by: Chia Jie Min, Community Worker
Last Tuesday evening, Lisfah, our community enabler, and I set up our usual table at the student care centre for the monthly “tabung” (savings) programme at Lengkok Bahru. We waited with anticipation for the usual buzz of mothers dropping in to sit with us, chat and swap stories about community happenings.
That particular day, however, many mothers could not attend. So, it was unusually quiet. Lisfah was looking a little forlorn as she was looking forward to catching up with her neighbours. She always found her conversations with them comforting as they reassured her that she lived in a neighbourhood where people cared about each other. Suddenly an older person from the next block popped by. “He’s not a parent” was my first thought, “how did he know about tabung and why is he here?” Lisfah introduced him as Uncle Manja, and he said that he had just come by to say “Hello!” to his friend Lisfah.
With his loud voice and laughter, Uncle Manja kept us entertained about his daily happenings and also those of his many friends. Our conversation turned to the topic of health and exercise, and Uncle Manja shared that he had a chronic heart condition. He had to be careful about what he ate and not overexerting himself. Nonetheless, he added that he enjoyed going for walks in the wee hours of the morning and does not find that exhausting.
Lisfah then showed him how to download the government’s Healthy 365 app so he could get a free tracker to clock his steps. Healthy 365 is a mobile application to encourage users to adopt a healthier lifestyle through gamification and rewards and Uncle Manja was tickled that he could be rewarded for walking. So, he patiently worked together with Lisfah to set-up this app on his phone.
At around 9 pm, Uncle Manja started looking out the door. He said that someone he had recently met at a Hari Raya function was coming to pass him something she had cooked. A few minutes later, his friend entered the centre with a steaming hot pot of stingray assam pedas and white rice. There was more than enough for the 4 of us and it was delicious.
I began the evening trying to build community around a savings programme, but the evening reminded me that community is friendships formed through organic interactions, meandering conversations, shared gifts and hospitality freely offered. As I mobilise community around their shared interest or concerns, I must never forget to safeguard its essence.
I had experienced an authentic experience of community, with the community.
Hospitality is the welcoming of strangers, and generosity is extending an offer with no expectation of return. These are two elements that we want to nurture as we work to create, strengthen, and restore our communities. – Peter Block