Creating Memorable ‘Moments’ at NUS Community Engagement Festival 2016

 The Community Engagement (CE) Festival 2016 conducted by CAPT college of NUS was an insightful and fun event which allowed students like us, Saints Advocates, with a similar mission and vision to come together, share our experiences and know more about some underprivileged communities in Singapore.

“The Community Engagement Festival was so much more fun than I expected! I had expected it to be like an exhibition with little interactive activities but it turned out to be better. We got to meet people from different age group and backgrounds, and we interacted through many activities, like cooking urah pisang (I think) and churros, and planting kokedama (I think) from scratch! Not only was it a fun experience, I learnt many things too” –Karen

Planting kokedama to freshen up the days ahead!

Talking to the various groups offered us an insight into their world, the problems they suffer through and how many hardships they and their families have been through to continue living happily and finding a place for themselves in this world and today’s society. For example, we got to know that the Migrant Workers who are new in Singapore are often sexually and verbally abused and that disabled children are often bullied and looked down upon by other Singaporeans. This year’s theme “Moments” encouraged us to communicate and learn, from and with the other underprivileged community groups present like Migrant Workers, Elderly and children with disabilities. Here are thoughts and learnings by some of our Saints Advocates members and how the acts and words of the community members created moments which they are likely to remember for a long time:

“The most exciting activity for me was the activity where we had to make our very own dumplings. Both the migrant workers and elderly were very passionate and willing to teach us, since they have cooking knowledge and skills. They were patient and taught us step by step what to do. Unlike the usual image of migrant workers working long hours in the sun, it was very heart-warming to see a different side of them.” – Monika Ng

“While most people are usually under the impression that the elderly are boring and not tech-savvy, through the elderly in my group, I learned today that this is actually not true for most. One of the elderly in my group, Madam Sim was 81 years old and yet she was very proficient with using the iPhone.” Yi  Hao

Learning from elderly how to make roses from pandan leaves

Not only were we Advocates able to know more about the conditions and problems faced by the underprivileged groups in our community but we aim to use the knowledge we gained as a stepping stone to guide us in initiating projects or events which will aim to help these groups of people more and spread awareness about them to our fellow Saints. By doing so and conducting various other events or activities we hope to bring the Saints closer to the community which has supported us and encourage them to give back to the society. Here are some off the thoughts from our ambitious Advocates:

“One thing that I found really useful was my conversation with one of the facilitators. She shared with me some activities that the NUS people have done for the Migrant Worker project. It really gave me inspiration to do the same since I am currently also in the Migrant Worker task force”

-Yin

“I think CE fest is a great initiative by CAPT as it brings together like minded individuals and the more vulnerable groups of society together. Through this interaction, we can better understand their predicaments and also lend a listening ear to them. This probably sounds a little ambitious, but if we as Advocates can also organize a similar event for the community/SAJC, I think it will be quite suitable and meaningful since after all, we are the bridge between the community and the school.” -Ysabelle

Creating music with household items and with elderly and migrant workers, some of whom even sung songs in their Mother Tongue Language.

We Advocates are really grateful that we had an opportunity to attend this festival and were able to take away various learning points from it¸ which we hope will better enable us to fulfil our mission of ‘Advocating Changes, Inspiring Lives’.

Beautiful moment created at CAPT’s CE festival

Student Leadership Residential Program (SLRP) 2016

                                                                                                         

The SLRP is a programme held in Saint Andrew’s Hall (SA Hall) for members of the Saints Advocate to learn more about their roles as student leaders. The Seventh Saints Advocate were fortunate to have an opportunity to bond together as a batch and experience staying in the SA Hall from 29^th March to 11^th February 2016 under the SLRP.

During the stay, we attended talks and workshops such as Positive Intentions Workshop and INtercultural Workshop These activities helped us to grow and nurture ourselves. We learnt important leadership skills and bonded as a Seventh Saints Advocate.

Here are some reflections from the Seventh, as well as pictures of our stay:

“SLRP on the whole has provided me with insights into a lot of things and along the way, I understood myself better and can better understand why I joined Saints Advocate.

To know the actual meaning of servant leadership through the workshop was interesting as I never knew about it until I came to SAJC. It is indeed a great set of philosophy as it helps everyone to grow and to become a better person. I will mould myself into a servant leader too, not because our school require us to do so, not our cca require us to do so, but because I think it will be a right choice.”

~ Valerie

A sketch of our hostel bedroom

“Although I have been staying in hostel for quite some time, having SLRP is a different experience.The programme taught me how to be caring to others. Moreover, I truly cherish the time that as a Seventh spent together. Due to our workload and academic commitment, we sometimes tend to neglect the quality time of gathering together. Thus, by sharing rooms or at least, staying in close proximity to each other, I was given the chance to know my friends better. In fact, after the programme had ended, I would miss the time when I had the chance to do so. The sessions and workshops held throughout the 2 weeks are very meaningful to me. They allowed much time for reflection that otherwise would have been very minimal when I had busy schedule.”

~ Stefanus

Example of what we learnt

“The 2 weeks stay for the Student Leaders Residential Programme (SLRP) has been an enriching stay, allowing me to learn many different skills and gain a lot of knowledge about things happening around me in the society as well as increased my self awareness”

~ Pamela

Group picture with the Sixth after Cross Country

 

“I feel that this SLRP allowed us to bond very well together as a CCA as a 7th. It allowed us to know each other a lot better because we see each other close to 24 hours everyday for about 2 weeks. I feel very privileged to be able to have this programme right after the Leadership Training Camp LTC and at the beginning of the year because then we would be able to interact with each other even before our projects start, allowing us to be able to coordinate better in the future.”

~ You Xuan

 

Group picture outside SA Hall on the last day of SLRP

7th Saints Advocate Leadership Training Camp 2016

The LTC  (Leadership Training Camp) kick started the Seventh batch’s journey as Saints Advocates on 26th February. It started with ice-breaking games like H2O and double whacko, which engaged both the Seventh and the Sixth. These ice-breaker games gave us a chance to know our batchmates and seniors.

After the ice-breaker games, members of the Seventh were split into various groups and we went around the school from one station to another, playing an amazing race which showed us the importance of certain values which are important for a servant leader. The games tested our teamwork skills, patience and understanding for one another. Besides the playing of games or completion of tasks, at each station, all groups were given parts of the Saints Advocate pledge.

Some of the station games

On the 2^nd day, the entire cca went to a HDB estate where we used the cleaning of the homes of elderly as a platform to interact with them and provide them some company. We were assigned to various houses hence as a cca we covered around 7 houses. This provided us with an idea of how our monthly Big Sweep and J1 service-learning day is going to be like. We realized the purpose of visiting the elderly is to understand their needs and provide them with company through the interaction we had with them.

The 7th Saints Advocate's first Big Sweep during LTC

“Through the big sweep, i managed to get some insight about the elderly people's lives. I realised that some of them are actually leading very lonely lives. They are neglected and they have to take care of themselves although their bodies are not as strong as when they were young. This makes me want to take part in more of such activities to be able to some joy into their lives by visiting and bonding with them. If I were in their position, I would certainly want someone to do that for me. I'm grateful that this activity was able to open my eyes.”

-Christine

 After this, we went to various shopping malls (E.g. Toa Payoh hub/ Junction8 ), in our groups and had to participate in an activity called “Operation 007”. It was a mission, which required us to advocate a cause and provided us with a first-hand experience to interact with the members of the public.

“Since it was our very first time handling a task like ‘Operation 007’, we were initially uncertain about the way we should approach it. With the help of our group leaders and seniors within each group, all of the groups managed to complete our respective projects within the time limit.”

-Sree

 

'Operation 007' at Toa Payoh Hub

On the last day, we played water games, which taught us the importance of teamwork and division of our works according to the requirements. After this, we were brought to the corridor of LT1 and the last activity the Seventh had to engage in as a whole before ending the LTC camp was piecing the pledge. This was indeed difficult but we managed to accomplish the task successfully, with teamwork, dedication and time-management.

Overall, these 3 days of LTC taught us a lot of important things which we, as Advocates and Servant Leaders would need as stepping stones to undertake our journey ahead. It also provided all of us a chance to get to know each other and start forming our bonds together as the Saints Advocate.

“LTC was the start of my Advocate’s journey and it allowed all of us to get to know each other a lot better through the process. It allowed us to bond together as an advocate family, as leaders who are willing to help other with passion.’

-You Xuan

 

Our reflection time!- Most of our reflections were done at the end of the day and these helped us consolidate what we have learnt and how we can improve, as such it is a habit all of us Advocates are strongly encouraged to practice.

Friendship Week 2016 

With the annual Friendship Week having just ended, Saints got together to not only celebrate existing friendships, but also forge new ones with peers as well as those from Simei Care Centre. For us the advocates, it was a meaningful experience raising funds for the centre, while being able to share with our peers some of the misconceptions that many people have towards the psychiatrically disabled.

Saints having fun at the photo booth :)

Reflections by Kartheegeyan s/o Mahandra, 15S08, 6th Saints Advocate 

"Friendship week has personally been a very enriching and meaningful experience. Having gone through the difficulty of settling into the JC life especially for the JC1 students. The Friendship week event helped the JC1 students bond better with their class. We were successful in doing so as many JC1s came with their classmates to take photos at the photo booth and bought balloons for their friends. While the JC1 students began forming new friendships, the JC2 student took this opportunity to strengthen their friendships in this crucial year. 

Advocating for the mentally disabled together with Simei Care Centre made this event very meaningful especially after going over to SCC to know more about mental illnesses and the general stereotypes they face. I was very glad to see how many of them have been cured of their conditions. Their performance and the sharing of the testimony in our school definitely inspired me and I’m sure it would have inspired the rest as well.   

I felt that we all worked well together as a task force, helping and supporting one another by giving constructive feedback and lending a helping hand. For me I was in charge of filming and editing the video. Even though I had no prior experience in editing videos, I took it as an opportunity to learn and decided to take responsibility for the video. While shooting the scenes, we displayed teamwork as everybody was there regardless or not they were acting. The planning and execution of Friendship week was rather smooth and not cramped in the last minute. This was because we all did our individual tasks properly and supported each other. I am very glad to have worked with this group of people for Friendship Week 2016. 

For our overall performance at the booth and sales, the 1st day was rather a bad start as sales were low and we did not really attract much attention. However we did not let it get over us, we stayed back and made changes to the booth and the arrangements.  We persisted and sales started to improve. Thus even though the preparation period was during our holidays and MSA period we pressed on together and helped advocate for the psychiatrically disabled."

Overall, Friendship week was a memorable and meaningful event for both the college as well as Simei Care Centre :)