4 February 2011
My Maternal Family
My Maternal Family
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Dialogue on Integration & MP giving oranges
1 February 2011
Don't be afraid~
Presentation by Director of the National Talent & Population Division, Prime Minister's Office
Residents shouting "Huat" cheer
We happened to chance upon a TV celebrity Ah Nan
A cheer crafted by Ah Nan: "Eng Ong Huat lah!"
Visited the Bloodbank @ Health Sciences Authority (HSA) Building to make my 6th blood donation as the festive period was approaching.
It was innovative for Bloodbank to be distributing apples to blood donors after their blood donation, since oranges would have costed much more.
It must have been a few years since I made my blood donation at HSA. The Donors Refreshments Menu had certainly been ENHANCED!
In the evening, fellow Eunos Grassroots Leaders had a dialogue with Adviser Zainul Abidin Rasheed, representatives from Ministry of Home Affairs and the newly created National Talent & Population Division. The topic was on Integration and Immigration, a hot topic that concerned many Singaporeans.
I took the opportunity to share about the lack of infrastructure planning to cater for the sudden population growth, resulting in inconvenience to Singaporeans, such as having to squeeze in packed and crowded trains. I cited a comment posted by a Facebook friend lamenting that she thought she was in a foreign land when she took the train to work.
I also raised the concern of the rising number of foreigners in our tertiary institutions.
It has been a tradition for our Adviser to visit the market and distribute oranges to residents on the night before the eve of Lunar New Year. This is the night when residents would do their final "marketing" to prepare for the celebrations.
PAP Eunos Lunar New Year Celebration
31 January 2011
Young PAP Eunos :)
Our PAP Eunos Activists and Volunteers had our mini-Lunar New Year celebration after assisting our residents at the Meet-the-People Session. Despite the late hours, everyone was still in high spirit ready to welcome the new Lunar Year.
Sharing cum Dialogue Session with RC Chairpersons
26 January 2011
The Straits Times, 26 January 2011
The Sharing session was held at Tampines East Community Club.
People's Association Chief Executive Director Yam Ah Mee giving his welcome address
Mr Joshua Chan, People's Association Research Division, shares some statistics
Sharing by Central Singapore Director. He shared that there are a total of 557 RCs in Singapore
Best Practices Sharing by Ms Judith Lee, PBM, Chairlady of Tampines East Zone 4 RC
Ms Judith Lee shared a great quote, "The sky has its limits, but our outreach has no limits."
The RC's Women Aerobics Club, formed 12 years ago.
Tampines East Zone 4 RC Hip Hop Dance Club
Volunteers and Interest Group members of Tampines East Zone 4 RC
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan (Tampines GRC) chairing the dialogue session with Advisers Cynthia Phua (Aljunied GRC) & Michael Palmer (Pasir Ris GRC) & PA CED Yam Ah Mee
Such sharing sessions are helpful in allowing different RCs to share and learn from one another!
Participated in the 3rd day of the 21st IAVE World Conference in the morning and then attended the Sharing cum Dialogue Session with Residents' Committee (RC) Chairpersons organised by People's Association.
The Straits Times, 26 January 2011
Was quoted in a news report on youths. My comments on the survey findings that showed that Singapore youths are generally happy: "I agree that youths today are happier. We're getting a bit more attention now than before, including *Scape, where young people can hang out, and more dialogues being organised in schools and grassroots organisations for youths to speak up. We now have more platforms to express ourselves - and it's helped to give us a boost in our confidence."
The Sharing session was held at Tampines East Community Club.
People's Association Chief Executive Director Yam Ah Mee giving his welcome address
Mr Joshua Chan, People's Association Research Division, shares some statistics
Sharing by Central Singapore Director. He shared that there are a total of 557 RCs in Singapore
Best Practices Sharing by Ms Judith Lee, PBM, Chairlady of Tampines East Zone 4 RC
Ms Judith Lee shared a great quote, "The sky has its limits, but our outreach has no limits."
The RC's Women Aerobics Club, formed 12 years ago.
Tampines East Zone 4 RC Hip Hop Dance Club
Volunteers and Interest Group members of Tampines East Zone 4 RC
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan (Tampines GRC) chairing the dialogue session with Advisers Cynthia Phua (Aljunied GRC) & Michael Palmer (Pasir Ris GRC) & PA CED Yam Ah Mee
Such sharing sessions are helpful in allowing different RCs to share and learn from one another!
21st IAVE World Volunteer Conference
Day 1 - 24 January 2011 - Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony of the 21st International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) World Volunteer Conference was held at the Resorts World Sentosa.
