“Give Me your precious time”: This ex-JC vice principal quit her job at 57 to answer God’s call

Every Sunday, Sim Yoke Hwee takes three brothers – eight, 10 and 12 – with her to church.

“They will be sitting in the car and clowning around,” she says with good humour.

They are not her children; they are not even her nephews. They are boys under her care as a volunteer with The Salvation Army Befrienders for Families (BFF).

Yoke Hwee began volunteering with BFF over two years ago. 

When she was 57, she quit her job as the vice principal of a junior college to become a full-time volunteer. Hers had been an illustrious career in the education industry where she had held various senior management roles.

Her decision to retire early came in obedience to God’s call to “give Him my time”. It was not that Yoke Hwee had been ignoring God. In fact, for the past 41 years, she has been faithfully preaching and leading at Singapore Charismatic Church, which she co-founded.

Yoke Hwee (extreme right) with the pastoral team of Singapore Charismatic Church – Associate Minister Jennie Tan (extreme left) and Senior Pastor and Co-founder Png Yoke Hoon (middle).

A number of her former students who visited her church have stayed, gotten married and even had children.

As she scaled the corporate ladder and her income increased, she gave back to her church and supported village pastors in Indonesia and India.

Yoke Hwee, who is an Evangelist in her church, preaching to village pastors in India.

But she had an inkling that God was calling her to something else. When she was 50, the call to walk away from the corporate world became stronger. At first Yoke Hwee bargained with God.

“Haven’t I done enough?”

Eventually, God told her: “I want to have first charge of your time. That is the most precious.”

Yoke Hwee relented. December 31, 2018, was her last day under employment.

“When you work, who has first charge of your time? The marketplace. I could only give God my remaining time and resources. It was then that I saw the difference.

“I wanted to make the change before I turned 60, while the body still can do it. Don’t give God a body that cannot move,” said Yoke Hwee, now 65.

At the time she did not yet know what to do with the time she had surrendered to God.

“I just know there is this God I must serve with my life. Exciting!”

A friend to all  

Beginning with a clean slate was challenging.

“I had to ask God, ‘I don’t know what to do. You show me.’

“You know, sometimes you want to lead God. There is this temptation – ‘I have been trained to be a driver. I can drive big organisations’.

Yoke Hwee (centre) in her marketplace days with the vice principals (administration) of various schools.

“But it is different when it comes to God’s work. I had to put those skills on hold. It is tough because it is going against yourself.”

In the end, Yoke Hwee felt led to volunteer work.

“I have been very privileged to have good people who have poured into my life when I was growing up.

“I felt it would be very powerful if I could do that for someone in need.”

She started with Lions Befrienders. After three years, she was invited to conduct Bible Study classes for female ex-offenders at The Turning Point.

“After two years, I felt more prepared. Prior to this, the people I mixed with was of a certain socio-economic background. It took some time to learn how to relate with different kinds of people.”

She decided to work with families, volunteering with BFF.

“If you can reach families, the effect is multiplied.”

Families in need

Befrienders like Yoke Hwee are matched with families with children who have been fostered out and subsequently returned to their biological parents for reintegration. Along with social workers and other volunteers, she provides mentorship, emotional encouragement and practical help to ensure that the families are stable and the children’s transition home is smooth.

Yoke Hwee with a fellow Befrienders for Families volunteer.

“Most of the families are very big. One family has 10 kids and another has four. Besides the many kids, they also have many needs including health issues.”

While social workers look to financial and legal needs, befrienders step in to support in a way a friend would. Yoke Hwee gives tuition to one of the children, leveraging her years of experience in education. She has driven families to the airport and hospitals, lent them luggage when they needed to travel to their home country for a season, taught them how to use shopping apps to do groceries so they “won’t have to lug trolleys around”, and lent them a caring listening ear.  

“The mother in one of the families likes to cook. So I brought food to share with her. She now views me like an older sister and calls me Jie (older sister).

“They have been through so much and many don’t have any support elsewhere. I didn’t know these families existed. There are so many who are struggling.”

Sometimes, though, the needs are far greater than what a befriender can meet. Yoke Hwee tells of a conversation she had with the youngest of the three boys whom she takes to church every week.

“I learnt that his birthday was coming up. He was turning eight at the time. So I asked him, ‘What present would you like for your birthday?’

“He told me this, ‘I want a happy family.’”

His answer took Yoke Hwee completely by surprise. She had thought he would ask for a Labubu tee-shirt which was all the rage then.

“I choked. If you look at him, he is so jovial. He would clown around to make his brothers happy.

“But the quarrels and the situation in the family affect him so much. That was the moment I knew what they need is beyond physical help. Yes, it is important, but my helping must go into the spiritual as well.”

“Lord, I can’t do it if You don’t it”

Eight years into volunteering, two of them as a befriender to families with vulnerable children, Yoke Hwee has discovered that “I don’t have what it takes”.

“When I started volunteering, I thought I can do so many things – I have this skill, that skill. I went in full confidence.

Yoke Hwee sharing her experience as a volunteer with Befriends for Families at a BFF Volunteer Appreciation event in March 2025.

“But, dealing with human beings, I realise that apart from the Lord, I can do nothing. It’s easier to drive organisations than to drive people. I tell God, ‘Lord, I can’t do it if You don’t do it.’

“The whole experience has changed me. It has pushed me towards total dependence on the Lord God.”

Beyond practical help, Yoke Hwee fasts and prays for the families.  

“I pray that just as the Lord sought me out, He will similarly seek out these young ones to attend to their needs just as He did for me.

“I pray that Christ will be formed in them. That’s the best help they can get. And that they can encounter Him, young as they are, and grow up in the Lord.”

The three boys are “responding well to the Lord”. Every Sunday, the youngest wakes up early to get his brothers out of bed. Now their mother is asking to go to church with them as well.

Families assigned are usually discharged once they are deemed stable. But Yoke Hwee intends to “continue my life with them”.

“I struck out to help people but, in the process, the Lord was dealing with me. So I realised that if I am not a disciple of the Lord Jesus, I can’t do it.

“I have to be in the Word, to pray and grow in the Lord. The more surrendered you are, the more powerful you are as a person to influence people for the Lord.

“I thought I came to give. In the end, I gave, but I received even more. It has been a blessing.

Do you have a heart for vulnerable children and families?

To commemorate Orphan Sunday in Singapore (November 9, 2025), World Without Orphans – Singapore comes together with various partners to organise a series of events.

These include:

• A 13-day devotional (From October 27)
• Worship & Prayer Night (November 14)
• Movie Screening (November 15)
• Church Involvement (November 9-23)

Click here for the events. 

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