On May 28th, Keeping Hope Alive hosted educators from the North 7 Cluster - Principals, Vice Principals, Heads of Department and teaching staff from primary schools, secondary schools and junior colleges. They joined our volunteers at Chin Swee Road rental flats for a simple walkthrough and about an hour and a half of door knocking.

One of the first things Fion shared with the group was the difference between a top-down and bottom-up approach. Distribution done blindly without assessing actual needs on the ground creates its own problems - canned food given to elderly residents without can openers, 3-in-1 drinks handed to diabetic patients. Going door to door, talking to residents, and understanding what they actually need changes everything.

Three encounters from that morning stayed with us.

The first was a mother and her intellectually-disabled daughter, now in her 40s. Out of love and fear, she had kept her daughter close for over 30 years. Recently she made one of the hardest decisions of her life - arranging for her daughter to move to a care home. Not because she wanted to let go, but because she is growing older and wants to ensure her daughter is cared for even after she is gone. The daughter still comes home regularly.

The second was a family that needed mattresses. The teachers assessed the situation together with our volunteers and pooled their money to buy them. Watching the effect that small, personalised gesture had on the family receiving it - that stayed with everyone present.

The third was an Indian uncle with asthma who apologised at the door for not being able to talk long, inhaling from his inhaler as he spoke. He looked weak and tired. But as we chatted and asked about his life, he opened up - about his family, his wife, his years as a yoga practitioner, about chakras. By the end he had been talking to us energetically for a good ten minutes, smiling and breathing well.

These are the moments that remind us this is never a one-way thing. We go without expecting gratitude from the people we meet. Instead, we go with our own gratitude - thanking them for giving us the chance to do something for someone else.

At the end of the session, the educators presented Fion with two gifts that we are deeply grateful for.

The first was a framed painting titled "Light Source" by Kong Yin Teng Aleana, a student from Christ Church Secondary School. The artwork depicts hands holding something small and glowing, rendered with intricate, colourful detail. The inscription on the back reads: "This work speaks to the courage required to reach out - whether to help or heal - and the hope that even the smallest light can bridge vast differences of pain and isolation. The glow of the tiny figure becomes a symbol of resilience and compassion, suggesting that connection and mutual healing are possible even in the aftermath of damage." It was a deeply meaningful gift that spurs us on in what we do.

The second was a printed card titled "From Awareness to Action: A Chin Swee Experience" - filled with personal reflections from each educator who joined us that day. Their words spoke of hoping to bring this spirit back to their schools, of seeing residents not as problems to be solved but as people to be heard, of wanting their students to grow up knowing that asking for support is not weakness.

These gifts remind us why we keep showing up. We hope the educators bring some of these lessons back with them - not just the activity of door knocking, but the deeper understanding underneath it. In the coming months, we will be doing the same with schools from the East, West and Central regions.