Secondary 3, 4 and 5 Thematic Reading
THEMATIC READING- TERM 3 : CARING CITIZENS (Sec 3,4,5)
In Helping Others, You Help Yourself
Consider the positive feelings you experienced the last time when you did something good for someone else. Perhaps it was the satisfaction of running an errand for your neighbor, or the sense of fulfillment from volunteering at a local organization, or the gratification from donating to a good cause. Or perhaps it was the simple joy of having helped out a friend. This “warm-glow” of pro-sociality is thought to be one of the drivers of generous behavior in humans. One reason behind the positive feelings associated with helping others is that being pro-social reinforces our sense of relatedness to others, thus helping us meet our most basic psychological needs. Research has found many examples of how doing good, in ways big or small, not only feels good, but also does us good. For instance, the well-being-boosting and depression-lowering benefits of volunteering have been repeatedly documented. As has the sense of meaning and purpose that often accompanies altruistic behavior. Even when it comes to money, spending it on others predicts increases in happiness compared to spending it on ourselves. Moreover studies suggest a link between generosity and happiness in the brain. For example, donating money to charitable organisations activates the same (mesolimbic) regions of the brain that respond to monetary rewards or gifts. In fact, the mere intent and commitment to generosity can stimulate change and make people happier J
READING 3: WORKING FOR THE GOOD OF SOCIETY (Sec 3 and Sec 4/5) Singaporean doctor finds joy — and a new world view — helping Afghan refugees
SINGAPORE: He was in private practice as a general practitioner when a patient told him something that changed his life. A non-governmental organisation (NGO) was looking for a doctor to help Afghan refugees in Quetta, an area in Pakistan along the border with war-ravaged Afghanistan.
Up to that point, Wee Teck Young’s life in Singapore was, in his words, “very typical”. And he had been looking for such an opportunity. “I think everyone has the desire to help others,” he says.What sealed the deal, however, was the photo his patient left with him: Of an Afghan refugee and his daughter. “She was beautiful,” he recalls. “It wasn’t too difficult for me to decide that I wanted to explore this.”
The bachelor gave up his job and moved to Quetta in 2002, and then Afghanistan itself, where he has now lived for well over a decade. Since then, he acknowledges, his life has been far from typical. He graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1993. His life changed when he left Singapore in 2002.
The 50-year-old, who prefers to be known as Hakim, or healer in the Afghan dialect Dari, has a finger in many pies. While he is still licensed to practise medicine, his time is spent primarily on humanitarian work. He is an international coordinator of an NGO he started, called the Afghan Peace Volunteers, a group of young Afghans working together for non-violence and was awarded the International Pfeffer Peace Award in 2012 by the Fellowship for Reconciliation from the USA.
But his big move has changed not only his life and the lives of those he has worked with, it has also dramatically altered his perspectives on life and death, success and even world issues like climate change.
Hakim spent two years in Quetta before moving to Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province as a medical specialist with an international NGO. But as he visited and lived in remote villages to help with public healthcare education, he realised that the needs of the people he met went far beyond healthcare.“They needed education, community development, all the many basic human needs.
A peace workshop he organised at Bamiyan University opened the door to him meeting more young Afghans who felt that “they didn’t have a voice” as war raged on and people were being killed every day. “Then I said: ‘Oh, why don’t you come together?’” he recounts. So in 2009, the Afghan Peace Volunteers was formed, and in 2012, he moved to Kabul with some of the youths. It is diverse work he does: The group focuses on initiatives loosely linked by the themes of “Green”, “Equal” and “Non-Violent”. “We can’t isolate these issues,” he says. “We need to solve these issues multi-dimensionally and see how they’re connected to one another. That’s how we are as human beings as well.”
When asked to describe the differences between Singapore and Afghanistan, he uses a stark analogy: Singapore is heaven, and Afghanistan is hell. “In all the humanitarian indexes, from healthcare to education, peace, security, environment … you name it, they’re near rock bottom,” says Hakim. Singapore is such a polar opposite that every time he flies home, he tells himself, “I’m leaving one world and going back to another. I could die anytime,” he says, recalling an incident when a bomb went off near the house he was living in at the time. “It was so loud the shock waves broke the glass pane (to) smithereens across the room.” By instinct, his Afghan roommate, Ali, flew across the room and was at the door before he realised that Hakim had not moved. “He just looked at me and said, ‘Move,’” he recounts.
“That’s the way it is for 32 million Afghans,” says Hakim, who has learnt not to take life, and Singapore, for granted.“I don’t have to fret over the small little things,” he adds. “If I catch myself thinking about complaining about this or that (in Singapore), I really have to stop myself because that shows my ingratitude for how good this place has become.”
Just as he was motivated to read up on war and climate change, Hakim believes that Singaporeans — or all of humanity for that matter — would care more about such world issues if they knew people who have been personally affected. “If Singaporeans had refugee friends, they’d open up their rooms and house them,” he says readily — a confidence perhaps sparked by his own experience. “I have faith in all of humanity,” he replies when pressed about it.
His belief in this, it seems, comes from personal experience. He is the first to admit that over the past 18 years, his perspective on life — and success — has changed dramatically. Today, his needs are simple: He estimates that he spends about S$80 to S$90 a month on food and about S$100 for rent. “I have food, water and shelter, so I don’t need any money for now,” he says.He does not draw a salary, while the Afghan Peace Volunteers relies on funding from his friends from medical school, and other peace groups from round the world.
Twice a year, he returns home to Singapore to visit his parents, aged 80 and 81, as well as his older brother, who is married with family. His life is very different from what he had envisioned when he was a student and a doctor here. “I was made to believe that if I got a better grade or was smarter, I was successful,” he says. “But why did I want to be academically successful? Because I wanted a stable and good income.” To him, material things are no longer a measure of success. If they were, he observes, the most successful Afghans today would be the crooks.
Now, he focuses on spending time with his loved ones, building relationships and caring for as many people as he can.“I hope to encourage people across the world to know and understand one another, person to person,” he said. “Full relationships — and we have the technology for that.
“That’s my dream.”
Source: CNA/dp