Meet our Volunteers
Roberto Vindas
A Touch of Costa Rica at SPD
Expatriate volunteer Mr Roberto Vindas danced out of his home country of Costa Rica into the heart of the Singapore city and that of many of SPD's beneficiaries. This article is featured in the July 2003 issue of ExtraPage.
"If you dug a hole in the ground at Ecuador and kept going, you will emerge somewhere in Singapore". With this interesting nugget of information, one gets introduced to Mr Roberto Vindas, 56-year-old Costa Rican, Latin dancer, seeker of truth and one of SPD’s most avid volunteers.
He explains that Ecuador is positioned at the other side of the world and near to the equator. Singapore is just 1 degree off this mark.
Roberto first arrived in Singapore in October 2001 with his French wife and baby daughter when Mrs Vindas was posted to the French Embassy in Singapore. His first impression as he made his way from Changi Airport into town was that this place he had landed in was highly organised and very green. And also very hot!
Having spent the previous four years in Ecuador in South America, Singapore required some getting used to. Although both are small countries populated by people of different cultures, that is about where the similarities end. The difference in economic status aside, Ecuador is situated in the rugged Andean highlands and boasts volcanic landscapes and ice-capped mountains whereas in Singapore, the only things capped with ice are waffle cones and the ground at Fuji Ice Palace’s skating rink in Jurong. Throw in Singapore’s relatively flat terrain and you get the stark contrast.
Despite the great difference, he soon became accustomed to the heat and diverse cultures, so much so that he made himself a part of the community by contributing to it through SPD.
Roberto first came to know about SPD through the Internet. Feeling a pull towards helping the less fortunate in Singapore, he promptly made known his intentions and there was born a partnership that would see Roberto gain some measure of self-fulfilment and SPD and its beneficiaries, a dedicated volunteer and a good friend.
Since May 2002, Roberto has been a familiar face here. He has also helped in many areas including hands-on PC training, data-entry, assisting in the Assistive Technology Centre’s PEBBLES PDA Project, even conducting Latin music and dance appreciation sessions for the beneficiaries in the Day Activity Centre. No work is too menial for Roberto who is not above lending his hand to the mundane job of sorting and counting notes and coins.
Community service is not something new to Roberto who constantly seeks the meaning of life. Back in his home country, he would teach IT for free to the physically disabled who were of low income in the commercial IT school he ran for 10 years.
When he is not helping out at SPD, Roberto spends his other time teaching Spanish and Latin dance at his home. He attributes his great love for music and dancing to his Costa Rican heritage.
Before hitting 20, Roberto had already been taken by the question of who he is and what is life about. This has led him on a path to find out more about yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, and other beliefs. He has found that all prescribe the same thing – the call to develop the inner self. His focus is on the concept of life and he largely subscribes to the concept taught in Taoism where the central philosophy is ‘wu wei’, or ‘effortless effort’.
His favourite quotation goes: "Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. If you stay at the centre and embrace death with your whole heart, you will endure forever."
And what does he find so unique in Singapore? He much appreciates the order here but personally prefers the spontaneity and challenging uncertainties a less organised place would bring. However, he finds it remarkable that despite the many cultures, races, traditions, historical heritage, practices, lifestyle, religions here, we are able to share a common place to live in peace and harmony.
"I am grateful to the staff of SPD as well as your clients," he adds. "All of you make me feel at home. Because of you, I feel fulfilled knowing that I am contributing to something worthwhile."
His advice to all, "Don’t forget to try to be happy. But look for this happiness inside you, not outside. Because inside you is the link to eternity." What does he aim to do now. To be happy! The core question is how. For now, he will continue to search, think and seek the best way.
We are all searching, Roberto, and we hope our search will bring us to where it brought you – somewhere where we give help and happiness to others and make a difference in people’s lives.