“It’s not about the size of the dog in the fight, it’s about the size of the fight in the dog.”

— Mark Twain

He’s just like any one of us; small little chubby boy, like any young Singaporean, on a short trip to River Safari Singapore. But behind that cute endearing smile is a brave soldier who has faced gruesome life’s challenges that most of us would not have pulled through wearing that smile…

Woke up rather early this morning (still in the post-PW mood of course) then got ready for class CIP to bring little ‘darlings’ from not so well-to-do families to River Safari near the Singapore Zoo. I purposely attached a long strap to my phone so that those little creatures would have to sling it around their necks while photographing instead of photographing with no strings attached. And I’m all ready to go~

Everything was well, thought I would be early, till stupid me felt like being stupid and took the train towards Joo Koon -.- but, oh well, one would not treasure the good times when there aren’t any misfortunate thingamajigs happening. Anyway, I was on time? 😛

When we got to Kim Tian CC, the place which we were supposed to meet, first person I saw was TC. Well, but that’s not End-of-Story, he subsequently called me to write the names of the children on small labels and paste it on the kids’ tee. This was the time I met Farhan. He freaking looks like my youngest brother o_o But anyway, I wrote his name and pasted the label on his chest as per norm.

Following that we had to choose a kid to be attached to and yes I did choose Farhan. At the start, I talked to that cute dude and he seemed like any other primary one child, curious about almost any and every single thing that comes to his eye (or rather, comes to his mind).

“Can the crow lay eggs?”

“How many eggs can the crow lay then?”

Being a nice ‘brother’ so to speak, I answered every question with the simplest yet most logical answer:

“I don’t know.”

After hopping from topic to topic, like any other awkward conversation would, we started talking about family and that’s where I got so mind-blown and sympathetic (to certain extent) of his situation.

“So what do you wanna be when you grow up?”

“… …”

“A doctor? Rockstar? [‘cos he told me he learns to play the electric guitar] Chef?”

“Yah, chef!”

“My mother’s a cleaner”

“oh…how about your dad?”

“My father’s in jail.”

“… …”

“oh…that’s okay, at least you got love from your mum and brother, see, from the way that they…”

And then I start using what he told me about his mum and brother to somewhat ‘comfort’ him. This was on the bus towards River Safari.

Shall sum up the indescribable joyful moments we had at River Safari with a few pictures we took.

      

After River Safari,

Btw, before the following convo, he was telling me about how he watches horror movies and how much he likes vampires and thinks that they really do exist.

“So did you go to Halloween Horrors this year?”

“Yah, I went with my whole family, except my father.”

 “He’s in jail.”

In that moment, I could almost feel the sadness when his mum told him about his father, but he said it like that wasn’t a big deal. Perhaps he’s used to it whatsoever, but I felt it takes immense courage to face up to the fact that one of his closest relative is behind bars. He told me he was a little sad. Then he smiled. That cute creature just keeps coming back! He seems like nothing can stop that smile from fading!

I then got to know (from him) the reason that his dad was locked up. But besides that, he told me that his dad was the one who taught him how to play the electric guitar and he learnt how to play “We will we will rock you” lol. Freaking lovable.

Besides courage, maturity flourishes from that tiny lovable being. He talked to me about him enjoying watching violence and horror shows/movies (such as The Bay) which I too have a keen towards watching, and how he is able to kill. Yes, to kill, that’s what he said. And I was like YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT. Of course I did correct his flawed mindset about good guys always gotta kill bad people (as portrayed in violence movies) by asking him:

“Do you think I’m a good guy?” (Ofc he said yes :P)

“You see, a good guy like me need not kill anyone to be known as a good guy right? So, you too do not need to even think about killing anyone.”

Then, he started to talk about how he will protect his daughter by killing anyone who dares harm her, and of course he referred to the movie Taken 2. I was like HUH U THINK SO FAR ALREADY ARH? Even I have not thought about children lol. But come to think of it, hey actually, he really DOES have a mature mind for a primary one kid, compared to myself, who was still obsessed with Pokémon in P1.

After the bus ride back to Kim Tian CC, his mother was one of the first over there to bring him home. Yes, he did leave an impression on me, will remember that cute boy Farhan forever. Still remember he told me while walking along River Safari that “I confirm will kiss you when go back” LOL ahaha damnnnn cute. But he didn’t meh.

Oh oh, Antoi’s buddy couldn’t bear to leave her 😛

To us, this was perhaps merely just a trip to River Safari full-stop. But to those young minds who may not have felt so much care and love from anyone, our simplest act of bringing them for a short trip could go a long way to bring them invaluable emotional support that they may have longed for unknowingly.

You are special, with your god-sent maturity and bravery, though superficially seeming like one of us. All the best Farhan!☺

PS: excuse me for my lack of or wrong expressions.