Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen
I am very pleased to join all of you here today.
Last year, we visited Sun Love Home. We hope that today we can add some festive cheer and joys to all of the residents of this home.
This has been a difficult year. During hard times, donations are usually harder to come by. Nevertheless, I'm very strongly encouraged that ten of our affiliates and more than 50 volunteers have readily come together and pooled their resources of more than $14,500 to purchase essential amenities for the residents of the home. This is our way of sharing.
When we were discussing what we ought to do this year, this SILRA Home was recommended. Few people come here, because of old ideas about leprosy. People who had been struck by leprosy did not contract it out of personal neglect. It is the luck of the draw.
They suffer disfigurement, even after being cured fully. But below the surface, inside them, they are like all other people.
They can be very hardworking. I know. I grew up not so far from here, on a farm. I have seen the patients of the former Trafalgar Home work on the farms.
They can be kind and compassionate people too. Let me relate something that happened in the 1950s. Near Trafalgar Home, a bachelor worked on a farm. He was housed in a small shack on the farm. He fell in love with the eldest daughter of the farmer. The parents did not approve. So they met in secret as often as they could. One day, they decided to marry. The bachelor summoned up enough courage to approach the farmer for his daughter's hand in marriage. The farmer was so incensed that he grabbed a chopper and attacked him. The bachelor warded off the blows, suffering many cuts, and ran for his life. Where did he run to? Towards Trafalgar Home. He collapsed on the way. Luckily for him a patient at Trafalgar Home found him on the road, and called for an ambulance. The man's life was saved.
The farmer was taken into custody. He was let off, as the bachelor did not want to press charges against the father of the one he loved.
What happened to the daughter? A marriage was arranged quite quickly. What happened to the bachelor? I do not know. But I am sure that if he is still living today, he will know that his life was saved by the patients of Trafalgar Home.
I have happy that you will be shifting to a new nursing home in the grounds of the Institute of Mental Health sometime in April next year. I am sure the new home, with better facilities, will be a more comfortable and warm place. I think credit must go to the team of very dedicated volunteers serving in the board of the Singapore Leprosy Relief Association for making this shift possible.
I read a report in the Straits Times last Friday. The story was headlined "All I want for Christmas.... is something so simple, many can give." The gist of the story was how Rotary Club, through more than 20 voluntary welfare organisations, went around asking more than 1,000 old folks what they wanted for Christmas. The club was surprised by how simple most wishes were. Many of the old people just wanted someone to talk to.
The story moved me. When we talk about helping the needy, we sometimes overlook that we should first ask the needy people what they need. And sometimes what they need doesn't have to be bought. It is the simple smile, companionship and the personal touch that makes all the difference.
The year end festive season started this month. We celebrated Hari Raya two weeks ago and we'll be celebrating Christmas and New Year soon. I hope that even as we celebrate the festive season, we'll not forget that we can share the festive joy with the needy people around us. On this note, I wish you all good health and a good year ahead.
Thank you.
