“You will never know what our community needs until you make an effort to join as volunteers. At times, they don’t need your money but they need your care,”
Ruvee, Global Ehsan Relief Singapore volunteer
In the month of May, Global Ehsan Relief Singapore was honoured by a large turnout of our Ehsan Community – a pool of committed volunteers who dedicated their Saturday mornings to meeting our beneficiaries!
Recently we met two lovely volunteers, Sariah and Ruvee, and asked them their motivations behind why they volunteer:
Sariah used to work as a former civil servant. This is her third time volunteering with Global Ehsan Relief.
Based on her experience volunteering with us, she loved how our team checked up on our beneficiaries by asking them questions and following up on their progress each month. When she saw how cheerful and welcoming our beneficiaries were when receiving the items, she felt that our team maintains a good relationship with our beneficiaries. She has been sharing about her experience with GER among her friends and family too.
For Ruvee, this was her first time tagging along with Sariah. They have been best friends since secondary school.
Her first volunteering experience with us was an eye-opening experience for her. As a counsellor, she shared how her counselling usually entails one-to-one sessions where she has limited opportunities to ask further in-depth questions.
She shared how one of our beneficiaries’ predicament had impacted her.
After witnessing and hearing Mdm Hafizah’s situation, she was in disbelief that Mdm Hafizah had welcomed her and our team so warmly and cheerfully. Ruvee had also not expected the team to visit house to house and was amazed at how our teams care for our beneficiaries.
Ruvee shared a gem of her volunteering takeaway: “You will never know what our community needs until you make an effort to join as volunteers. At times, they don’t need your money but they need your care.”
One wish that Ruvee had was to involve more students in our volunteering efforts as she witnessed how at times, the younger generation are no longer grateful for what they have.
Both Sariah and Ruvee hope the Global Ehsan Relief team will continue their efforts to help the most needy. They ended off by saying how they’re looking forward to joining our Community Involvement Programmes (CIP) to personally witness the different communities in need beyond Singapore.