photo taken from: lionsbefrienders.org.sg

LO1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth.

The heart of a country is in its people, their experiences, their thoughts, and their stories. For this reason, it was very important to me to sign up for this service again. I wanted to connect with the local community in Singapore directly through its pioneer generation. This service will definitely be a way I learn about the rich culture and history of Singapore.Over the course of the last two weeks, I started my local service, Memoirs of a Pioneer Generation. I already did this service last year and thoroughly enjoyed it which was why I signed up for it again. This service is about visiting old-age homes in Singapore, interacting with the elders there, and writing their stories. I found it so unique and interesting when I did it last year. To me, it was a way to give a voice to the people who shaped Singapore.

I left the first session looking forward to all the work we are going to do. Although there were some minor changes (such as the location we would be visiting) to the service, the fundamental part of the service which entails capturing the stories of these people stayed the same. In the second session, we began to develop our skills as interviewers and journalists.

These couple of weeks were so important in gaining foundational skills to start visiting the location next week onwards and I definitely learnt a lot. I became more conscious of how sensitive we need to be around the elderly since many of them would have dementia or we would have a language barrier between us. However I also learnt that this was part of challenging myself to find connections with people without even having to say anything. I’m very excited for this week.