12-year-old boy prefers volunteering to gaming

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While many primary school boys spent the last June holidays playing computer games, 12-year-old Chia Yun Shan chose to spend every weekday of his break volunteering at the Thye Hua Kwan Bedok Radiance Senior Activity Centre (THK-BRSAC) instead.

The Fengshan Primary School student prefers to spend his time chatting with seniors because Facebook games like Farmville are "boring", said the youngest volunteer in this year's President's Challenge Volunteer Drive (PCVD), an annual event that promotes helping as a way of life.

At the centre, Yun Shan helps conduct surveys and distribute water bottles to the seniors before their morning exercises. He sometimes takes them on at Rummy-O, a tile-based game for two to four players.

"They will always beat me, though," he admitted.

Dedicating his time to helping others is not something new to Yun Shan. Indeed, he started volunteering when he was only nine years old, playing the role of a "little teacher" at kidsREAD, a nation-wide reading programme for children aged four to eight.

Two years ago, after his mother took him on his first house visit to deliver food packets to flats in Bedok, Yun Shan decided to volunteer with seniors. "I thought, if my mother can do it, I can do it too."

He started with monthly visits, which turned into weekly visits as he felt a sense of accomplishment each time he helped others.

Yun Shan's ambition when he grows up is to be a lawyer - so he can continue offering a helping hand by providing free legal advice.