"...seeing in junior youth altruism, an acute sense of justice, eagerness to learn about the universe and the desire to contribute to the construction of a better world."
Enjoy the story as i did. And may it inspire us all to serve our community better and vigorously.
Dear friends,
I'd like to share a service project done by a junior youth group I visited recently. In the consultation about how they can contribute to their neighbourhood, they said that there were quite a few of their friends who had their bicycles stolen. In fact, one of the group members also had his bicycle stolen recently. So they decided that they wanted to give their friends (who had their bikes stolen) bicycles.
As the animator continued the consultation, they were coming out with ideas on how to carry this project to fruition. One of them said that they can go to the bicycle shop and ask for an old, broken bike that they can fix up and perhaps present to their friends.
They visited the bicycle shop yesterday and the uncle said he can sell them one of the old bikes for RM45 (it needed a little repair work done). After that they were discussing with the animator about how they would come up with the money in one week's time. Without hesitation, one of them said "I can save RM5 a day, and by the end of the week, I will have RM25" and another said he can save RM2 a day. When the animator asked them how they would buy lunch at school if they gave all their money for this project, and they just said "It's ok, this is more important".
The animator and I were very touched by their kind hearts and willingness to sacrifice. However, we felt that they shouldn't have to bear the cost of the project all on their own.
Also, the animator felt that it's better for them to put forth some effort in repairing the bicycle, rather than just pay money for a finished product, they agreed. We then discussed about what to tell the bicycle uncle regarding their intention to help in the repair and one of the junior youth volunteered to be the one to speak to him. I then ask the animator to call him immediately. The junior youth was shocked and a bit afraid but we encouraged him. We put the call on the speaker-mode so everyone can listen. He was so cute when speaking to the uncle, but to our slight disappointment, the uncle said the bicycle was fixed yesterday.
So, today I asked them to come up with a few ideas on how to raise the money. One said car wash, another said his little 7 year old sister can sell sweets in school (apparently, she can make between RM5 to RM10 profit a day :-) ), I suggested they could clean their neighbours' homes for a small fee, another suggested selling unused items from their homes. I felt that the ideas to raise money should be a group effort rather than just the effort of their little sister's. So we took a vote on which project to do. They decided on the home cleaning service. We then consulted on what tools we would need and what kind of service we'd like to provide and how much to charge. They then rehearsed the script about how they were going to introduced themselves and what their service project was for.
We decided to carry it out immediately and one of them even said we have to because we need the money by next Saturday. The animator said she have to leave because her family was visiting and she needed to clean the house. And that was how they got their first client of the day. They did a great job and after that we also reflected with them about what they learned and what they needed to improve on.
We then went for lunch and after that one of the junior youth's mother also said she'd like their services as she wanted to clean out the store room to make it a room for future junior youth gatherings.
Although the mother said she only wanted the store room cleaned, I asked the junior youth to also clean the living room and other parts. A lot of recyclable items were retrieved from the room and items for sale as well. The project will continue next week and the mother gave them RM30 for their service. So far, they've already raised RM40. They will need more than RM45 as they intend to give a few bicycles away and they need to buy some new tires and some may need simple repair work etc.
Friends, I feel truly blessed to witness such noble intentions put in action by the junior youth. This is such a beautiful example of the intrinsic altruism in this special age group of people.
Love,
Junior Youth Group observer.
