Simei Care 2012

When we first embarked on this project, I had no idea what we had to do. Firstly, we had didn’t know much about Simei Care Centre and secondly, we were the first batch of Advocates to work with this organisation. In the process, we faced many setbacks and there were times when I felt like giving up, but the encouragement and support of the task force members was really heartening. Knowing that I was not alone really motivated me to persevere through.

An auntie at the centre showing us her handmade bouquet,
which we sold to raise funds for their cause

We spent hours researching on the various mental health conditions and also went down to the centre to find out about their needs. The more I knew about the mental health patients, the more I felt compassionate for them. It was not their choice to have such conditions; it might have been the result of trauma from going through a painful incident, or even passed down by genetics. Yet the society that we live in, which could possibly have helped their conditions by giving them the love and care they desperately need, instead showed a lack of sympathy and understanding that caused them to be stigmatised and shunned. The staff from Simei Care Centre also told us that some of the members do not go home because their family members do not understand them and see them as a burden to the family. After having a better understanding towards mental health conditions and Simei Care Centre, I really believed wholeheartedly in the cause that we were advocating.




Term 3 was really a busy term for me. Almost immediately after Common Test, we were told to start work on our project. There were times when I felt discouraged, especially when our proposals got rejected again and again. As someone who sleeps early, it was the first time I stayed up until 4 o’clock midnight just to make the presentation video. Even then, there were still a lot of amendments that had to be made to the video. However, the immense happiness and sense of satisfaction was indescribable when our video was finally approved and shown in school.

Publicity poster: ACCEPT don't ALIENATE

Being in a task force, teamwork is very important, and I am very grateful to have such cooperative members, providing each other with support whenever we needed it. I could clearly remember the times when we stayed back in school for rehearsals the days before our presentation, the times when we stayed up late to amend our slides and scripts through the internet, and the times when we came to school as early as 6.30 am to familiarise ourselves with the script and the stage while the Cultural Centre was still empty. Although tiring, it was a unique and unforgettable experience that I have gone through with the other task force members.

Boards that share more about common mental illnesses
and the activities of Simei Care Centre

It was not easy for us to cope with the heavy workload, especially with one of the task force members leaving us. In addition, we had to juggle with our academics with Project Work getting busier and MSA2 around the corner. Thankfully, we were given a lot of help from the St. Andrew’s Autism task force.  We even met up on weekends to work on the boards and come up with ideas to make it more appealing so that more people would read it and be aware. The fundraising and exhibition during the mental health awareness week wouldn’t have been possible without their help (and of course not forgetting the help from the other advocates for manning the booth)!

Our Teacher's day sales to raise funds for the Simei Care Centre

This project really taught me a lot. It has been a difficult journey for all of us, but we managed to go through it together, as a task force!

-Hui Koon, 3rd Saints Advocate

JC1 Service Learning (SL) Day 2012

On 8th August 2012, the JC1 cohort participated in a Service Learning project organised by the 3rd Saints Advocates, H2O Hope to Earth. Travelling in their classes, the students arrived at HDB estates in Hougang, Punggol and Potong Pasir to share messages of water conservation, and collect old newspapers and clothes for recycling and donation. Back in the school hall, greeted with a T-shirt montage of the Hope to Earth logo, they concluded the event with an explosion of Saintly chorus, singing National Day songs, and remembering our family, in this nation, in this community, in this school, and in each of our hearts.

Being part of the Service Learning Day task force has certainly been a unique experience for me! Not only was it my first time planning a college wide Community Involvement Project (CIP) project, it was also the school’s first time organising a college wide CIP for an entire cohort of students to go out and do CIP on the same day.

I could feel the pressure that was on my entire task force to plan every single aspect of the event well. I remember sitting down for many discussions with the entire task force and working with the many ideas that we have come up with. However we discovered that coming up with ideas was one thing, carrying out our ideas and making it work was another. Given our busy schedules, we failed to meet some deadlines and in the end could not carry out everything as we had planned. Despite being slightly disappointed, our taskforce was very united in carrying out our assigned tasks and strived to do it well. From the experience, I learnt not to focus too much on the things that we cannot do, but rather divert our attention to the things that we find possible to achieve and do them to the best of our ability.

Service Learning Day for the JC1s was not just an ordinary CIP project. Being on the National Day eve, it reminds us of what we as youths can do to contribute to our society, to do our part in building up the community. It is heart-warming to hear that my peers enjoyed the time spent spreading water conservation messages to HDB residents as well as collecting newspapers and old T-shirts with their classmates. The ultimate success indicator of this project was not the amount of T-shirts and newspapers that everyone has collected (though it certainly was an overwhelming amount) but the joy of going to reach out to the community as well as the learning process of my peers in this Service Learning Project, what they have gained from carrying out this project. Having come a long way to engage our fellow schoolmates in advocacy work, we could really feel the support from the student body for this project through the enthusiasm they showed on the day, and also by the numerous photos and reflections shared on our ‘Saints with a Heart’ Facebook page for community service.

The recce before the event to distribute pamphlets was also extremely fun and tiring! Initially it seemed like a lonely task as only a few people from each class had to go, but we tried to be optimistic about it and found it to be an enjoyable new experience and great bonding time. It reminded me that regardless of what we do, it is our mindset that determines the outcome: what we can learn from the activity that we undertake and whether we will gain anything from the things that we do.

Apart from this I am also very grateful to the Advocates that have helped in one way or another to make this SL day possible. Regardless how big or small each contribution is, every amount of help from the teachers, the Advocates, and the student body all worked to make this SL day a great memory, and I hope that this SL day project has enabled each and every one of us to grow as a person.

-Shu Li, 3rd Saints Advocate

A full display of the Saints spirit: community builder, servant leader!

For more photos and reflections, you may visit our Saints with a Heart facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/saintswithaheart