GAINING INSIGHTS from SERVING OTHERS

Nathanael Siew, Organising member of Youth Beyond Borders – TLSG Connects Programme. He is currently studying in Raffles Institution, and is serving as a Primer in the Boys’ Brigade in Raffles Institution (60th Company). He is from Faith Community Baptist Church.

Throughout the years, the Boys’ Brigade 60th Company in Raffles Institution has served different communities through various overseas mission trips. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, it was not possible this year. It was, however, apt that on her 30th anniversary, 60th found a creative way to serve others despite these challenges.

Consequently, Youth Beyond Borders – Timor-Leste Singapore Connects was born. This programme aimed to impart 21st Century competencies to 39 Grade 9 to 12 students in St Paul Methodist School (SPMS). Led by five primers from 60th, four virtual sessions were planned, each comprising devotions, worship, and activities to teach and demonstrate these life skills.

We faced numerous challenges during the planning process. Firstly, we had to understand the context of the SPMS students who would be accessing the sessions from their mobile phones and encounter internet connectivity issues in Timor-Leste. Hence, we had to brainstorm useful and engaging activities to conduct through the screen. Additionally, differences between the Singapore and Timor-Leste cultures meant that extra effort had to be spent making the activities relatable to the SPMS students.

Amidst overcoming these challenges, we took away many valuable lessons. One was an enduring commitment to ensuring the information we communicated was appropriately received. For instance, when teaching entrepreneurship, we initially planned to discuss the case study of Dropbox. However, after some feedback, we realised that it was challenging for the Timorese to make a connection with Dropbox. Hence we opted for them to come up with ideas on how to best sell ayam potong (a popular chicken dish in Timor-Leste). This taught us the importance of resisting the temptation to simply teach out of our knowledge and context; we took the extra step to consider how to best present information so that the Timorese can best learn.

Another lesson was perhaps more intangible. Throughout this experience, it was refreshingly insightful to interact with a vastly different culture and people. We were very surprised upon knowing that the Timorese followed football extremely closely (and many were even huge fans of Ronaldo)! As such, we planned a discussion for openness based around predictions for Euro 2020, which generated significant excitement. The interactions in the breakout rooms had also opened our eyes to perspectives we previously had not considered.

Despite the differences in cultures, there existed an underlying similarity in dreaming about the future.

This experience of conducting a virtual programme was deeply fulfilling. A particularly memorable moment was when the Timorese simulated promoting ayam potong by doing a dance on TikTok, generating much laughter and amusement from everyone. Albeit short, such moments were ones we remembered because it allowed us to connect with the Timorese students on a deeper level. Furthermore, when we shared our dreams with one another, we realised that, despite the differences in cultures, there existed an underlying similarity in dreaming about the future.

Overall, this experience was deeply humbling. This programme for us has been rewarding, insightful and fulfilling, and we are so thankful to have such an opportunity. It also showed that even though outreach and mission trips may be “reduced” to Zoom calls, there still lies an opportunity to serve the nations, one too good to miss out on.

ABOUT ST PAUL METHODIST SCHOOL

St Paul Methodist School (SPMS) provides formal education with Christian morals and principles for children from remote villages. For more information about SPMS, please visit www.spmstl.org. If you sense the Lord is calling you to support the MMS school ministry, please email mms@methodist.org.sg or call 6478-4818.

HELP

If you, your school, BB/GB Company, or organisation would like to be involved in a workshop or programme with SPMS conducted over Zoom, email us at cheryl. chen@methodist.org.sg. We can explore how virtual missions can work!