Wen Qing’s reflection

We finally made the trip to Balai. Although it was only a short one day trip, I experienced many things during the trip that made me think and realize that although the village isn’t a very sophisticated place and that many things in the villagers’ lives need to be improved, they might not necessarily be unhappy there.

Before going to Balai, I had the assumption that the people there were not very happy with their lives and they needed help to improve their situation. But I was proved wrong when I first heard the laughter of the children when I was walking towards the main gathering area. They were extremely animated and were playing with each other while the older girls were sitting around watching them. Even though they have not had any proper education and they have a relatively lower standard of living compared to Singaporeans, they still managed to find laughter in their lives. I guess that might be because they have not been exposed to life outside the village and thus they are satisfied with their current lives.

My group also went to a home belonging to a family of 3 generations. We asked her if she finds it hard to live in her home, and whether it is difficult to go out to sea daily to fish. She told us no. She said that this is their home, and that there is nothing to be afraid of because they know their home so well. The family is satisfied and contented with their lives. There were picture drawings stuck on the walls; there were toy boats stuck outside the house. All this shows that although the villagers might be living small, they still lived in contentment and happiness. This made me think whether these villagers may really need a change in their lives. Perhaps they might need help in terms of fishing and earning money, but I think changing their lifestyle and their homes (To become more modern and clean) might prove to be harmful instead of beneficial to them. These people have lived in their village for such a long time. If their village was suddenly modernized, they would become strangers in their own homes.

I was also struck by how warm and welcoming every villager was. They answered our every question and welcomed us into their homes for us to nose around. They generously shared their food (Coconuts) with us and offered us spoons to eat. I bet things would be radically different if we tried to go into our neighbours’ houses in Singapore on the pretext of interviewing them; Singaporeans would be suspicious and worry that we might have some ulterior motive. The villagers actually believed that we are sincere in knowing more about their lifestyle. This point really touched me. Aren’t all human beings supposed to be like this? To honestly believe in others and to be open to others no matter the circumstances. I think living in town where there is deception and hypocrisy has developed in Singaporeans a wrong mindset.

The children were also very spontaneous and willing to get into the games. They tried to watch us and understand our messages even though we might speak a different language. During the tangle game, we could see that the children were seriously confused about what we were trying to tell them but they still tried their best to understand us. I felt that this was very heartwarming. They also participated in our games wholeheartedly and were willing to listen to us. Once again, this demonstrated how open the villagers are.

In all, this was definitely a very enriching experience. If I could, I would want to go back to the village to experience their lifestyles again.