Celebrating The Singapore Spirit What is the Singapore Spirit? Design a creative project based on the theme “Things That Make Us Singaporean – Celebrating The Singapore Spirit” and stand a chance to be funded up to $3,000! Application for the NYAA-Nexus Project Grant is open to Singaporean residents of all ages. Apply before 30 Apr 08! For more information, visit www.nyaa.org/nyaa-nexus.html or contact the NYAA Council, Tel: 6733-6753, Email: nyaac@singnet.com.sg

Volunteering Opportunities

1) Urbanbees Tuition and Mentoring Programme (ongoing)
Description:
- To tutor, befriend and mentor primary one to six children from needy families on a once a week basis at 1.5 hrs per session.
Requirements:
- Volunteers 17 years old and above preferred
- Requires a minimum of 6 months commitment

2) Kids’ Alpha-Zee Club (ongoing)
Description:
- Group work for self-esteem and character development on a once a week basis at 1 hr per session.
Requirements:
- Volunteers 17 years old and above preferred
- Requires a minimum of 6 months commitment

3) Youth Programme: W.A.Y (starting in April 08)
Description:
- youth befriending, tutoring and mentoring
- impart life and social skills to youths
Requirements:
- Volunteer involvement is required on an ad-hoc or regular basis
- Requires a minimum of 6 months commitment for certain projects
- Tertiary students preferred, at least 17 years old and above

4) Elderly Programme: (starting in March 08)
Description:
- home visits and befriending
- conducting classes and activities for the elderly
Requirements:
- Volunteer involvement is required on an ad-hoc or regular basis
- Requires a minimum of 6 months commitment for certain projects
- Volunteers 16 years old and above preferred

5) Ad Hoc Programmes / Activities / Community Outreach (ongoing)
Description:
- Organizing / Joining outings / activities
- Fund-raising

-Admin Support
- Replenish / arrange: catalogues / brochures / booklets / leaflets / food-rations
Requirements:
- Volunteers Sec 4 and above preferred

6) Volunteer Driver (ongoing)
Description:
- Help transport children in the Kidstart programme from Ghim Moh estate to Commonwealth MRT and back to Ghim Moh
Requirements:
- No age limit

-Weekday afternoons 3 pm and 6 pm

-Company van provided

Please call 6476 1481 or email: qt.fsc@carecorner.org.sg if you are interested.

Singapore and China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), on Youth Coorperation to formalise and deepen existing youth engagement and cooperation between the two countries.

Please click here to read more.

While over there, I overheard some Singaporeans comment: 'Hey. Actually their dressing don't really look very country-bumpkin hor. Actually quite like Singapore.'

In the few days I was there, I could not help but keep hearing these ethnocentric statements of comparison, sometimes even bordering on condescension. While I was not entirely surprised, yet hearing these statements saddened me at the same time. How does a comfortable, middle-class Singaporean have so little knowledge of our neighbours, and so little appreciation of their history, culture and current affairs?

And then it struck me that perhaps I should not be too harsh on my fellow Singaporeans. I am turning 25 this year, and I have had the privilege of spending time in various countries working on various kinds of projects that would have been categorised as 'voluntourism', having been to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand and Myanmar. These trips have opened my eyes to a clearer vision of the world and of life itself that one cannot and will not catch if he is holed up on the prosperous island of Singapore.

Firstly, there has been the first-hand witnessing of poverty that is so scarce in prosperous Singapore, yet such a stark reality in countries barely a couple of hours' flight from home. Ask any youth who has been on such a trip and this is probably one of the first things they will share about. Without a doubt, the starkness of the contrast makes our youths appreciate more what they have back here, even though it may not always translate into conscious efforts to volunteer back home. If nothing else, these countries help us to appreciate the value of good governance in the development of a country. An encounter here with a fellow South-east Asian student leader back in 2005 left him remarking to me: 'My friend, it's time my country's politicians start taking the lives of our people seriously'.

Secondly, these trips bring our youths face to face with their own values. They are confronted with their upbringing, their environment at home, their attitudes, as well as how they are living their own lives. In the comfort of their homes, wireless Internet access in any shopping centre they step into, never-ending studies crowding their minds, friends SMS-ing and MSN-ing, our youths live in a culture where there is no room to stop and stare. There is no time to reflect on our values, to think about life, no time to grow. There can be no substitute for such an experience locally, no possibility of re-creating it in our local context.

Here, credit must be given to the Singapore International Foundation and the National Youth Council for coming up with a model that intentionally facilitates service-learning on its Youth Expedition Programme (YEP) trips. Many other organisations, including VWOs, religious groups and student groups, also conduct overseas volunteer trips, and would do good to consult their comprehensive model. If led by a competent team leader, such trips can be times of intense personal growth for our youths.

Thirdly, having worked with various NGOs overseas on these trips, it seems clear that many of these NGOs are greatly dependent on volunteer labour and funding. Many of these organisations are run by a single director and a handful of local staff. They take in volunteers to help out with the work at the centres, even if it is just as simple as taking care of a few children for a week. Let us not discount the labour and effort that our volunteers take to these places. Volunteer-driven NGOs will tell of the importance of volunteers who give of their time sacrificially and their importance to the organisation.

Sure, these overseas volunteer trips may be a means that some use to relieve their middle-class guilt, but I suspect that the alternative suggestion of giving cash directly to these organisations will perpetuate that phenomenon even more, and make donation-givers precisely just what they are - givers of cash; even more aloof and distant from the beneficiaries they are purporting to help.

Many of these youths who go on these trips are changed in the process, having reassessed their own values and relooked at their own lives, myself included. The experience may not always pluck us out of our middle-class comfort to give our whole lives to serve the poor, but many have been inspired by their strength and resilience. Many have found their greatest joy in the service of others, no matter how short these stints are. And many have found enough commitment to the cause they worked on, to go back again and again and again to serve these communities. I know many friends like that.

The comments made by my fellow Singaporeans on my recent trip saddened me because of its narrow-mindedness. Yet, there is hope, especially if we continue to expose our youths to the realities of the wide world out there waiting for us to discover. May our youths, in the process, come to embrace tolerance, mutual understanding and an appreciation of our brethren in a deeper way than ever before.

Zheng Liren