I received a call from Jeslyn Koh out of the blue towards the end of September.She graduated from EAST this summer and is now serving as a social worker.
"Help me in a project?" she asked.
We met for coffee and she told me what she was doing at PingYi Secondary School, a government school in the east.
"We run an after-school program for students with esteem and discipline issues," she began. "How about coming to give a talk on dressing and colors? The kids will love it."
The "kids"--I discovered on the day I went--weren't anything I'd expected.
Everyone of the 14 who showed up looked like any well-fed, well-pampered kids you see in the malls in Singapore. There were 4 Malays and 10 Chinese--girls and guys--and they were all between 13 and 15 years old.
A few remained silent throughout my presentation but most were willing to participate.
I was surprised, I must say, when everyone told me the average amount of sleep they had was four hours per night--"computer games" being the main reason.
It was GREAT watching Jeslyn, our alumnus, in action.
The kids were comfortable with her; even the silent ones lingered for refreshments after the meeting.
Though she said she's still "new" to the job, she seeme dlike a "pro" to me.
"The training at EAST gave me convictions to do what God has called me to do," she added.
"And it's great to know I could always call on the school for help and support whenever I need it."
