Sunday, March 25, 2007

Mentally Challenged

On some mornings I go to this Chinese coffee shop behind my house for breakfast. They have nice steaming 'char siew pow' available very early in the morning. I usually have one 'char siew pow' with a cup of coffee. As usual, I was at that coffee shop having my breakfast and I noticed a Chinese girl sitting at a nearby table having her bowl of noodle soup. I have seen this girl many times before at this shop and also at one of our local churches that help to look after and train the mentally challenged.

She has money to pay for the breakfast and knows how much change she should get. I was wondering what would happen to people like her if there was no one to give money for the daily needs. She doesn't work and so doesn't have a steady income. Her parents are probably giving her pocket money. What will happen to her if they are not around? It will be a sad story.

The Trinity Baptist Church in this city has set up a center to help people like her to learn a trade through which they can earn some money. The church also collects old newspapers and other stuff which can be sold for re-cycling and the money from this helps to support this center. This is a very good community service that the church is providing besides the dialysis center that they also operate. I feel that any church today that talks about evengelism without having a program to help the needy is not going to make an impact. Visiting the old folks home once a year is not it.

1 comment:

David BC Tan said...

I can't help but agree. Beyond the obvious institutional service a church offers (thru centers etc), individuals also should be encouraged to do more - on an indeividual basis as well as through their family or in the home. Supporting a church that does this is good, but living a lifestyle of service for the good of our community is even better.