For the Love of Volunteering

Sarah Hadi Devaraj at the Animal Lovers League with her cats.

Most people look forward to sinking into their beds after a long day at work, but not 31-year-old Sarah Hadi Devaraj. The senior producer and video presenter at the Ministry of Communications and Information usually spends another four hours after her knock-off time volunteering at the Animal Lovers League.

Almost every night for five years, Sarah has been lending a hand to the animal shelter, home to some 500 cats and dogs. There, she feeds the animals, walks a dog or two, and cleans their kennels. Shortly before midnight, she rushes to catch her last train home, travelling from the shelter at Sungei Tengah in the west to her home in Tampines. The next day, the cycle repeats.

Her love for animals

Growing up, Sarah always wanted a furry companion. Her parents fed her with tales of battle scars from feral animals, hoping to quench that desire. But it didn’t take long for Sarah’s calling to find her.

It began with a cardboard box left outside her family home. Faint meowing cries filled the air as she opened it, revealing a ginger kitten. “I brought the animal in, and that just sealed the deal,” Sarah says. For the next eight years, she would embark on a cat rescuing frenzy. At its peak, her family home housed 12 felines.

That came to a halt when a disgruntled neighbour lodged a complaint against her. Sarah was forced to choose between her home and her cats. As it was her parents’ home, not her own, the choice was painfully clear: the cats could not stay.

Saved by the shelter

Without a full-time job then, Sarah could not afford the steep rates of pet boarding. She reached out to the Animal Lovers League, a no-kill shelter that was then at Pasir Ris. The owners sympathised with her plight and allowed her to rent a space for her cats at a nominal fee.

At first, Sarah’s visits to the shelter were solely to visit her cats. However, she soon found herself “falling in love with everyone else” – animals and people.

She says: “The animals I’ve been lucky to cross paths with have taught me strength and loyalty beyond human comprehension. The humans I’ve met, they’ve taught me compassion, empathy, patience and resilience.”

Sarah also helps to bring the dogs out for walks at the Animal Lovers League.

Sarah now prefers to dedicate her time to the shelter, finding greater purpose in helping out there than spending a long night out with friends or watching TV at home.

“If I’m going to be tired, at least I know that I’ve done something with that time,” she says. “It’s depressing if I go home at seven o’clock. I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Find out more about Animal Lovers League and how to help: bit.ly/ALLvol

Catherine Soh and getai (live performance) singer Ken Lua getting ready to perform at the St Luke’s Hospital on a Saturday afternoon.

Spreading joy through tunes

For 29-year-old Catherine Soh, it was her love for singing that motivated her to volunteer.

Catherine is a digital forensic examiner at the Singapore Police Force. When she’s not helping investigation officers use IT to crack their cases, she goes from ward to ward at hospitals and nursing homes, delighting old folks with classic tunes.

“I love singing, so I wanted to contribute in my own way,” says the trained singer, who has been volunteering since early 2018.

Her preference for old-school Mandarin hits led her to gravitate towards an older audience. Children wouldn’t appreciate Deng Li Jun songs, she says, referring to the late iconic Taiwanese songstress Teresa Teng.

Catherine’s performances have, to her surprise, made an impact beyond just entertainment. The upbeat melodies often free the seniors from their inhibitions.

One elderly patient, while doing physical therapy, started moving and grooving to Catherine’s singing, all while holding onto a nurse to keep her balance. “It made everyone laugh when the nurse exclaimed: ‘She hasn’t even progressed in her walking and now she’s dancing?’” Catherine recalls.

Other times, more sombre pieces catapult her audience back to the past, such as their days of dating. Reminiscing about their old days evokes nostalgic sentiments, says Catherine. “They will have tears, but they will thank me later.”

Catherine brings along a portable speaker and mic as she goes ward to ward to sing for the elderly.

Bittersweet moments

Her most poignant memory is of singing for a palliative care patient. She had been told by the hospice staff that he was no longer responsive. Yet, when she sang, the patient did his best to hum along too, despite the immense physical toil on him.

Even in his weakened condition, the patient summoned enough strength to nod when Catherine asked if he wanted another song. Shortly after, the patient passed on. “I got to enjoy that final moment with him,” Catherine says.

For Sarah and Catherine, volunteering can be emotionally taxing. Learning to handle their emotions comes with the task. Catherine has struggled at times to keep her composure after seeing the seniors’ reactions. Sarah once plunged into despair after a dog she grew attached to succumbed to kidney failure.

But such moments have only shown them how worthwhile volunteering is, with both learning more about themselves through such experiences. For Catherine, it’s realising the soft spot she has for the elderly and how much joy just a few hours of singing can bring to the old folks. “People may not see it, but every little bit we do for the elderly means a lot to them,” Catherine says.

For Sarah, it is knowing with clarity what she finds important in life, how to prioritise them, and having the discipline to be someone the shelter’s dogs, cats and other volunteers can rely on.

“Volunteering is serious business. These are real lives, not something to be taken lightly,” she says. “Help is needed all the time and causes don’t stop once a CSR programme end.”

Text by Wong Wing Lum.

Photos by Norman Ng and catspace.