Opening Address by Mrs Tan Chee Koon, Organising Chairman for the 21st IAVE World Volunteer Conference; Board Member for National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre (NVPC) Singapore
Speech by Ms Flavia Pansieri, Executive Coordinator for United Nations Volunteers (UNV)
Speech by Dr Kang-Hyun Lee, IAVE World President
The Guest-of-Honour was Mr S R Nathan, President of the Republic of Singapore.
Performer waving the IAVE Flag
Girl Guides bearing flags of various countries participating in the conference
Day 2 - 25 January 2011 - A Date with Jet Li & Michelle Yeoh
A Fusion Dance Performance showcasing the diverse culture of Singapore was presented to the participants who came from all over the World for the IAVE World Volunteer Conference.
The Dikir Barat had a fusion twist to it, with dance moves and songs from different ethnic groups entwined into one performance.
SM Goh Chok Tong talked about 3 strategies in increasing volunteerism rate:
- Flexible Volunteering - giving people "bite-size" tasks, adhoc basis. Case study: the success of New York Cares, UN Online Volunteers.
- Satisfying Volunteering - 17% of Singaporean volunteers don't return the following year
- Informal Volunteering - 33% of Singaporeans contributed more than 48 hours each on helping people. There is a need to recognise the efforts of informal volunteers.SM Goh also shared about the NVPC's "Vertical Kampung" initiative
After the Opening Plenary, participants headed for the respective forums that they signed up for. There were 5 tracks of forums and each track had about 3-5 different forums. Participants were definitely spoilt for choices.
Attended a forum of the Track 5: Strategic Issues in Volunteer Management
One of the key highlights of the 4-day conference was the Luncheon Plenary with two superstars - Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh.
Li founded the One Foundation charity while Yeoh is the global ambassador for the Make Roads Safe campaign which aims to raise awareness of the problem of road traffic injury.
Jet Li says his One Foundation makes it simple for people to contribute. 1 Yuan a day and volunteering 1 hour a day in China makes it easy to digest.
He believes that everyone is part of a big family and everyone just needs to contribute a little and that would amount to a lot.
"Time is you control, don't tell me no time" - He illustrates the point by saying that when a boy chases a girl, even if he is busy, he still will be able to find time to do so.
Workshop Session 114: Maximising the Power of One: The Aggregate Strategy, moderated by Ms Amy Tan, CEO, Women's Initiative for Ageing Successfully (WINGS).
Day 3: 26 January 2011 - Plenary Session on the IAVE Global Corporate Volunteering Research Project
Sarah Hayes: "Nothing is more humane than people helping people."
In his sharing, Ed Martinez said UPS staff teach their trade. For instance, safety officers teach UK drivers on safety driving. UPS is a logistics company, so they also provide logistics training to NGOs involved in disaster-relief work. Ed Martinez thanks volunteers by saying, "Without you leading the charge, we'll be in a more desperate place."
Forum Session 420: Volunteering Mega Trends: International Volunteering
Moderated by Mr Zulkifli Baharudin, Managing Director, Global Business Integrators Pte Ltd
Workshop Session 522: Volunteer Performance and Measuring Performance to Meet Expectations
Moderated by Sue Kobar, Manager of Volunteer Services, Nurse Maude
Workshop Session 424: Get "Hands On" with Volunteering: Episodic Volunteering through the Hands-On Network.
Moderated by Mr David Fong, Director of SG Cares and Marketing Communications, National Volunteering & Philanthropy Centre.
Day 4 - 27 January 2011 - "The Pitch" presented by UBS
The Pitch is a "Singapore Idol" platform for NGOs to pitch their ideas. UBS sponsors US$60,000 for for the winner, and another US$15,000 for the finalist that wins the popular audience vote.
Mr Laurence Lien shared that there were 185 speakers and moderators for the conference and they all volunteered their time to share their knowledge. There were also a total of 400 volunteers (excluding speakers and moderators) involved in the conference. He said that some ideas shared were forming communities of interest, and the need to give volunteers opportunity to be entrepreneurial. Beneficiaries might not just be solution-receiving, they could be solution-giving too.
"Youths are changing the face of volunteerism." Biggest contribution from volunteering is the returning of the soul to the person, making people think of one another as friends.
Presented by CEO, Volunteer Ireland. Theme: Volunteering. Human Rights. Human Dignity
The 4-day conference ended with a Farewell Dinner, held at One on the Bund, Clifford Pier.
The programme highlight was the parading of performances down the aisle, as participants stood by and enjoyed the entertainment.
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