21S24

Our project was on working with financially disabled children from Nurture CDC. Our class worked with 12 children aged 10, from AMK-HOUGANG branch. Our aim of the project was to understand the needs of the children and hence, while planning the activities the needs of the children were thought through.

Our class was split into 3 groups to carry out 3 different activities- The music segment, Arts and craft segment and the gaming segment. The music segment was aimed to promote some exposure of musical instruments to the kids so that they could come into contact with music more as they may not be able to in their daily life due to financial constraints. The performances by us were well received by the children and they enjoyed the process. The arts and craft segment was thought to create a sense of identity to the country and themselves as they were instructed to draw what they thought of Spirit of togetherness which was this year’s NDP theme. The gaming segment couldn’t be carried out due to technical difficulties, so we improvised and instead interacted with the children to find out about their thoughts of the session. We can confidently say that everyone has benefitted from this befriending session.

“Heartwarming, fruitful and well planned project”

“Unique experience whereby we see people of different backgrounds esp when interacting with these children with financial difficulties. I think they are very active and I respect them despite their difficulties.”

“I learnt to be more patient with children (they might be shy to express their opinions), so I encourage them to share. I like how everybody contributed especially in our art and craft sharing session.”

“I feel appreciative of their participation because I know it may be hard or uncomfortable for some of them to participate over zoom, so when they are willing to step out of their comfort zone to participate, I feel hearterned.”

“I used to think that children are very proactive, but it turns out that some of them are quite shy. So I think being older than them, it is my responsibility to take the first step in order to encourage them to follow along. I also think that the communication between us have to be kept simple so that we can understand each other better”

From SLEAD activists:

The smiles from the children's faces made us feel that our efforts had paid off. I also feel that there are no limitations and boundaries no matter the age group or financial backgrounds of all children. Planning an activity is not easy if we are too minded by our differences, but once we see it with an open mind (to treat everyone equally), we can come up with a fun yet meaningful project.