Community Builder Week 2014 - Impossible? I'm Possible

Community Builder Week was a truly meaningful and memorable one. It started off with the video presentation to the cohort in CC. The video made me realize that the importance of showing our care and support to the disabled. 

Activities held at the booth by the canteen were interesting. For example, I find the Braille keychain an appropriate souvenir as it is related to the theme of empathizing with the disabled. Students who got it will most likely hook it to the zip of their bag, which will serve as a frequent reminder that they should always put themselves in the disabled people’s shoes. 

The board of opinions on disabilities at the canteen

Monique (4th Advocate) is making a Braille keychain 

Saints are making Braille keychains

The activity I like the most is  ‘I believe, I can’. I was one of the helpers in the activity during my 1 hour break. As not many students came forward to the booth, I went around the canteen to persuade my fellow schoolmates to write on the board, while explaining to them the rationale of it. It was heartening to see some of my schoolmates write aspirations that they have on the board, clinging on to the hope that they have the ability and will achieve it someday. I feel that this activity is meaningful as it gives students some time to think about something they want to achieve. Through this activity, they are actually declaring that their dreams can be achieved, which can be a turning point of life for some students.

"I believe I can..."

Wheelchair bound challenge at the canteen

During the last day of Community Builder Week, we attended the Service Learning Convention where we listened talks and participated in activities on a specific scope of the disabled. The videos ‘Invisible people’ made me realise that we often neglect the homeless people on the streets. I then asked myself this question, 'if I could love my family members, why can’t I show a least bit of concern to the homeless people?’  I attended the “autism’ workshop and  I managed to learn more about how people with Autism behave. For example, information that they want to share with others cannot be well-understood. Through the activity of conveying a message via paper without writing, it helped me to put myself in the shoes of those with Autism and be better aware about who they are.

Student-led workshop on "Wheelchair bound" disability

Student-led workshop on Visual impairment

Service Learning Seminar

Community Builder Week task force with teachers and seniors

The 5th Saints Advocate Inauguration

Today marks the beginning of our journey as an Advocate; the beginning of serving others before self, and encouraging others (particularly the college) to do likewise. 

We are very honored to receive our badges from the principal, Mrs Lee Bee Yan

09 May 2014
Today marks an especially meaningful event for all of us- the day that all heavy responsibilities of the 4th Saints Advocate are removed and bestowed upon our shoulders.

Justine Hermoso (from 5th Saints Advocate)

I wish to commit to my CCA by being a source of assistance my CCA mates can depend on , and by encouraging and promoting sustained cohesiveness and long-lasting relationships amongst the members.

The 5th Saints Advocate is taking the pledge with compassion and determination

As an Advocate, I do recognize the heavy title I bear, and I will give my best to live up to it. This can be done through meticulous self-reflection and re-evaluation about my dealings with others. As I begin to serve more people during my Advocate journey, I believe that serving will help me to grow into a better person. I will persevere in my contributions to my CCA and strive to be of help to others despite the limitations of my capabilities.

The 5th Saints Advocate with our teachers-in-charge

Dinh Hai Bao Lien
5th Saints Advocate

Metropolitan YMCA Big Sweep

Metropolitan YMCA Big Sweep is a monthly project that Saints Advocates are involved as the whole CCA. In MY Big Sweep, the main objective is interaction with the elderly. This is very essential for Advocates because when we understand more about the community, we will know the need of people and help them in a more meaningful way.

10 May 2014

This week's Big Sweep was especially a pleasant surprise for all of us.

The conversation flowed well from the start all the way to the end, and fortunately our auntie opened up and told us many details beyond the superficial. 

A cheerful photo captures the smiles of auntie and Carine from 5th Advocate

Last session, we learned about who she was (a blind craftsman, a believer and an altruist), and this time, we got to know what she had endured before she could become who she was today. And so she began to paint us a mental picture of her life and the people she encountered. What struck me the most was how she still believed in the act of giving after all that the struggles and agony had been through.  Personally, I felt a tinge of shame. This is so as I would not have been courageous enough to do what she did if I was in her position. Her strong will to be herself regardless of difficult circumstances was a great learning point for us all.

The whole group with auntie and her friend

An aspect we can try to improve on for the next session is to talk more about ourselves in order to spark a two-way relationship instead of a passive give-and-take. We have tried to improve on this by narrowing the topics that we can talk about, which are our school problems and studies as well as personal struggles (if any) so that she could probably give us some valuable advices in the process, and this would serve to better engage both parties in a conversation. 

Photo of another group - Narthana (from 5th Advocate) was very engaged in the story of auntie

The 5th Saints Advocate in our first Big Sweep

By Dinh Hai Bao Lien

5th Saints Advocate

Residential Stay at St. Andrew’s Hall and NUS Community Engagement Festival

 From 28 February- 14 March 2014, the 5th Saints Advocate was involved in the student leadership residential stay at St. Andrews Hall for two weeks. The purpose of the residential stay was for us to gain better understanding of the expectations of a Saints Advocate, to share planning, reflective and facilitation skills, to interact with student leaders from other countries, and to raise awareness of intercultural synergy. 

                             Candid photo taken on during one of our daily night sessions of residential stay


On 14 March 2014, the 5th Saints Advocate partcipated in the NUS Community Engagement festival where we interacted with foreign workers through various games planned by the students from NUS. The festival was a platform to raise awareness of the minority groups in the society and for students to realize the needs and struggles that the minorities face in their daily lives.

 The activities I have engaged in as a member of the 5th saints Advocate for the past two weeks has been both an impactful and fun experience. The two-week residential stay at SA Hall has brought me closer to my fellow 5th members as we went through our day-to-day activities together. It pushed me to open up in order to learn more about people, their personalities and to forge relationships with others. It changed my perception as an individual as I grew to understand the need for social connections. One of the few workshops held during the stay- The Cultural Awareness workshop - was indeed a very meaningful session for me as I began to reflect on how quick I was to judge someone without understanding where they come from.

  The NUS community engagement festival that took place during the last day of our residential stay further emphasised the needs of our community, especially of those who have less of a voice in society like the migrant workers. As an Advocate, it is important to hear and provide for the real needs of such communities. Besides that, I was also able to take away several lessons from this program– things we as Advocates should do to minimise blunders during the execution of similar events. These include the need for matured facilitators who can look out for the group as a whole, understand fully what is going on and the need for attention to details (which can be done through dry rehearsals beforehand). At the same time, I became aware of what would and would not grab the participants’ interest in carrying out the activities. All in all, I realised what it truly means to understand and accommodate to the diversity of our community.

By Subethira
Member of the 5th Saints Advocate