Light Up a Hope

With autumn around the corner, it was getting cooler, but the city was still baking in the sunshine at noontime. Wendy stood at the entrance to the school and looked out from time to time. All of her classmates had already been picked up and went home, as she looked a little anxious. She reckoned that her mother had been delayed at work again.  She waited quietly by the school gate expecting her mother at any moment.
 
Wendy's mother is raising her child on her own, and she works part-time for a living. She is able to do many things, including the work at construction sites, wrapping betel nuts, subcontracted handcrafts, and she is also a delivery driver for online ordering apps. However, this May, the epidemic prevention policy requires that if a student was diagnosed, the entire class had to be suspended from school, and learning would be shifted online instead. Wendy needed a computer, and her mother also had to leave her job to take care of Wendy because she just couldn’t leave Wendy, as a second grader, alone at home all day. When Wendy's class was online, her mother had to cut back on her work. When Wendy tested positive with an infection from the school, the two had to be quarantined at home for 14 days. Wendy's mother was completely unable to go out to do her delivery work. The family, now without income, still had the debt of Wendy’s laptop to pay off. They did not know what to do about their next meal.
 
When we began working with Wendy and her mother, the social workers visited their home to see how they had been doing. After an internal review, we provided a grant to relieve the pressure of the mother's reduced income. When the two were diagnosed with COVID-19 one after the other, our social workers collected donated goods of noodles, canned food, crackers and other dried food, as well as home test kits, masks, sanitizer, etc. and delivered them to their home following the COVID-19 prevention protocols. This was the first step in securing their living quality and health.
 
In addition to relieving the financial pressure of Wendy's family, the social worker continued to provide support to the family helping them through the most difficult times. For example, when the landlord of Wendy's home planned to repossess the house, the family was still unable to find another suitable place to rent and the deadline to move out was fast approaching. When we learned about this, our social worker immediately referred them to temporary housing and helped them apply for social housing and a rental subsidy. In the end, Wendy's family found a new place to live and was granted the rental subsidy. This relieved much of their stress and allowing them to live at ease.
 
In some Asian culture, people feels ashamed to ask for help. To open up to talk about life problems is seen as somehow embarrassing.  Some are afraid of being labeled as low achievers, or not working hard enough etc. Our senior social worker also shared that sometimes we see a family in desperate need of resources and try to help them out, but the family closes their door.  It is as if, by accepting the help, they will be labeled negatively.
 
Families in need of help are no different from ordinary people. Facing unexpected unemployment, accidents, disease, adding to the COVID, people are actually more vulnerable than they think. When faced with multiple stressors all at once, no one is able to go through these alone.
 
In a rapidly changing society where resources are unevenly distributed, it is the mission of Christian Salvation Service to actively serve these families experiencing challenges and to help them regain their ground before they fall through the cracks. Our goal is to enable the many children like Wendy to grow and thrive in their own homes without too much fear or worry.
 
At the school gate, Wendy finally looked relieved when her mother rounded the corner on her scooter. Putting on her helmet, Wendy expertly squeezed in between her mom and the delivery box at the back of the seat without any difficulty. Though the delivery box, which was taller than her, looked a little heavy, Wendy however, not only leaned on her mother's back comfortably but a sense of happiness and security also glowed brightly on her little face.

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