from Amma, an
Indian spiritual leader.
Now, volunteering
is my life. My journey to becoming a full-time volunteer was greatly inspired
by Amma’s words. “Selfless Service”, a term I learnt at the ashram in South
India, means to help, to give and to contribute unconditionally with lots of
love. Everyone, most likely, may serve voluntarily with different reasons, for
examples, simply to help others, to get some merits, to have some good rewards
or even to acquire something new practically. If the reasons of volunteering
are purposeful, then the service is no longer “selfless”.
Within the
following five years, I went back and forth this ashram in South India and
learnt the true meaning of “Selfless Service”. I had realised that the most
enjoyable things from volunteering was just to focus on serving and not to
think about the outcomes. After this realization, I now only care if I feel
happy from the participation, I do not care about any results.
By the time I
served, I had started to understand that we always expected a certain outcome
when doing something. I also had some similar experiences. I wanted the
children from the orphanage could have more opportunities and be successful in
life. I wanted the Tibetans from Tibetan area in North India to get job easier
after acquiring knowledge of English. Or even for myself, I wanted, through
dish washing as a way of meditative practice, to learn how to gain inner peace.
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From learning to enjoying: a month of dish washing at the ashram in
South India
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However,
expectations of outcomes usually make us walk further away from the essence of
why we do things. The expectations have put our focus to the future but not
this moment. Just do it if you want, forget about how you can influence others,
don’t think about “saving the world”, volunteering is not about this.
I was in Nepal when
a 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in April 2015, after knowing more than
three hundred thousands houses had collapsed and more than twenty thousands
people injured or dead, I had a strong feeling that “I have to do something no
matter what.” even though at that time, I had no clues or plans on how much
fund I needed or how many houses we needed to rebuild. For this reason, I
started to raise the fund and, with the power of social media, I had received 300,000HKD
within one month and so managed to send 8 tons of emergency materials to the
epicenter area.
When I was handling the relief work in Nepal, meanwhile my plan of rebuilding schools was in the initial stage, people around me all suggested me to set up a non-profit organisation (NPO) in order to facilitate the resource allocation. Fortunately, with the help from a good friend who is a lawyer and other professional friends, Light On, a new NPO, has finally be founded. (Our official webpage: www.lighton.org.hk)
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| A recent project of rebuilding a school in Nepalese mountainous area |
If you ask me, what
is my plan for future? To be frank, I have no idea.
But I deeply
believe that “Everyone is like an incense stick. When we can, we should
‘burn ourselves’ the most to spread the beautiful fragrance for the world.”
This has motivated me to continue on my volunteering.
