My experience at BKTG

I am writing to share with you guys what volunteering is like at the Basic Knowledge Training Group and how the experience had been for me personally. Recruitment is in full swing and hopefully, writing this would encourage more people to step up as we are perennially short of volunteers. However, this is not propaganda but is primarily about the real people, real experiences and real relationships that I had seen in the short time I had been here.

Many of you may have the impression that intellectually disabled people are hard to handle and harder to befriend. Indeed, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was getting myself into when I signed up and can’t help but wonder if I am able to get comfortable with them. On my first few visits, seeing the volunteers taking good care of the trainees and treating all behavioural issues with patience and understanding was a deeply humbling experience. The trainees can be hard to manage at times and very often, they show little progress despite the best efforts. These people know what real charity is and are willing to care for the trainees totally unrelated to them, taking only satisfaction in the fact that they had alleviated some burden for the care-takers and let the trainees enjoy a happier time.

When I started engaging with the trainees, I did have doubts that the activities we organised did not register with them, since they don’t talk and generally don’t do as they are told. However, during parting time, it was very surprising and heart-warming to see one or two trainees give a smile and wave you goodbye. It does feel good to be appreciated and have a special bond with your trainee! All in all, most of the trainees are not too difficult to take care, and there are always other friendly volunteers around to help out in tricky situations.

Lastly, I must mention the awesome BKTG volunteers. They do feel like one big family in disguise! Besides the regular dinners and occasional drinking sessions, they are great fun to be around with and are there for you when you need advice (or simply someone to listen to heartbreak stories). It is quite amazing to see how much camaraderie the volunteers have in spite of the gulf in backgrounds. I think if there is just one special factor that bonds people to BKTG, it has to be the enormously meaningful relationships between volunteers here. Individually, our small and little baby efforts may count for little. But together, we made the world a much happier place for all the trainees under our care.

-Weiliang