Dear Diary,
6.15pm : As I pushed open the glass door to macs, I saw seated with Dyana at the table were 3 other girls. I soon got to know their names - Xue Ting, Angelina (Alex) and Yasmin. They were all p6 just like Dyana, taking their PSLE in a month's time. Initially I thought they knew each other from school, but I was abit suprised to find out that they met one another not long ago and a playground nearby. Still trying to take in this piece of information, I soon realised too that the 5 guys at the adjcent table were friends of Dyana too. Kian Hwee, Zhou Ming, Jia Bao, Jia Wei and Eric. 9 in total. 10 including me!
After a burger, we headed off to their favourite hangout - the playground! Heading there, thoughts reeled through my head. I mean, this is something totally foreign to me. Meeting friends at the playground, and having the trust to hang out with one another. Their PSLE one month away yet instead of hitting the books, they were going to the playground. Where are their parents? How long have this bunch of teens been doing this? How come I never seen this before? Just how many other groups of playground teens are there around Singapore? All these thoughts spinning through my head as I remained a silent observer as we headed in the direction of the playground.
Crossing the road, one of the guys dashed across even though there was an oncoming car and weaved in and out from lane to lane. I thought, "they sure aren't scared to die". Maybe, just maybe this teens have seen worse. Been through worse. Maybe.
That same guy sat on a railing with his back to the canal as he waited for us to cross the road. An aunty walked by and warned him about the danger of his action. He muttered under his breath and scolded her abit. Oh wells.
7 plus: Finally we reached the playground. Their home. The place they find a sense of belonging. Their fairyland. The place they escape to, free from troubles of life. Sadly, it was occupied. So we resigned to a neighbouring block and we girls having picked a spot at the void deck, sat down in a circle. The guys wanting to be cool, walked around doing nothing in particular.
We passed time in simple ways. Chop chilli chop. Concentration. Murderer. *wink, wink. I'm dead!* The night flew by like that. All the while I sat silent, watching the group do what they do daily just like a child looking at the world around for the very first time. I was very...what's that word? very... whatever, you know what I mean.
Halfway through, one of the guys offered to buy Jolly Sanders for two of the girls. One didn't one. So he set of to buy two cans of peach flavoured JS. One for himself and one for her. The group also did some interesting things like climbing the parapet from the staircase landing halfway up to the second floor. If you don't really know what I'm talking about, nevermind. Just know this, it is dangerous stuff. Some sat there as we played games. Others listened to music there. When we had exhausted our resource of games to play at the void deck, all of them climbed up and challenged one another to jump down from there. Alex, Yasmin and myself remained down there watching on them. Xue Ting did jump and survived in one piece just that her knees hurt after that.
9 plus: the group decides to disperse as Kian Hwee and Zhou Ming walked Xue Ting home. Alex, Dyana, Yasim and myself walked to Yasmin's place. On the way there, Thank God I was able to share a short and simple Gospel with Yasmin. She was already saved about a year ago just that she had fallen away from God after her mum disallowed her to attend church. After Yasmin went home, Dyana got a call from one of the guys asking if they would still like to meet up near the playground. We went at the void deck, sat on the floor. 5 of us. Started talking about ton-ing and how they love to stay up through the night. They pointed out to me too their masterpieces they had drawn on the floor. Kian Hwee was especially proud about his cute skull he had drawn. To admit, it looked quite cute, not scary. To put it plainly, vandalism. :/
10pm: I had to say goodbye to Kian Hwee, Zhou Ming, Alex and Dyana. My curfew was 10.30 and I needed to start heading home. Found out they were intending to stay out till 11 plus or later. At the void deck, Yasmin had messaged me and said that she would like to come back to God. "Life is nothing without God." she said.
Well that marks the end of my first encounter adventures with the playground teens.
wait, that's not all!
I travelled home with a heavy heart. Heavy cos I felt for this teens. Wondering how many more of them are there out there. Lots of thoughts running through my mind. It was like a culture shock! I have grown up in an environment sheltered and protected. Thank God for loving parents who care. These kids don't have a privilege of such a home. How could I be so blind. Thank God for this eye opener! And the start of a new avenue in reaching our community for Christ.
In closing, I once heard someone wise say: There are two types of people. One who has many things in life and Jesus only becomes one part of his life. Another who has nothing, but Jesus becomes His everything. These playground teens are the latter.
Which are you?
I'd rather have Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment