MYMCA CIP: First project undertaken by 3rd Saints Advocates

31st March 2012

On the 31st of March 2012, the 3rd Saints Advocate helped organise and participated in a Community Involvement Project (CIP) with Metropolitan YMCA (MYMCA), in which the students visited various houses under the MYMCA’s food aid to gather the beneficiaries’ latest information for the updating of their profiles with the MYMCA.

This trip to MYMCA was our first CIP trip as a 3rd Saints Advocate, our first exposure to the community outside of school grounds and one that marks the beginning of our journey as servant leaders. In our two years to come as a Saints Advocate, there will be numerous CIP projects that we will embark on. However, our projects might not always be successful. The first time we carried out this CIP project earlier in March, it fell far short of MYMCA, our teachers’ and our expectations. Unclear about what we had to do, we left many crucial holes in our data collection that made it useless to MYMCA. After realising our mistakes, we contacted and apologised to Tracy, who had coordinated the project for us, and offered to redo the project. She kindly allowed us a second chance.

We didn’t want to disappoint Tracy and our teachers again, and most importantly, the many beneficiaries whom we were responsible for. I made a little promise to myself then that we were going to do this with our utmost effort - and indeed, we all did, and we were able to see the reward of our efforts.

The experience of the home visits was a very impactful and inspiring one. Seeing the poor living conditions of these less fortunate people, it really saddened me to think of all the things we have
taken for granted in our lives. Going to their houses and going through our required list of information, scanning and making copies of their identifications, bills and bankbooks, it felt almost like they were laying their lives before our scrutiny, and although receiving help should not be a thing to be ashamed of, then it certainly felt without dignity. I wanted so much to able to do something to help, that none of them would have to live in such desperate holdings. Hearing stories from Tracy about hostile beneficiaries, it was rather hard to imagine. However, even with the more “forceful” beneficiaries removed by Tracy from all our visiting homes, my group did visit one elderly man that reacted quite violently toward us. He lived in a comparatively well furnished house, and when we stated our purpose, he hotly remarked that MYMCA cannot do much to help him and that we were wasting his time. It angered me slightly that he was so ungrateful of the aid he was receiving, when many others may need it more than him. However it is not for me to judge his case, so I just noted down my observations for MYMCA to review. Overall this CIP gave me some insight to what service work may be like. Engaging in helping others, we will be touched and inspired many times along the way, but good intent does not promise being appreciated, yet every setback can remind us and direct us back to our simple desire to love.

Lastly, I also want to share that the eagerness of the Advocates to do the CIP right the second time really surprised me. Freeing a Saturday morning and gathering punctually at the early hour of eight before heading out to all their respective houses, the compassion of every Saints advocate was evident, and their desire to serve the community unmistakable. Though in this CIP, we did not really do much to help the beneficiaries or MYMCA, but it is with this same passion and determination that we will strive make a difference in the lives of others, and for those we do touch, it is one more life inspired. I hope that we will keep this passion burning strong inside us throughout our journey as one Saints Advocate. Up and on!

-Pang Hui Jun

Interview updates

Dear JC 1 applicants,

We are happy to inform you that 45 JC 1s  have been selected to be part of the 3rd saints advocate.

List of successful applicants will be out on the CIP notice board (2nd floor- next to comp lab 2) on 27th Feb, mon at 8am.

We will like to thank all applicants for turning for the interview. We are sorry that we are unable to accept every applicant. We are touched by your desire to make a difference in the community and we look forward to your support in the various college community programs organised by advocates.

For all successful applicants, please note that the first meeting will be coming Monday,27th feb, 530pm at the trophy room. Pls bring along a pair of shorts, college tshirt and writing materials.

Take care and god bless!

Rgds,
Mr Ho

Work Attachment at Gawad Kalinga (Jeremy)

I was actually rather indignant about participating in this CIP work attachment because I was already so busy with my other commitments. It was because of these commitments that I did not participate in the OCIP but considering the timeframe for the work attachment is much flexible, I thought maybe I should take it up, try something new while benefitting the community.

Though my attachment is rather short, officially it is only about a week long, but it was a pretty enriching week. My work attachment was with Gawad Kalinga, an organisation serving to bring the poor out of poverty in mainly the Philippines but is now reaching out to other developing nations. I got to work with Shruti, a fellow saint advocate, and Rina, a full time worker at the office.

In this 5 days, half of the time was set aside for the planning of our task force fundraising project that we would execute when school reopens. 

Shruti and I would discuss, brainstorm ideas, and do the various planning for the successful execution of our project.

However, I was most impacted by the cause of the organisation and the belief that the full time workers, the beneficiaries and anyone related to GK had for their work. GK is an organisation that is all about the people. 

The first thing that Rina spoke to us about was not about how we should go about doing the fundraising and how we should try to make as much money as possible. Instead, she said that it is not about the money, it is about the cause, how we should focus on the work that the organisation is doing, what they are advocating for (which is to bring people out of poverty), and create an awareness around that. 

She was also glad that we were attending this work attachments and interns that want to advocate and raise awareness of GK rather than those that were fundraising.

After hearing what she spoke of and her passionate believe in the work of GK, it has also greatly inspired and changes my attitude towards social causes. 

Whenever we embark on a project to help the community, we must always remember why and what are we working for. For GK we were working towards bringing the poor out of poverty, through the means of providing them funds to build shelter, farms allowing them to build closely knitted communities that allow them a comfortable, peaceful, safe environment as compared to those in the slums. 

Hearing about the impact I would create, it was inspiring and made me want to champion the cause even more. I had taken part in social projects before but I was often blinded by the hard work and setbacks that I would forget about the vague understanding for what I am championing. This time, I was greatly enlightened by what it means to work for a cause and to have great believe in it and I hope it would inspire me to go further with my GK project.

-Jeremy

Work Attachment at Gawad Kalinga (Shruti)

Gawad Kalinga Hope initative

When I first chose GK as my work attachment taskforce I was clueless and I basically thought it was an organisation that raises funds and builds homes for the poor. However in the very first meeting with the program coordinator I was proved wrong.

Gawad Kalinga is an international charity organisation that aims to help the poor families live in bright, colourful and conducive homes. 

Before GKH enters the slum, the people there generally are territorial and uncaring the extreme hunger and poverty makes them undignified and succumbing to the harsh circumstances of poverty but GKHi builds homes for these people teaches them to care for one another and nurtures a caring community.

Gawad Kalinga as I realise now is all about the people. It doesn’t do work just for the sake of building homes to improve the living standards of those in the slums. 

It empowers the people by showing them that they can live a better life by taking up this opportunity. Apart from building homes the GKHi gives each family a specific plot of land and they can choose if they want to grow cash crops or crops for consumption. What I really like about the organisation is that it empowers people. It shows them they have a choice in moulding their own future. This way the slum people will feel dignified and will work even harder to come out of the poverty situation.

Furthermore the full time workers like Mr. Paulo and Ms. Rina are really passionate about the work they do. The people who work here also strongly believe in working for this cause because they want to end poverty and by being the brothers’ keeper. 

In this way a caring and cohesive community is nurtured. Their stories are inspiring and we as interns can see the bigger picture, that is the need to support and champion the cause for what it is and not merely for fund-raising.

The organisation way of tackling the problem of problem is also really commendable because it teaches the poor to be self-sufficient and live with dignity. They do so by playing a part in contributing to the construction of the homes instead of just sitting there waiting for it to be handed to them.

To conclude Gawad Kalinga as its name implies gives care and its work is beyond each individuals’ own materialistic selfish goals and it aims to bring up a community of people who are there for each other and progress as one community.

-Shruti

A trip back to Gia Bac

OCIP trip to Vietnam, Gia Bac

Carrying a heart filled with excitement and anticipation, our OCIP boarded the plane to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Going back for the second time to the same village, I felt a sense of nostalgia and a bigger responsibility being the leader this round.

Going for the first time in June as an exco member, I think it helped and prepared me for the Dec OCIP trip.The June OCIP opened my eyes to the environment in Gia Bac village which did not change much in the Dec trip.

View of Gia Bac

Also, it taught me various lessons such as sense of urgency, being a team and how to manage the relationships I had. All these were useful in the Dec OCIP trip as I encountered a few conflicts which were peacefully resolved in the end. Knowing how important it was to keep up with the pace and being exposed to the vigorous work schedule we had in June, it allowed me better prepare myself as this trip was longer and made resting times a priority for the trip itself. I also found myself giving constant reminders to the group. Being familiar with the environment allowed me to better schedule the bathing times and how to go about organising the team.

Sleeping Area

However, the trips differed as not only was the Dec trip longer, we had volunteers from SMU joining us as well. This brought the total number of volunteers in Gia Bac to about 70. However our daily routines weren’t affected as the SMU team had kindly proposed to work around our routines as we had arrived earlier. Working with them was a pleasure though we had disagreements initially.

Bamboo weaving for the library windows

Building the library walls

They were really friendly and being Singaporeans in a foreign country, it allowed us to relate to each other better.

Dinner with SMU on our second last day

Personally I feel that the main learning points we can take away from them is how humble they were in learning from us, they would seek our feedback and listen to us though they were much older. Also, the facilities that we had in Dec has improved and we have more toilet facilities which allowed us to solve our bathing problems with the arrival of SMU. We had a change in headquarters as the new headquarter is a house and thus we had more place and could eat indoors everyday.

Meal times

Knowing about the new facilities we had when we first arrived brought a smile to my face as within the 6 months, there was improvements made to the village and that could mean more people are now aware of the living conditions and problems faced by the village.

House for Hope: Building a kitchen for a family

In conclusion, both the June and Dec OCIP trips were memorable but different. The June OCIP trip was memorable as I felt that I have learnt more about Gia Bac and the situation in the village itself. The Dec OCIP trip on the other hand, taught me more about myself and I felt that I grew in terms of leading a group from the constant feedbacks given. Also, the Dec OCIP trip focused more on personal learning and development as compared to the June OCIP trip where it focused on the international community.

-Gio