Take a look at yourselves. You have nice clothes, nice shoes. Did you know that there are many out there that are not as privileged as you? Yes, Singapore is a first world country which makes her generally rich in terms of materialistic wealth. Do you agree that most of us are born with a silver spoon in our mouths? Nevertheless, what you are about to witness are the unseen and often forgettable scenes in Singapore which may shock the depths of your minds on urban Singapore.
And the third step is to translate their emotions into actions. We have designed an activity to give them a chance to involve themselves in the act of helping the less fortunate. So the next part of the journey is to adopt a pen pal from a rural primary school in Karimun Island, Indonesia. We foresee that the students will find difficulty in contacting the poor and obtaining cooperation from the poor in Indonesia.
If you were a child in a poor place with no shopping malls, no cinemas, what would be some things that you would want to make yourself happy? I am sure you would want basic necessities to get through each day. So if the participants were to send their pen-pals things like stationeries, books or even clothes, the pen-pals’ lives would be better and the participants can also show care and concern. [next]
So why exactly should we do this activity? Through the interaction between the two students from different living environments, our participants can understand the needs of their pen friend better. As you know the best way to get to know a person better is through communicating with one another. In this activity, they can see the daily experiences and the emotions felt by people living in poorer conditions. This can cause them to start considering more about the poor which will then lead to them developing a greater sense of compassion for the plights of others. [next]