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Reflections 30/4/2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
After a period of inactivity, our group finally continued working on our project. On 30th April 2008, after the HCI-NYGH Annual Track and Field Meet, our group split up into 2 to visit 6 different primary schools located in Bukit Batok as well as Clementi. Aaron, Bertram and I went off to Bukit Batok to find the CIP teacher-in-charge of Keming Primary School, Bukit View Primary School and Princess Elizabeth Primary School, whereas Alfred and Wen Shan went off to Clementi to find the CIP teacher-in-charge of Nan Hua Primary School, Clementi Primary School and Henry Park Primary School. The purpose of our visit was to encourage the primary schools to support our cause by having a food drive.
The purpose of having a food drive in primary schools is firstly because normally the amount of food collected from primary school students is a lot, and can be used to constantly supply Food from the Heart’s warehouse. With an increased amount of food, our group can then proceed with our final aim – setting up of a food distribution centre in Clementi to provide for the needy. The second purpose we have is to encourage primary school students to learn to care and share. What I always feel is that donation of money is not part of contributing to the public (ultimately we do not know where the money ends up in), but if we were able to donate things that were of real use, the needy would benefit a lot. Having a food drive along with an exhibition would serve the purpose of spreading awareness about Food from the Heart and the situation of poverty in Singapore.
On this trip I have learnt quite a lot of things. The CIP teachers-in-charge of both Keming Primary and Bukit View Primary supported our idea greatly. Despite hearing of our proposal only through our mouths, they were convinced that our project was for a good cause. Keming Primary School would be having the food drive in Term 3 Week 10, and our group would have to present during the students’ assembly time. The teacher of Bukit View was very supportive of our project, but because of time constraints, we would only be having the food drive sometime around National Day. Actually this was a good idea as now we can effectively fuse community service together with national education. She also suggested that the Bukit Batok Zone RC help us to organize a food drive to collect food from the residents. I really think that the teachers are very helpful and understanding. Even though our meeting with them was rather impromptu (there wasn’t any prior notice), they listened to us very carefully and actually agreed with us. I hope that through the food drives and exhibitions, we can help to inculcate the value of caring and sharing among the primary school kids. If they start from young, I am sure they will grow up to very generous people always extending a helping hand towards the needy.
However, I felt that our planning for the different meetings could be held at an earlier time. We should have tried contacting the CIP teachers-in-charge of each school first and fix an appointment before actually going down to the schools. The time between Projects’ Day prelims and now is rather long, and we could have done quite a lot of things during that time period. Though we had been rather busy with our tests and work, we could have just used a little bit of time to do something constructive for this project. Contacting a school at the eleventh hour seems very risky, and it might also cause the teachers to have a bad impression of our group. Nevertheless, I am glad that our meetings with the teachers had not gone to a waste and we achieved remarkable progress.
We would be going down to Nan Hua Primary School this Friday to present about our project to the students and next week we will be officially starting our first food drive in Nan Hua Primary School. We had stayed back in school on 3rd May (last Saturday) until 8pm to discuss what we were going to do before, during and after the food drives.
Another thing that amazes me is my group members’ determination and efficiency at completing tasks. Although Saturday was a tiring day (with Open House before that), they were able to focus and discuss about pertinent issues, while I dozed off accidentally. I really would like to learn how to prioritize my tasks so that I am able to work effectively, particularly when things are getting busier (I am the trainer of a sabbatical and I also need to plan for our unit camp held 3 weeks from now).
Hopefully, our efforts would not go down the drain, and we would be able to conduct a successful food drive and exhibition at Nan Hua Primary School.
The purpose of having a food drive in primary schools is firstly because normally the amount of food collected from primary school students is a lot, and can be used to constantly supply Food from the Heart’s warehouse. With an increased amount of food, our group can then proceed with our final aim – setting up of a food distribution centre in Clementi to provide for the needy. The second purpose we have is to encourage primary school students to learn to care and share. What I always feel is that donation of money is not part of contributing to the public (ultimately we do not know where the money ends up in), but if we were able to donate things that were of real use, the needy would benefit a lot. Having a food drive along with an exhibition would serve the purpose of spreading awareness about Food from the Heart and the situation of poverty in Singapore.
