CHALLENGE RULES
1. For the first week, make an intentional effort to greet the non-teaching staff in your school and thank them for their acts of service.
2. Within the week, try to have short conversations with at least three of them.
3. For the second week, write a note or make a small gift to show your gratitude toward six of them. If possible, offer to pray for them as well!
4. Keep a journal of your experience.
Challenger: ARIN MAK, 14
3 Fun Facts:
1. I like to run
2. I enjoy reading
3. My favourite colour is yellow
INITIAL THOUGHTS
To be very honest, I was not excited about the challenge when I saw the phrase ‘non-teaching staff’. The first thing that came to my mind was that I will need to talk to the cleaners in school. Recently, I was also required to reach out to the non-teaching staff in school as it was part of my Values In Action (VIA) project, which is a community involvement program to encourage students to be socially responsible citizens. My friends and I went around school to approach the aunties who were in charge of cleaning the toilets in an attempt to strike up conversations with them.
However, it was difficult for us to communicate with them as we were not very good in speaking Chinese and they couldn’t speak English. It was so tough just to get both parties to understand each other! For this challenge, I want to reach out to the cleaners again as they are the most senior in school and in my opinion, they work the hardest. I really hope that this time, I can have more proper conversations with these aunties unlike the conversations I struggled to have with them previously.
THE CHALLENGE
Week 1
During the first week of the challenge, I made a mental note to intentionally greet the aunties whenever I visited the toilet and when I saw them in the corridors. They usually smile at me or nod their heads at me politely and continue doing their work. I spoke to a total of three aunties that were in charge of cleaning the toilets in school. I started the conversation by asking them if they had taken their lunch and I also asked them what their working hours are like.
Talking to the aunties this time round was easier as I asked a friend of mine who was good in Chinese to follow me to speak to them. When I spoke to one of the aunties, I got a glimpse into what their lives as a cleaning staff is like. She was complaining about the difficulties she faced while cleaning the toilets. The auntie told me that some students do not flush the toilets and litter the floor with toilet paper. She had to clean up their mess and that often ruined her appetite. After hearing what the students did, I felt disgusted by their actions. How could someone be so irresponsible and let their elders clean up after their mess! She talked to me as if I were a friend of hers as she kept on pouring her heart out to me. Honestly, I did not really know what to say to her but I tried to comfort her by mentioning that the inconsiderate acts of students were wrong and that they should be more considerate instead. When I went a step further to thank her for her contributions to the school, she smiled and thanked me for appreciating her efforts.
Week 2
For the second week, I knew that the challenge involved making something small as a gesture of appreciating the aunties for their hard work that often goes unseen. I was not very sure what to do at first and struggled a little as I am not a very artistic person and am not good at drawing or decorating things. However, I knew that it was not about the artistic skills but the heart of gratitude that I hoped they could sense from me. Hence, my card was simple — I wrote ‘Thank You’ on it, accompanied by a Bible verse (Phil 4:13). I remember that after greeting the aunties, I passed them the cards and went off for my lessons. They thanked me with a bright smile and that really warmed my heart!
FINAL THOUGHTS
During this challenge, one of the greatest difficulties was the language barrier between the aunties and myself. The majority of them spoke very little English and my struggle with Chinese made it quite difficult to put my words into complete sentences! However, it was a much better experience compared to my VIA project. The reason was because I decided to bring a friend along with me who was able to speak Chinese brilliantly. Hence, whenever I felt stuck, I was comforted to have someone that could offer me some support and bridge the lack of communication between the aunties and myself. Over the course of these two weeks, I have learnt what having a heart of gratitude is like. It need not be anything huge or elaborate but small intentional actions daily can go a long way! I have truly gained a new-found appreciation for the cleaning staff in school and I hope I will not take them for granted anymore! Moving forward, I plan to continue being intentional in greeting the aunties and initiating conversations with them to hear them out
