Last Saturday I took a Grab to a ministry event in Chapel of Christ the Redeemer which is located on the premises of St Hilda’s School. As usual, I tried to strike up a conversation with the driver. (The conversation was 70% in Hokkien, 30% in English.)
My usual opener was to ask how long the driver had been a Grab driver. Mr Lim said, “Not long, only for half a year”. He had worked as a cook for 30 years. But he had suffered a bad injury to his spine when he tried to carry something heavy. He needed an operation and now had a plate in place to stabilise his spine. He could no longer work as a cook because that needed him to stand all day and there was no escaping the need to carry heavy stuff once in a while. He had little formal education and he had to continue to make a living, so he became a Grab driver. I thought of how tough it must have been to make such a drastic switch so much later in life.
His hours were long and on rainy days it was hard to get passengers. And it was difficult to drive when the rain was heavy because the visibility was poor, and he could only see one car ahead. He would normally start at 7:00 am or earlier but that morning it was raining and he was tired and he gave himself the luxury of another hour in bed. I was his first fare of the day. Grab had warned me that there were few drivers in my area, so I thanked him for coming for me.
I asked about his family. He was married and his wife was also working. They had one son who was in his final year in ITE. I told him that ITE was now a good option because people needed folks with skills and not just people with head knowledge. I said that getting a university degree was no guarantee of a good job these days and that an ITE graduate with the right skills might be even more employable. He nodded, but said he felt guilty that he couldn’t spend more time raising his son because of his work
He asked me why I was going to a school since the school holidays were still on. I told him I was going to a church located on the school’s premises, and that I had to do some teaching at that church that morning.
I wasn’t sure if he followed any faith tradition. I saw two small Buddhist amulets on his dashboard. As we approached my destination, I told him that I would pray to Jesus, to ask Him to heal him and to care for him. He thanked me. As we arrived, I told him to take good care of himself. He asked me to take care too. As I was scrambling to exit from his car he said to please take my time and that there was no need to rush. We waved goodbye to each other as he drove away. I pray that he will encounter Christ and follow Him. I used the Grab app to give him a tip.