Angel Network Update: Relocation in Progess

Dear Friends,
Acts29 is assisting several elderly living in Blk 3 and 4 Hougang to shift house over the next few months. The blocks will be torn down this year.
The elderly we are helping are on govt. financial assistance (no family) or have been abandoned by their children. Most of the old men/women we’ve adopted have pretty sad/heartbreaking stories. They’re between 75 years old – 89 years old.

Being relocated is a difficult experience for them. It’s like having to start all over again - making friends, finding their way around and settling down to the new environment. Yes they have many fears and insecurities.
A few who have been collecting and selling drink cans will no longer be able to continue this as contacts would be lost. They will be relocated all over the island. Some will be moving to AMK, Toa Payoh, Bukit Merah, Bedok and so on.

The elderly have shown us perseverance, courage, strength and resilience. They are not a helpless group of old people waiting for daily handouts. Weeks before they begin shifting out, they have found ways to get hold of cardboard boxes in good condish. I admire that.. Note to self: ask them to help us get more boxes for our FAST. They are all packed and ready to go. When we step into any elderly's flat now, we can see the boxes all ready: packed and taped up. Some have even manager to get contacts for lorries. However many need help with changing of letterbox keys, changing home address on the IC. Many don't know how to fix the new lights in their new flat or how to reinstall the water heater. Most have told us they want their new home to look exactly like the one they have now. the furniturs goes into the same corners and places. We took photos so we know where the bed was in the old flat and the sofa and the table, etc... The Catholics are requesting for us to arrange house blessing, holy communion and so on.

Sure they all have a past. Perhaps one left the family, another a compulsive gambler, another an alcoholic and another an ex-con. Perhaps their relatives have given up hope on them and stay away from them. For those who have been abandoned by their children, perhaps they didn't show love to their kids enough when they were young. Whatever wrong they did in the past should not be punishment for them to be isolated in their 1room cell. Angel Network has revealed to us the large numbers of elderly living alone, estranged from families. No one visits them, not even for CNY. Some old ladies are actually are afraid to be alone at night. Some times they can't sleep. They are also wary of being robbed. The old men tell us how nice it would be to have home-cooked meals and to have their meals with friends or family. Every 1 room flat we pass by is a block of many elderly living in loneliness and even despair. They are not the easiest people to get along with. They would have a hard time coping in an elderly day-care or old folks' home. They have a different way of thinking from the elderly in centres and homes. Despite their loneliness, they still want their independence and freedom.

You can be part of Angel Network by helping us in these ways:
1. request to be on angel network email list
2. help in the move by carrying stuff from old place to new place
3. contribute lorry/transport to help the elderly shift
4. painting their new home
5. fixing lights/nails/etc
6. donate a water heater to those who need one
7. help us get hold of fridge, sofa, wardrobe etc
8. help us monthly to pay visits as we expand Angel Network to AMK and Toa Payoh this 2008.

Some elderly do not have fridge, tv, radio, sofa, a table to eat at, a stove, water heater. One elderly man's home is bare except for a bed, a foldable table and 2 chairs. His wall is decorated with photo frame of Jesus, palm leaf and a little picture of our Archbishop pasted up!!! :)

24hour FAST: Call to Conversion

The Season for Lent has arrived.
Some young people may see this season as a time of suffering! to abstain, to fast, to go for more confessions, more penance and so on. Even for adults, Lent may be more of a season of Gloom. to enter 40days in the desert! what??? the desert???

Lent actually means spring and Spring is a beautiful season for new life. Maybe for those of us living in South-East Asia Spring is something we can only imagine as that season does not exist in our climate.

People think that we at acts29 are going crazy. We're gathering youths in Singapore to fast for 24hours. On top of that we're inviting our brothers and sisters from around Asia to fast with us too! Fasting only means more gloom? right? WRONG.

