OMF International organises the Orientation Course (OC) for new missionaries and missional workers at its Cluny Road premises in Singapore several times a year and one of the key supporting ministries for OC is the KidZone ministry.
The KidZone ministry is a dedicated programme for the children of missionaries over the 4-week OC period with activities including bible lessons, art and craft sessions and outings to local attractions in Singapore. What is unique about the KidZone ministry is that the children come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, so the KidZone team and their workers have to learn to accommodate and work within this multicultural context.
We hear the stories of four KidZone Serve Asia helpers from the February 2026 OC – they are Lay Ling from Singapore, Poppy from the UK and Olaf and Petra from Germany.
“Initially, I had a culture shock – it’s my first time working with children of different cultural backgrounds,” explained Lay Ling. This batch of children attending the KidZone are all under 6 years old from different cultural backgrounds and speaking different languages such as Cantonese, German and English.
For Olaf and Petra, a retired couple, helping out at the KidZone was a “special situation” for them since the missionary family they were supporting was from their home church in Germany. They found out from one of the prayer letters of their missionaries who hoped that there would be KidZone workers who could speak German with a bit of English. This was because the missionaries’ children could only speak German. After some thinking, Olaf and Petra decided they would serve at KidZone as a couple.
The youngest Poppy, said it was a full circle moment for her as a KidZone helper: “My parents went through OC back in 2011 and I was one of the kids at KidZone.” She just completed high school and decided to take a gap year before entering university to explore doing short-term missions. Her church friend also served at KidZone three years ago so Poppy decided to give it a go: “Serving at KidZone also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my growing up years with a missionary family.”
Loving the children and taking care of one another
Olaf mentioned that the biggest challenge of helping out at KidZone was learning to work with children from all over the world. All four of them have a heart for serving children.
“(We’re) all here to serve the children and we want them to feel God’s love and be in a safe environment”, said Poppy. Petra also said she was blessed to be able to see the children, working and praying together as the KidZone team.
Loving the children as KidZone helpers is not just one-way as Petra and Poppy could also feel the children’s care and concern for them.
“We went to Gardens by the Bay for an outing and one of the kids grabbed me by hand into the waterplay area even though I did not want to get wet,” explained Poppy. She realised then, that was when the child was comfortable with her and wanted to include her in their fun activities.
During a stormy evening after the day’s activity ended and some of the KidZone helpers were heading home, Petra recalled that one of the children asked if they were okay and safe as they made their way home. She even prayed together with the children and could sense that the children also cared for the safety of the KidZone workers.
Some of the most memorable moments for Olaf during the four-week KidZone period was when the children came to play with him and felt comfortable around him: “The children believe that you can help them”.
For Lay Ling, it was fun to see the children enjoying themselves and have the opportunity to visit different corners of Singapore, such as going to Gardens by the Bay and the National Gallery.
Tips for those considering to serve at the KidZone ministry
“You can’t neglect your personal quiet time (with God), even if you feel very tired when serving and preparing (for the KidZone ministry). I need the daily strength from God to serve, so that (quiet time) has allowed me to carry on,” said Poppy.
Olaf’s advice for those considering to serve at KidZone was to “Love God, love children and be really open to other cultures”. He added that living on-site at the Cluny Road compound for a month has allowed him to learn a lot about local culture, which was very different from being a tourist for just a week.
“I think the kids from different cultural backgrounds could behave and express themselves very differently, so it will be good to be open–minded to observe how they are and adapt our ways of interacting with them,” concluded Lay Ling.
The author would like to express his thanks to Ying Ying, the OMF OC KidZone Coordinator, for her help with the story. You can read her story here.
If you are interested to help out as a KidZone Worker at upcoming Orientation Courses in July and November 2026, find out more here!
