Our milestones of 2010: The Yellow Ribbon Project

The Yellow Ribbon Project

Launched in 2004 by the President of the Republic of Singapore Mr. S R Nathan, the Yellow Ribbon Project seeks to engage the community in accepting ex-offenders and their families, giving them a second chance at life and to inspire a ripple effect of concerted community action to support ex-offenders and their families.

The Yellow Ribbon Project aims to empower ex-offenders away from a life of crimes, as well as to remove the stigma they face when trying to integrate back into the society by engaging the community to accept ex-offenders, give them a second chance at life and to inspire in the public to care and support these people and their families.

The more cynical amongst us believe that The Yellow Ribbon Project is chasing a euphemistic dream in trying to unlock the second prison; it is undeniable that the average person would be wary of ex-offenders, for these people had damaged the trust others had in them, and trust is a value that has to be earned.

However, since the launch of this project in 2004 by the President of the Republic of Singapore Mr S R Nathan, many ex-offenders had had the opportunity to begin anew because there are people who believe in them. The society may see them as prisoner, but to different individuals, they are a friend, a father, a mother, a spouse, a child, a sibling. This project aims to encourage the community to be open-minded and to not judge ex-offenders based on their former mistakes, but give them a chance to learn from their wrong-doings and to prove themselves again.

Saints Advocate [task force: Abigail (I/C), Amos (AI/C), Felicia, Ivan and Meng Yang] had launched The Yellow Ribbon Project from 30^th August to 3rd September 2010, as part of our effort to raise funds to support this project and its beneficiaries- ex-offenders. We also hope to spread the message behind The Yellow Ribbon Project to the SAJC community. Through an innovative display of yellow ribbons on strings, many SAJC students learnt the etymology behind the very object that had become a symbol for this project-that is, the yellow ribbons. The sale of Yellow Ribbon was very successful, raising an impressive sum of $1286 from the sales of yellow ribbon.

Additionally, an inspiring speech on the motivation behind The Yellow Ribbon project was made by Ivan, a fellow Saints Advocate during a Friday Assembly.

Through the launch of this entire project, Saints Advocate hoped that it has inspire in others, especially the students, to think about how society tends be very discriminating. While Singaporeans are generally passive, the internalization of their disdain for prisoners cannot hide the stigma that is externalized in many other ways, mostly through action, such as through employment issues. While wearing the Yellow Ribbon as a show of support is easy, we hope that the students truly understand the meaning behind the yellow ribbons and learn to open their hearts to ex-convicts.

Our milestones of 2010: Mercy Relief Exhibition and Dialogue Sessions

Mercy Relief Exhibition and Dialogue Sessions with MP Denise Phua and Mr. Andrew Ang

Mercy Relief-Extending hands, connecting hearts

Mercy Relief is an independent, non-governmental humanitarian charity that has reached out to 18 countries and more, since its inauguration by then Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong in 2003. It is an independent non-governmental humanitarian charity that is secular and multi-racial, extending its services regardless of country, culture or creed in responses to tragedies in Asia.

Lauded for its significant contributions in rendering aid to crisis-stricken areas surrounding Asia, Mercy Relief had always been able to respond to any call for aid within 72 hours, thereby being among the most effective organisations in offering timely assistance to countries in need.

Mercy Relief had offered assistance in the form of distributing food and medical supplies, long term developmental projects such as reconstruction efforts to education programmes to improve the lives of impoverished and disadvantaged communities, despite its limited resources of only 15 full-time workers and a modest HDB void deck apartment as its main headquarters.

As part of Saints Advocate’s advocacy [task force: Kenneth [IC],Daniel [A/IC] Edlyn, Wendy and Jessica] , we paid Mercy Relief a visit on the 21^st July 2010 to learn more about the organization, and shared ideas as to how we could create an innovative exhibition to the school.

After which, we worked with Mercy Relief to advocate its works to the SAJC cohort through an innovative photo exhibition on strings launched from 2nd to 6^th August 2010.

The photo exhibition was an interactive one that contained speech bubbles to allow students to pen down their thoughts and notes of encouragement to the volunteers and beneficiaries of Mercy Relief, as seen by active participation of the students when writing encouragement written on the photo-exhibition.

As Mercy Relief is an organization that requires a fair number of willing and long-term volunteers, we had hoped to inspire Saints to come forth and volunteer for Mercy Relief’s future humanitarian efforts through the interactive photo exhibition. Additionally, a small fund-raising event was carried out for a week, selling merchandise from Mercy Relief to support their operations.

In addition to our advocacy work, there were also three dialogue sessions were held in 2010 to members of Student Council, Saints Advocate, Saints Activists and House Council. These dialogue sessions were conducted within the months of June to October, to which Saints Advocate organized a dialogue session on Servant Leadership on the 11^th of August, guest starring MP Mrs Denise Phua and Mr. Andrew Ang.

All of these dialogue sessions were engaging and meaningful, with each guest speaker sharing with us interesting anecdotes of their personal experiences.

Particularly memorable were the words of MP Denise Phua and Mr. Andrew Ang, whose efforts in community service [Community Sector: Children, Autism and other mental and physical disabilities] and humanitarian work [Community Sector: Local and Overseas, specialize in disaster relief and helping disadvantaged communities] respectively strike a chord in us all and allowed us to learn a lot of valuable life lessons about community involvement and servant leadership.

