Awaken the child in you : Caring for the Children @ Children's Aid Society

Time flies and in the winking of the eye we are now in another year: 2010. Dharma Drum Singapore Youth Group organizes a home visit: a move to care for the children at the Children's Aid Society, the first activity in this year. Children's Aid Society is a non-profit organization that shoulders the responsibilities of housing and caring for children of age 4 to 18 years old whose families are not able to take care of them.

27th Feb 2010 at 8.15am, the youths , volunteered in response to the calling of this home visit, gathered at Dover station to understand a brief introduction of the activities of the home visit. Then, the lot proceeded to the home.



In reaching Children’s Aid Society, the youths were given tasks in executing the activities which were consisting of 3 games: Wacko, Pictionary and water bowl game in bringing joy and fun to the children inspiring their creativity and learning concentration respectively. The children who participated in the games ranged from years of 3 to 12.

The youths & the children playing the Wacko game.

Wacko game put the children's response to a test. The rule is that a child needs to call out another child's name immediately once his / her name is called, or else the child will be "wacked". Pictionary game allows the child to build their imagination and drawing ability. The children were divided into groups of three and compete amongst the groups to gain the chance of answering the word on the cards in the container through guessing from the drawing on a white board by its own group member.




The last game: water bowl game is to try the patience of the children and building up their concentration. Each child is to hold a bowlful of water with both hands and walk a stretch of road with obstacles. Those who has the least amount of water spilled from the bowl are highly commended. The youths and children played to their heart's content.


Youth Group Chairman Kee yew telling the story of the water bowl & demonstrating the holding of the water bowl


Youths and the childen lined up to collect the water bowls.


Playing the water bowl game ! :)

Adding water is one of the obstacles.

After the games, there was the prize giving ceremony. All the children were the winners.


The Youths Sharing Session


The Youth Chairman with Ms. Devi, after presenting Ms. Devi the token of appreciation.


The activities ended within 2 hours. Seeing the children as they played and laughed, one cannot help thinking how innocent, sincere and kind they were. It may seems that playing with them brings them joy. But the grown ups seem to learn more from the children. It awakens the child in us and the reminiscences of the childhood. Those carefree days. One little toy or sweet will make us broke into smiles and wipe the tears away. As children, every little thing will satisfy us and disperse the unhappiness. Seeing the world as it is, with no discrimination, full of freshness and initatives in wanting to know ... isn't this the bodhi in our hearts? Through these activities, let's hope the youths have find the child in theirs too :)