Receiving More Than Giving

By Daniel Wong Iam Hong

“You can never imagine the fulfillment when seeing the beautiful smile of the elderly,” a 22-year-old volunteer, Mandy Lo, a Year 4 student of University of Macau, said. Lo joined the Macao Community Youth Volunteers Development Association (MCYVDA) last year, and will continue to volunteer for the rest of her life.

It all began with a research project about senior people. “I was hired by the faculty to interview the elderly about their lives, ” she recalled. It was the first time for Lo to go to an old folks’ home. “They talked about old memories which were not related to the interview, but in fact I gained a lot from their life experience.” After that, she joined the MCYVDA and became a volunteer to help the elderly.

There was a time when she visited another old folk’s home and one of the old ladies talked about her feeling towards her son. “Her son rarely came to see her because he worked the whole day, he earned a lot and wanted her to live a better life, but what the old lady needed was simply a hug and some minutes of conversation,” Lo said. This episode made her realize that she was actually doing the same thing as the son towards her own parents. “I cried and I promised to put more time with my family. I discovered that volunteering is not only a process of giving, but also a process of receiving,” she said.

The MCYVDA was set up in 2005; the association aims at training young volunteers with moral values and provide them a chance to show their talents. They are currently selecting volunteers to go to Cambodia. “Compared to the ability of the volunteers, we attach more importance to their attitude,” Meiling Che, Chairwoman of the association, said. “The plan to go to Cambodia is aimed at letting our volunteers experience a dreadful living environment, so that they can reflect on their lives here in Macao.”

Macao has been changing a lot over the past 10 years after the handover. With the changes in society youngsters are required to change in order to keep abreast with the times. “Macao is more developed and people are more realistic, we think that it is very important to give a suitable moral value to our youngsters,” Che added. “Youngsters also need to enhance themselves physically and mentally.”

Till now, the association has 50 members; it is only a very small group of people in Macao. Che and Lo hope that there will be more and more youngsters joining them to serve people, to learn and to grow.