It
was the year 2011. I was in my final year of polytechnic education, during which
I was allocated an internship position at Melrose Home. A residence providing
care and protection for children and youth who come from disadvantaged
backgrounds, Melrose Home inspired my belief in serving the community. As a
mentor, I was assigned to Dave*. More often than not, people who came into contact
with Dave described him as a “problematic child”. Dave rarely smiled,
frequently threw tantrums, muttered obscenities as well as exhibited anti-social
behaviors. As his mentor, I was frustrated. It was difficult working with a boy
of such volatile temperament and it heavily affected my work performance.
That
all changed when I accompanied Dave to visit his mother and brother. I was
taken aback by the fact that Dave’s mother and brother were both residents of
MINDS, an organization that serves Persons with intellectual disabilities. For
the first time, I witnessed Dave smile. It was as though Dave became the
happiest boy on earth, struggling to see his family once again. A social worker
then revealed to me that Dave, when he was still a young, happy boy, was
seperated from both of them due to their intellectual disabilities. Since then,
Dave was only allowed to visit them once every few months. Dave’s longing to be
with his family fueled his anger and frustrations, and this transformed a
young, decent boy into the “problem” child he is now.
Behind
everyone person lies a story, and the one behind Dave’s truly inspired my
beliefs in pursuing social work. In working with the vulnerable populations of
Singapore, I want to help address underlying social issues that plague our
local community so that people like Dave can become happy again.
(Edited as of 12 September 2014, 12.38am)
(Edited as of 12 September 2014, 12.38am)
This is a very well narrated reflection, Sean. You describe your mentorship, Dave and your eventual cathartic moment seeing Dave with his family quite aptly. I'm glad to know that you have been inspired by your work experience and that you plan to use this as the basis for community service work in the future. Very admirable!
ReplyDeleteHere are a couple of very minor language issues:
1) ,,,my final year of polytechnic education during which…. (punctuation)
2) social issues that plagues