The Beauty of Nowhere to be

In May and June, RHC volunteers engaged in a daily hot meal delivery to low-income families in Chinatown. This initiative - carried out in partnership with Yong-en Care Centre and Food Bank - enabled us to see residents we already knew through our monthly food distributions, as well as meet new families. Here are some reflections from Kalie & Anthony, who started serving with RHC Mercy & Justice for the first time through this initiative:

“We began serving with the food delivery in Jalan Kukoh during school break as a way to connect with the wider Singapore community and to become “essential” during the  Circuit Breaker so we could continue to build relationships with others here in Singapore.

Throughout our time there, we were able to build relationships with many of the residents since we were able to deliver food to the same families each day.

One family we got to know in particular is a single mother with a teenage son and his girlfriend. Throughout the first three weeks we made an effort to get to know their names and a bit of their story. Since we had nowhere to be, we had the extra time to sit and listen to them share and ask deeper questions about themselves. It was during the third week of food deliveries that J opened up and shared that her son’s girlfriend just came back from a doctor’s appointment and found out she was pregnant. There was talk about terminating the pregnancy, but J told us she was encouraging them to keep the baby as it was a gift from God.

Through much discussion over the next few days, we continued to encourage J to lead her son and his girlfriend in wisdom to keep the baby. We were also able to pray with J. In time, by God’s grace, they did made the decision to keep the baby! We are still in continued prayer for this family, especially given the many other factors in their lives that are leading to chaos and confusion, and we pray for them to continue to care for this unborn child.

We also had the opportunity to meet with an older uncle named K who built a strong bond with Anthony. On one of the last days of our time serving there, Phase 2 began and he invited Anthony into his house for a cup of tea. In their time together, he shared with Anthony his life story and explained how he didn’t get to see his family much. (His favourite days are whenever he does see them.) He also shared about his flatmate and how he felt he needed to take her in since she had some mental disabilities and was being taken advantage of and bullied. K looks out for her now that they share a flat together. What an example of selflessness!

Throughout our time at Jalan Kukoh, we met many people who were lonely for conversation and connection and who were very willing to share with us when we took the time to get to know their names. They were also quite receptive to us praying for them when we asked if we could pray. This experience was incredibly rewarding for us, as we were able to make these connections with an often forgotten part of Singapore, and were able to bring prayer to these families desperately in need of wisdom and guidance."