He Gets Enjoyment Out of Volunteering
Published on
14 Jan 2015
Published by
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Mr Kathirithamby Ramakrishnan (Rama, in short), 65, volunteers regularly at four different voluntary welfare organisations. He believes that life is about creating. Rama strongly believes that creating joyful experiences for ourselves and others makes life more meaningful and fulfilling. Besides volunteering, Rama founded his own consultancy firm in 1987 and provides soft skills training programmes for corporate clients. Contributing to society through vocational commitment is Rama’s ongoing passion, as it leads him to personal growth and builds a better world that binds people together.
C3A: What motivates you to do volunteer work?
Mr Rama: Volunteering boosts overall happiness. It fills my heart with warmth and joy that I could not get anywhere else. You would be amazed at how a gentle pat on one’s shoulder could have such a dramatic impact on a person’s mind.
I like to see the heartfelt smiles from the beneficiaries. Smiles make a better world for everybody. I design Deepavali greeting cards every year since 2005 for everyone I know, and post it to their residential addresses even though there are more than 700 cards to prepare and over 2,500 to be sent online. People are very busy these days and they tend to be over-stressed. It is important to remind them to enjoy the festivities. It reminds them that they are not alone in their journey and in their lives. Being from a distance, I still pray hard for my overseas friends for their success in life.
C3A: How is your normal day?
Mr Rama: Every Monday, I spend four hours doing voluntary work as a Changi Service Ambassador (CSA) in one of our airport terminals to provide help and guidance for visitors. It is for my own benefit too. I volunteer for this programme because it entails four hours of walking with a break of half an hour. As a diabetic, continuous walking is good for me. Furthermore, I get to be familiar with all the gardens and parks in the three transit terminals of our airport. Talking to people keeps my mind sharp and active, as I need to provide useful information to the visitors.
I also volunteer as a Tele-Care Ambassador for HPB, thrice a month. I make phone calls to remind patients, encouraging them to consult doctors and do regular health check-up as some of them may have forgotten their appointment. Come 2015, I am planning to volunteer for SEA Games 2015!
C3A: What does vocational wellness mean to you?
Mr Rama: Vocational wellness is having a passion to work on whatever you like and having a commitment to see it through. Take myself as an example. I am still working and at the same time contributing to society through volunteerism. One needs to continue to contribute to society through the various available channels. This makes one feel energised and eager to move on in life without feeling depressed and lonely. Mental health can also be improved considerably too.
C3A: Do you enjoy learning new things?
Mr Rama: I strongly feel that lifelong learning is a habit and a routine. I enjoy learning new things. I took part in the Intergenerational Learning Programme (ILP), an initiative of C3A. I learnt how to upload videos and photos taught by students. As of today, I have more than 2,600 friends on Facebook and know how to communicate with them via social media platforms.
Sometimes, I teach my friends to create Facebook accounts and expand their social network. With more friends, seniors can lead a happy and lively life. Recently, I was nominated and awarded the Silver Infocomm Wellness Ambassador (SIWA)! This is indeed an encouragement and a positive acknowledgement for me that motivates me to do more for our society.
C3A: Do you meet up with your friends who are on Facebook regularly in real life?
Mr Rama: Yes, I organise a reading club and meet up with some of them once a month to discuss a short story we have just read. We will also discuss on how the story relates to real life issues. It is a good form of mental exercise and one can learn a lot as people share their experiences and knowledge.
**Our special thanks to Mr Rama for accepting this interview. We wish him all the best!
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