Last Sunday morning, I joined a group of volunteers who serve weekly in my Beach Road constituency. What I witnessed inspired me and caused me to think deeper about how healthy and robust communities can be created.

Mine is a rapidly ageing neighbourhood that has a higher than national average of elderly and needy residents. Hence, the combination of grassroots activists; government-sponsored Senior Activity Centres and volunteers is a welcomed network to support these vulnerable.

That Sunday, several of them were in the thick of action:

·       Veteran volunteer, Mdm Fion Phua, brought along her group of young volunteers to distribute porridge, home appliances and even new bed mattresses. Some cleaned and remove bedbugs in several flats. Others took down the names of those who needed financial or government help so I could appeal on their behalf. The delicious porridge was supplied by Goodwood Park Hotel.

·       Willing Hearts, a charity, parked its van at a nearby car park and started distributing bread and breakfast.

·       As the local MP whom residents are familiar with, I started conducting a mini Meet-The-People session right at the void deck for those who could not wait for my weekly sessions and house visits.

·       My husband and I helped to push some wheelchair-bound residents across the road to their favourite food centre so they could buy their own breakfasts.

·       At the car park, I saw a group of elderly residents from the rental blocks waiting joyfully for a volunteer van driver to send them to the nearby church.

That Sunday morning, in the midst of all the busy activities, I felt the melodious humming and the synchronised heartbeat of our community.

I realised that a community is like a human body, made up of various organs. Each organ finds its meaning and function as a part of the body. An organ that is severed from its main body will not amount to much and cannot exist for long on its own. So do people who do not care for the community. They eventually become disengaged, disconnected and cease to be of relevance or meaning to the larger body.

I reflected on three things I saw that made a community tick.

1.     There is strength in DIVERSITY. Just as each organ in the body is worthy and has its special role, each member in the community too is that way. The elderly and the vulnerable are as worthy as those who were there to serve them.

Indeed, if all parts of the body were the same, where would the body be? If the whole body were a pair of hands, how would it walk or think?

That Sunday, those good at leading like Fion, led. Those who are stronger in logistics and distribution, took on the more administrative duties. Those of us who have connections to the larger help network , took down details for follow-up during the coming week.

We all came to serve with our very different backgrounds, interests and resources; and did not think less of the vulnerable we serve. The respect for our diversity made our community a stronger one.

2.     There is strength in HUMILITY. Just as each organ quietly goes about performing the function for which it is made, communities are at their best when its members do what they are best at; and not think of themselves more highly than their fellow members.

Humility does not mean you think less of yourself; it simply means thinking of yourself less. The opposite of humility - ego and self-importance – distracts one from focusing on and serving others.

That Sunday, everyone who was there knew that each has a role to play and no one felt more important than the other.

3.     There is strength in UNITY. Just as all parts of a body work towards the common goal of ensuring the whole body is healthy, a community can only be healthy and robust only if there is a common purpose. That shared purpose must be the pursuit of the well-being of all members of the community so that none will have to suffer alone and be left behind.

Diversity, humility and unity are the hallmarks of a healthy community and country.

Each of us is born into a community. I truly believe that our individual independence and self-sufficiency is not the end goal of our existence. It is only when we learn to be inter-dependent and be accountable to each other that we bring out the best in us. That is the moment when the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts and we are at our best.

May you find and take your place in the community into which you are born.

 Denise Phua Lay Peng/ My Paper’ Fortnightly Column/ 26 Nov 2013