Touching Lives

For 30 years Christian Action has been serving the less fortunate in our community. We don't know how many lives have been changed, or how the quality of all those lives may have been changed by what we've said or done for all the people we've served, but it's always a delight to hear from some of those people.

Ms. Connie Yip, who recently received the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) Outstanding Award for Instructor at the 8th ERB "Manpower Development Scheme" Award Presentation Ceremony was one such person.

Connie told me that she had first met me over 20 years ago at one of the Vietnamese Refugee Camps! She wrote a beautiful story about her experience. This is a small but very encouraging part of it:

Ms. Yip won the ERB
Outstanding Award for
Instructor

"At dawn one autumn morning, I sailed on a walla walla (an electrified boat), wearing my windbreaker jacket to stop the strong sea breeze. My stomach churned during the crowded 10-minute journey, but I finally landed on Green Island, where the Vietnamese Refugee Reception Centre was located.

The clank of the metal gates opening and shutting echoed in my eardrums, and the reality of seeing cell-like “homes” before my eyes caused shivers to move down deep in my heart.

Though some memories have blurred, I can’t forget seeing a fishing boat packed with refugees: shabby, skinny and with empty eyes; children clinging to their relatives.

Among us visitors, there were pastors and volunteers, all embracing different objectives and duties and working together. I remember this one particular lady with a pair of eyes that glittered with determination. She was driven by passion and that impressed me.

Twenty-five years passed, and while working for Christian Action I heard a familiar term "Vietnamese Refugee Camp" during an award presentation ceremony. A strange, but seemingly familiar voice seized my attention! Oh, yeah! The voice of determination and passion, plus a slimmer V-shape face matched an image from my memory tank, it was her: Mrs. Cheung Ang Siew Mei!"

Ms. Yip in Civil Aid
Service in the 80s