Volunteer Stories

I am grateful for having the opportunity to volunteer as a tutor with Club Rainbow, in ways more than one.

The desire to share the joy of knowledge was what initially prompted me to look to tutoring as a volunteering avenue. I have always felt thankful for the chance to receive an education in a relatively carefree and enjoyable environment.  Hence I feel almost obliged to help others have the same experience too. Studying, after all, takes up a large chunk of the childhood of every Singaporean child. My aim is to make the entire study process a little more bearable, a bit less painful, and hopefully somewhat more pleasant.

I figured the best way is to treat tutees first and foremost as friends. The children and parents here are a delight to work with. There is something about the air of Club Rainbow Centre I guess. Laughter can be heard every week when I arrive, and everyone is ever ready to greet each other with a smile. Thankfully, tutees here are generally enthusiastic about learning, and things never got quite as bad as “I don’t friend you”.

The situations of tutees here can be a little different from those elsewhere. I have learnt to develop a personal relationship with the kids whom I tutor. To help my tutees improve academically, I empathise with their personal struggles, and be there with them in this journey.  Tutees become more like younger brothers and sisters, someone you are responsible to guide always, encourage often, and coerce sometimes.

Tutoring at Club Rainbow has not only helped me gain a few more friends, younger siblings, but, perhaps most unexpectedly, teachers too. Other than teaching me not to take anything I have for granted, I’ve learnt much from the children’s strength of character. It is inspiring to see how they take on personal crises of unimaginable proportions, misfortunes supremely unfair to befall anyone, much less these innocent angels. Yet they continue to face random strangers like me with a smile. I learn from fellow volunteers and Club Rainbow staff too. Be it businessmen with packed schedules, housewives with endless chores or yuppies with boy/girlfriends, they have set aside time from their full-time obligations to tutor the children, all for a “thank you, teacher”. The genuine concern and dedication they show towards the children here never fails to warm my heart.

It is thus with immense gratitude that I continue to volunteer with Club Rainbow.

My volunteer journey started with Club Rainbow in 2008. I was a befriender at Club Rainbow Camp. I also spent time volunteering for Club Rainbow events like Caregivers Appreciation Day, Club Rainbow Family Retreat as well as sponsors’ events. I would definitely make an effort to volunteer whenever I have the time.

There is a beneficiary who still calls me and tells me that she misses and loves me. I have also made many new friends who share the joy of volunteering.

I am proud to be a volunteer of Club Rainbow. This is a place where I can feel the happiness and love of giving by walking together with the kids and seeing their lovely smile. I even learn to love my family more and more each day. I am stronger during my down times as I realized that life is too short to think so much. I will just enjoy and continue to GIVE more in my volunteering journey with Club Rainbow.

I started out volunteering at Club Rainbow more than one year ago. It all began with the passing away of a certain celebrity I admired who was a great philanthropist for children. I have always wanted to do volunteering but never got down to it due to procrastination. It was a random process when I found Club Rainbow as the first result on Google.

I started giving weekly tuitions at CRS. As it was a holiday break for me during that period, I was involved with many activities including road shows and participating in the Standard Chartered Marathon 2010 which CRS was the adopted charity. It was an honour to be invited for the annual Club Rainbow Family Retreat in November 2010 and eventually meeting my special other half.

Volunteerism is a very humbling experience as I truly experience what is the meaning of ‘Everyday’s a gift and not a given right’. The hard fact about life is nobody gets to choose to be born. Children are perhaps the most innocent group of people out there. The sense of gratification from working and interacting with them is perhaps something that you don’t get to experience out there in the working and studying environment.

The little contribution of a few hours from me is perhaps nothing compared to the dedication and care given by the parents and staff of CRS. Personally, a little effort may be insignificant but together with a bigger group of volunteers, it can make a big difference. Start by being the change you wish to see in this world.