We learn that service is not as simplistic as most of us perceive. It is not just about giving and receiving, it is just not about donating and nor is it just about helping others out of their debilitating circumstances.

Mr. Andrew Ang from Mercy Relief shared with us that service requires a person’s head, heart, honour and humility. He stated that Service encompasses learning from both parties. Often; it is these people who you are offering help to in times of adversity that teaches you what is truly important in life.

According to Mrs Denise Phua, service is a life-long commitment and as with all commitments, it can be a long and tiring process. Many a times, we may feel that helping others is wearing us out as it demands a lot of our energy, time and resources. However, as the saying goes, others before self, so even during the most tiring moments, don’t give up.

Quoting Mrs. Denise Phua, “What is worth doing is worth doing well. So, do what is right even when no one (important) is watching.”

Together with Saints Advocate, make service a part of your life.

Our milestones achieved as of 2010: Watoto Choir

Watoto Choir

Watoto is a holistic care program that aims to rescue children orphaned by Aids and vulnerable women from Uganda through a choir program to build in them leadership skills, so as to empower these people to be future leaders of their country.

The Watoto Choir taskforce [Pearline (I/C), Nathaniel (AI/C), Rachel, Tracy, Cheryl and Isaac] carried out an assembly program on both 29^th and 30^th July 2010 to the JC 2 and JC 1 cohort respectively, inviting the Watoto Choir children to come down and perform for the school.The Watoto Choir sang to the SAJC cohort to spread the message of HIV prevention and hope, touching the hearts of many in the audience.

The students were visibly awed by the enthusiasm shown by the children from the Choir and their admirable strength in facing the future and picking themselves up even after facing tragedies in their lives-losing one or both of their parents to Aids, giving the children from the choir a standing ovation after the end of their inspiring performance.

While the Watoto Choir had certainly left a lasting impression within the hearts of the SAJC students, they also left behind physical memorandums of themselves and their efforts through a fund-raising exercise that sold merchandise from the Watoto organisation.

Also, a few weeks prior to the Watoto Assembly performance, the students of SAJC were bemused to see old jeans hanging on the ceilings around strategic locations of the school compound. As it turns out, the jeans were another fund-raising effort of the Watoto task force in providing the children from Africa comfortable clothes. The responses for the jeans were slow but steady, eventually amounting to more than 30 jeans being collected throughout a two-week publicity period.

The Watoto project is overwhelmingly successful. Besides enjoying a successful fund-raising / jeans donation stint and effectively raising awareness of HIV, Aids and its impact on families in Uganda, the Watoto Choir had also left behind a lasting impression on SAJC, with every student reminded of the enthusiasm and strength of these children every time the verses of “I am not forgotten…” is heard when the morning assembly jingle plays.

Saints Advocate’s Executive Summary, Mission, Vision and Aim

Saints Advocate is a young CCA pioneered in 2010 focusing on advocacy and fund-raising work to raise awareness for different causes within the community sector [Elderly, Children, and Minority groups, Disabled, Environment and Animals].
Barely into its first year, Saints Advocate has already seen the completion of four projects [excluding YFCs and OCIP], with each project advocating for a different cause in the community. We had the Watoto Choir advocating the plight of Aids orphans and the impact of this disease across Africa; the local Mercy Relief organization educating us on relief work to disaster–stricken areas within Asia; Dialogue sessions with MP Denise Phua and Mr. Andrew Ang; the Yellow Ribbon Project advocating to give prisoners a second chance in integrating into society and Project Acknowledgement, a school-based project seeking to recognize the efforts of the non-teaching staff and to show appreciation to them.

All Saints Advocate members will play a role in taking charge of their class’s CIP projects, and will also be exposed to opportunities such as Youth for Causes competition and OCIP trips.

A voluntary competition, YFC has also seen two groups in Saints Advocate attending, each advocating a commendable cause in their own right. N-able had taken on the cause of assisting the disabled to be able to live an active lifestyle by rallying to raise awareness for wheelchair basketball, while Protecteurs Des Animaux, as their name suggests, advocate for the plight of animals that are powerless to speak for themselves.

OCIP trips in 2010 see Saints Advocate going to Cambodia in June, and to North and South Vietnam, Cambodia and Batam during the end year trips. During these trips with the Student Council, House Council [In June] and successful SAJC applicants [End year], we had helped improved the living conditions of those in need through the building of water pumps, libraries and toilets. Also, through learning about their culture and customs as well as interacting with our beneficiaries, we had take back with us a lifetime of experiences that can never be compensated through static learning.

We hope to build a more charitable Singapore/SAJC community and develop in individuals the love for others before self, by serving the community and leading by example. If you have the passion for serving the community, inspiring others to do the same and lending a voice to speak up for different causes; Saints Advocate welcome you into our family.

Mission: Developing Servant Leaders
Vision: Others before self.
Aim: Advocating changes, Inspiring Lives

Milestones of 2010

2010 has been an eventful year for Saints Advocate.
Below is a summary of the list of projects we had completed over the past year.

Projects Saints Advocate had taken up in 2010

Project Watoto Choir
Mercy Relief/ Dialogue Sessions with MPs/Organisation leaders
The Yellow Ribbon Project
Project Acknowledgement

Youth-for-Causes project

N-able
Animal Protectors

OCIP

June trip to Cambodia
End-year trips to Vietnam, Cambodia and Batam

Thank you for the effort all Saints Advocate had invested in this CCA this year. As 2011 approaches, we hope to continue improving and to do better than before! :)