In partnership with Ngee Ann Secondary School, People of Destiny (POD) organized its annual Outdoor Learning Event Experience (OLE!) on 15 and 16 January 2009. This year, POD’s mission was to educate, empower and equip youth with the skills and know-how necessary to organize their own community service project; the annual OLE! served to infuse them with enthusiasm for voluntarism and social awareness.
POD is the youth arm of City Harvest Community Services Association (CHCSA) located in the heart of Tampines, East of Singapore.
The first day kicked off to a lively start as students had interactive discussions facilitated by CHCSA’s staff and volunteers, touching important issues like effective budgeting for community service projects, understanding the objectives of voluntarism, effective communication with elderly, exemplary leadership and good teamwork. Although they had worksheets to fill up and reflect on, OLE! transcended the theoretical to incorporate the practical as individual classes had to work together to organize either performances or game stalls for 70 elderly who would visit the school on 16 January 2009.
Using the skills they picked up over the two days, along with the effective facilitation of the CHCSA staff and volunteers, song and dance items were mastered in a matter of hours and presented to the elderly, in addition to Wushu displays, wowing the audience. Game stalls featuring creative games suitable for the elderly and attractive prizes added to their enjoyment. A catered lunch created an effective platform for the students to mingle with the elderly, capping two days of intense but fulfilling activity.
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| PHOTOS: Wendell Wee |
“I think entertaining the old folks helped to take their minds off their burdens for a while and enabled them to see that life may not be that hard because there are people looking out for them and are concerned about them,” shared Sim Cher Boon from Class 2R1, whose class was first-in-line to perform a song item. “Personally, I have learnt how to be flexible. We had to think of alternatives in a very short time to deal with obstacles we faced for our performance item.”
An enriching two days indeed. Mission accomplished!
