22S01

Our project, in collaboration with the Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP), aimed to educate the residents of Potong Pasir on the benefits of bone marrow donation and the minimal risks of donation along with creating awareness about blood diseases and marrow donation.

To do so, we worked in tandem with the BMDP and distributed flyers to various HDB blocks around the Potong Pasir neighborhood and interacted with many people from various walks of life. Each flyer contained information on bone marrow donation, common misconceptions of donation and a QR code that redirected to BMDP’s website. The website would link them to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section for additional information on BMDP and blood donation.

i learnt that coordinating a large group of people is a very tough job and i am very thankful for the slead activists for guiding us throughout the whole SL project. i think that this project was a very unique one because i have never done it before and i don’t think there are many opportunities to carry out an SL project like this. the SL project also allowed me to learn more about the hardships people with blood disorders go through, allowing me to learn to sympathise with them and to be more grateful for my good health. it was a meaningful experience, knowing that what i have done could potentially help save someone’s life. however, it was also a bit scary because of how quiet the flats were and it felt like there was no one around. fortunately, we were put in pairs and my pair and i were able to work together and support one another.

-Valencia 22S01

I learnt that i am someone that can communicate decently with strangers. this project was a platform for me to learn how to raise awareness and how to handle different situations such as if someone refuses the flyers or asks more about the event. one word i would use to describe the experience is enlightening. from the preparation stage, we got to find out more about BMDP and about patients. it was very eye opening to see the statistics and made me feel grateful for a healthy body. it also made me feel good to spread the knowledge around. we could all have been more cooperative as it makes the process much smoother. we faced difficulty in speaking to residents in chinese but i managed to use gestures to explain the general idea.

-Jireh 22S01

The experience for me was an eye opener. i havent been out in the singapore housing areas and it was very quiet and many people just stayed at home which was opposite of my own area. what suprised me most was when the residents would kindly ask for the flyer when they saw me placing it at the doorsteps. it implied to me that they enjoy helping others and are open to new experiences. i learnt that doing via work is not easy because sometimes you have to walk out of your comfort zone and be open and mindful to the different perspective people have on a topic. i also learnt that volunteering will not affect you negatively instead it actually brings about positivity.

-Pyarises 22S01

I learnt to be resilient in carrying out my duties and passionate in what i believe in. this experience was meaningful as we put in the effort together as a class for a cause we believe in and to raise awareness about this BMDP programme to enhance the wellbeing of the society on national day. however, i think as a class we could have been more cooperative and could have taken this slead activity more seriously. most of the work was done by the slead activists and we could have divided the workload more evenly as a class. one of the challenges faced was to step out of our comfort zones and distribute flyers at their doorstep which is quite intimidating.

-Jaena 22S01

Before this SL project I was absolutely clueless about neither bone marrow donations nor bone marrow itself. Also in the beginning I thought everyone were only able to play a part through actually donating bone marrow but now I have come to realise that a simple small act of giving out flyers can go a long way. Just because we gave out flyers, maybe some may be incentivised to donate bone marrow or those who are in need of it would get to know about this charity. The difficulties we encountered was to actually walk under the sweltering heat but even then I didn’t really care about it since the good cause we’re doing for overweighs it

-Viswa 22S01