I came to know about Club Rainbow through a classmate, who was a committed volunteer with this organization. Through her, I befriended three Rainbow children. Two of them were siblings with Thalassemia Major and the other has liver disease. I had to spend time with them individually in order to know them in a personal way by planning activities according to each of their needs and interests.

We participated in many exciting events, enrichment workshops and interesting seminars organized by CRS. The three Rainbow children loved to attend the annual Camp Rainbow. They were quite regular campers until they were became too old be part of this magical camp. Subsequently, they returned to the camp as youth volunteers and we made plans to serve together in camp organizing committee.

It has been a challenging journey as I shared my life with them, and walked through the different seasons of their lives. We shared our dreams together, played together and fought battles together when they became terminally ill. I went through painful moments and depressions when we eventually lost the two siblings, one after another. However, I am grateful to CRS for helping me to cope and overcome the emotional pain of the loss of both kids. Though this pair of siblings has passed on, they will live forever in my heart. Sweet memories of both are always in my mind and my friendship with both their parents continues.

My 3rd befriendee has grown to be a cheerful young lady, pursuing her passion as a teacher in early childhood education. It is wonderful to see her in good health and living her life to the fullest. She has obtained her diploma and has moved on to shine in the career she has chosen. Her success in life is my joy, as well as my pride.

Indeed, I have had a very fruitful time and meaningful journey together with the lovely Rainbow children as a long-term befriender. I truly treasure the relationships developed not only with the beneficiaries but also friendship with the fellow volunteers and the committed staff of this charity. Their love and passion for the Rainbow family always inspire me to move on and to continue being a blessing to others. It is always more blessed to give than to receive and I have received much more than I have given, in so many ways.

After serving as a befriender for many years, CRS is already part of me, and a part of my life. CRS is a family of joy, hope and love that I have grown up with. Indeed, it is my privilege and my honor to touch lives and to make a difference through this charity.

Often, we reap what others have sown.  I consider my blessed surroundings, the beautiful people and the beautiful things that greet me everyday a result of love and labour my fellow neighbours have sown before me. I am conscious not to take these blessings for granted. The least I can do is to make sure that the goodness does not end at me.

All of us have our roles to play and nothing is too little for us to commit our best to sow goodness, to share and to pass on the blessings that we inherit.  This obligation, to me, is a form of social rent that I pay for my place in society.

Club Rainbow has given me a chance to contribute to community. I tutor children at Club Rainbow on Saturday afternoons. On top of that my engagement at Club Rainbow has also helped me grow and make priceless realizations about myself. I have seen how adversity actually brings the best out of people. It makes me reflect how little I can do with so many privileges that I cling on to like unnecessary baggages.

As with all realities, my service at Club Rainbow isn’t without frustrations. But I have outgrown them with the help of the very dedicated staff and encouraging personalities at Club Rainbow. Writing this article reminds me of my first day at Club Rainbow. I thought I was being asked a favor, when in fact I was being given one.

I joined the Rainbow camp as a befriender in 1998. My first opportunity was to work with a wheelchair-bound child. It was a challenging experience. There were lots of learning and adaptation on the task as a care giver. After camp, I attended several outings and activities. I had the immense joy of discovering the emotional and physical growth of my beneficiary from a child to a teenager and now a positive and outgoing young lady.

Volunteering with Club Rainbow is an enriching experience as I always felt a magical tug of the kids as I travel with them during their many personal discoveries.

Club Rainbow has a wide plethora of activities from fund raising. This includes art expression, self discovery, social awareness, self management and Club Rainbow Family Retreat.

Camp Rainbow allows chronically ill kids to go the extra mile in self discovery as it is medically supervised. The kids get an annual opportunity to try or participate in activities that are normally taboo for them. Camp is a platform for new friendships and bonding. The magic of camp last a lifetime and its magical power is a pull factor of my yearly participation.

As a volunteer, I received unconditional love from the kids. This is one main reason to keep on coming back to volunteer at Club Rainbow. The warmth, care and love from staff, kids and families of Club Rainbow will never cease.