On this trip I have learnt quite a lot of things. The CIP teachers-in-charge of both Keming Primary and Bukit View Primary supported our idea greatly. Despite hearing of our proposal only through our mouths, they were convinced that our project was for a good cause. Keming Primary School would be having the food drive in Term 3 Week 10, and our group would have to present during the students’ assembly time. The teacher of Bukit View was very supportive of our project, but because of time constraints, we would only be having the food drive sometime around National Day. Actually this was a good idea as now we can effectively fuse community service together with national education. She also suggested that the Bukit Batok Zone RC help us to organize a food drive to collect food from the residents. I really think that the teachers are very helpful and understanding. Even though our meeting with them was rather impromptu (there wasn’t any prior notice), they listened to us very carefully and actually agreed with us. I hope that through the food drives and exhibitions, we can help to inculcate the value of caring and sharing among the primary school kids. If they start from young, I am sure they will grow up to very generous people always extending a helping hand towards the needy.
However, I felt that our planning for the different meetings could be held at an earlier time. We should have tried contacting the CIP teachers-in-charge of each school first and fix an appointment before actually going down to the schools. The time between Projects’ Day prelims and now is rather long, and we could have done quite a lot of things during that time period. Though we had been rather busy with our tests and work, we could have just used a little bit of time to do something constructive for this project. Contacting a school at the eleventh hour seems very risky, and it might also cause the teachers to have a bad impression of our group. Nevertheless, I am glad that our meetings with the teachers had not gone to a waste and we achieved remarkable progress.
We would be going down to Nan Hua Primary School this Friday to present about our project to the students and next week we will be officially starting our first food drive in Nan Hua Primary School. We had stayed back in school on 3rd May (last Saturday) until 8pm to discuss what we were going to do before, during and after the food drives.
Another thing that amazes me is my group members’ determination and efficiency at completing tasks. Although Saturday was a tiring day (with Open House before that), they were able to focus and discuss about pertinent issues, while I dozed off accidentally. I really would like to learn how to prioritize my tasks so that I am able to work effectively, particularly when things are getting busier (I am the trainer of a sabbatical and I also need to plan for our unit camp held 3 weeks from now).
Hopefully, our efforts would not go down the drain, and we would be able to conduct a successful food drive and exhibition at Nan Hua Primary School.
Wei Jing
We can do anything we want, if we stick to it long enough.
Reflections 12/4/2008
Saturday, April 12, 2008
After the preliminary rounds, we managed to ace it quite well. Despite our tight schedules, we managed to squeeze out some time out of the previous few days of prelims to complete our powerpoint. However, I feel that it is partly my fault for not starting things early. It is of utmost importance for a team to have a schedule to complete tasks before deadlines. In our case, we only did it right on the deadline. If something else had cropped up, we might not have been able to make it through.
I must, on the other hand, commend my team for being a responsible and active team and being serious about this project. They have been extremely supportive, turning up for events, meetings and cips, and regularly doing their reflections. On this issue, I feel that they have done extremely well. I hope that we will continue to keep this up.
Prelims is only the beginning, and our planning have basically ended. Now is the time to start the real action. We have begun our project activity with a CIP activity at Marsiling with Food from the Heart, and this is merely phase 1 of the project. We have learnt much from this activity, and learn how much it takes to help out just in distribution of food items to the poor and needy in one area. Moreover, we were encouraged and inspired by how much the needy needed our food items, and how much they required them.
Being much more inspired, we will boost our efforts in making this project a success and having a long term effect on the community and doing our best to help the needy.
Rock on Project Sunshine!
“A can of sardine is merely a can of sardine to you and me. But to the needy, it holds so much more meaning and value. What we are doing here is adding value to the food by giving the unwanted food to those who really NEED and CHERISH them. That’s what Food from the Heart is all about.” –Eon, Food from the Heart Programme Executive Outreach & Education.
I must, on the other hand, commend my team for being a responsible and active team and being serious about this project. They have been extremely supportive, turning up for events, meetings and cips, and regularly doing their reflections. On this issue, I feel that they have done extremely well. I hope that we will continue to keep this up.
Prelims is only the beginning, and our planning have basically ended. Now is the time to start the real action. We have begun our project activity with a CIP activity at Marsiling with Food from the Heart, and this is merely phase 1 of the project. We have learnt much from this activity, and learn how much it takes to help out just in distribution of food items to the poor and needy in one area. Moreover, we were encouraged and inspired by how much the needy needed our food items, and how much they required them.
Being much more inspired, we will boost our efforts in making this project a success and having a long term effect on the community and doing our best to help the needy.
Rock on Project Sunshine!
“A can of sardine is merely a can of sardine to you and me. But to the needy, it holds so much more meaning and value. What we are doing here is adding value to the food by giving the unwanted food to those who really NEED and CHERISH them. That’s what Food from the Heart is all about.” –Eon, Food from the Heart Programme Executive Outreach & Education.
Wen Shan
Caring is a reflex... You live, you help.