4 May & 23 June 2019 – The Catholic Memorial and Pilgrimage Centre at Mount Singai, Bau not only acts as a place of worship for villagers in the area, it also provides shelter to pilgrims, hikers and visitors going up the mountain. Construction work at the Centre is still in progress to increase the seating capacity of the hall to accommodate more people during mass service. According to Vincent Eddy, the person in-charge of the extension work, the Centre will be able to accommodate more than 300 people once construction is completed but the process is going at a snail’s pace as they depend on community volunteers to carry the building materials up the mountain. Hence, a stockpile of building materials can be often found at the foot of the mountain, waiting for some good Samaritans to come along and help carry them uphill. The 1,000-step journey is an arduous one!
With this in mind, our volunteers organised two trips – one on 4 May and another on 23 June 2019. At the foothill, each began their hike by carrying bags of sand in one hand and aggregates in the other, while a handful of stronger volunteers doubled their carrying weight by ascending the mountain with wooden planks on their shoulders. After two trips, many were left breathless due to fatigue but our volunteers gritted their teeth and hammered on.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
True to the words of Hellen Keller, the volunteers – driven by sheer determination to do more, put their minds and hearts together and worked more efficiently by forming a human chain. More bags of materials were then passed on at a faster pace from one station to another until the pile of building materials at the foothill was cleared. CMS went the extra mile to keep the place clean by collecting trash along their way down the mountain and disposed them properly. Despite being all sweaty with aching legs, everyone left Mount Singai smiling – happy to able to contribute to a good cause.