ADVOCACY

I remember that by the end of camp, I was so determined to join OnePeople.sg as a volunteer and my Facilitators at that time explained to me that I can join as a volunteer after I attend the CampTeen at the end of the year. That year, my teacher only wanted to send Secondary 1s and 2s to the camp. I persevered and eventually convinced her to let the Secondary 3s take part too. I joined the camp and the experience at CampTeen 2014 really sparks off more passion to my motivation for racial harmony.

From then on, I was a volunteer and even went on to be a Facilitator of the CampTeen. I remembered not being able to sleep one night before the first day of camp. My heart was filled excitement and the memories of my participation in OnePeople.sg’s conferences and camps flooded my mind.

Being a volunteer in OnePeople.sg to promote racial harmony, I gained the opportunity to learn and develop useful leadership and social skills that helped me shape me today. Coming from a secluded environment where I only mix around with people of the same religion and rarely with the opposite gender for 9 years of my life, I could never imagine myself making so many new friends of other ethnicities. Now, I am proud to say that being social is no longer a challenge for me.

At 24, I brave myself to make it in this little red dot. Living in Singapore opened my eyes in so many new culture and experience, not to mention the different tastes and dishes that I really enjoy the most. I am forever thankful that I have made the right decision to choose Singapore amidst different opportunities received from other countries.  I want to thank Singapore, my home away from home for 10 years now and for many more years to come.

I can’t thank enough everyone who know me, for making me feel right at home and having a culture that encourages the development of a person anyone could wish to become —someone friendly, easy going, accepting and inclusive regardless of race,  language and religion.

By nature I am a very outgoing person, perhaps that’s because I love to know different things and explore beyond my boundaries. Traveling is such a great past time for me or should I say strolling, because  that doesn’t require me to go out of Singapore just to have a look and feel of different culture. Through my adventures, I am able to meet people from different places and from different walks of life.  I host social gatherings which help my friends build their social network especially for those of them who are just new in Singapore to get to know more people- be it for leisure, work, social and sports activities. This way we are able to foster friendships among each other and this has become a support group for us.  In return, whenever I go overseas like Taiwan, Korea and Australia I get to be hosted by their local friends back home. On some weekends, we do charity events like visiting old folks home in Chinatown as well as some children homes. For me that is a great way to enjoy true value of friendship-  we go beyond the limits and we pay it forward.

“We reap what we sow”, this is one philosophy that I have learned valuing life as whole. I am really overwhelmed by so much love that I receive from everyone- from my work colleagues and even through friends of friends. On festive occasions like – Christmas, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya and Deepavali I really have to plan my schedule in order for me not to miss an invitation. My weekends are usually full of different activities such as birthdays, weddings and weekend cook outs. It’s always a fun day weekend for me spending good and quality time with friends.