My 1st FAST experience occured in Brunei and the youths there were far from gloomy. They were filled with joy overflowing. Last year's FAST in Singapore saw 50 young people surrender all their comforts and treasures to step into the lives of the poor. Strange as it may sound, those youths had a great time experiencing hunger, building cardboard shelters and visiting the poor. Our joyful FAST experience is easy to explain yet hard to grasp. Those of you who have lived in Payatas dumpsite or in places where the people are poor would probably have recieved great joy from the poor. I've never been without joy in Payatas. At times tired, at times overwhelmed. At times there's sadness and I cry but still the joy cannot be taken away. because Payatas, like so many other places, is where the poor is present and that is where Paraiso (paradise) exists.

I invite you to read Isaiah 58. In Isaiah 58, God says he has chosen fasts that 1) loosen the bonds of wickedness, 2)undo heavy burdens, 3)let the oppressed go free, 4)break every yoke, 5)give bread to the hungry and provide the poor with housing, 6) allow people's light to break forth like the morning, 7)cause their health to spring forth speedily, 8)cause their righteousness to go before them and 9)cause the glory of God to be their reward.

http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/isaiah/isaiah58.htm

During this 24hour FAST we want to re-look at our relationship with one another: relationship within the family, relationship within the community and relationship with our brothers and sisters from the region. And we do so through the eyes of the poor. The poor never fail to remind us of what joy truly is. The poor point out to us the humanity of Jesus, the Son of God. Just as Christ was blessed, broken and given away, we too ask to be blessed, broken and given away so that we may share and rejoice in the Paraiso of our risen Lord.

24hour FAST 2008 REGISTTER NOW

WHERE IS THIS YEAR'S 24HOUR FAST VENUE: CHIJ TOA PAYOH (LORONG 1)
WHEN DOES IT START: 1ST MARCH SAT, 2PM REGISTRATAION
WHEN DOES IT END: 2ND MARCH SUN 3PM, (SUN MASS AT 2PM)

WHAT DO I BRING:
1 CUP/BOWL OF UNCOOKED RICE (PUT IN PLASTIC BAG/ZIPLOCK)
SLEEPING BAG
PEN/PENCIL


A LOOK AT 2007 24HOUR FAST

Refreshed, forgiven, blessed

For a week I spent time at home and wondering how much more I can give to the kids. Being sick made me weak, both physically and emotionally, yes, also spiritually.
I find myself battling with many thoughts about the mission. At home, I remember the little hands and feet of the kids. My heart aches seeing the reality of their hardships. Sometimes I fear for their health. Would you believe there was a time Rodel recited the multiplication table with me and he told me “Ate May I can’t do it. It’s too many. I can’t breath." I find the kids tire easily in Payatas.

Yes, we have the same dream. I wish we have more money, more shelters for them, more food, and more nurturing hands to fill each brokenness. Each day I wish the children more and more love to receive, more and more care to feel. I am proud to see how Paaralang Pantao brought joy and friendship to the kids. Each day's “heartspeaks” can be summarized to a miracle of: giving and love and pains endured. Yes, sometimes I scream inside, “Life is so unfair for the kids!” But a thought knock once at my heart. The kids are alive and they have been blessed with many moments to smile; to run, to play, to dance, to sing, to express their pains and wildest ideas, to argue with us, to have tantrums, to frown, to dream, to cheer, to pray, to reflect, to hear stories, to meet many friends from all over the world, to fight and reconcile, and to just BE,be themselves.

Being in the mission is a humbling experience. If God is listening I wish to tell him sorry because I felt so self-sufficient, that I can do something for the children. I can love them and give my time. I have missed to acknowledge the truth that God uses each one of us as instruments. He has the masterplan in His hands.

I was sick and felt I’ve been burned out with many thoughts for the kids and the mission. I forgot to tell God my desires and my hopes because I have been so busy thinking what to do, how to respond to the call. And then he allowed me to pause a while.

Tomorrow, I will be back to school after a weeks' rest. I feel refreshed, forgiven and blessed to have rested.