"participate in an overseas community trip to Cambodia"
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Advertisement for Freshmen coming to NUS..pissed me off abit..haha!
Volunteerism
i believe no one volunteerism event, be it adhoc or long term is "better" or more "attractive" than another. I really dunno why overseas community service projects appeal so much to pple who dun have a heart to volunteer at all. might as well not start. if one were to start den might as well not end. u get what i mean. the way i see this advertisement is almost as if going overseas for community projects are 'more meaningful' than those in locally. i might have caught the message the incorrect way but if i am feeling this way i guess there are others who haven seen this advert might as well. why dun they just put "opportunities to participate in volunteering programmes"? or just drop the whole volunteering thing altogether? would people actually choose NUS over the rest just because you can go Cambodia? perhaps its time that people in developed countries stop trying to HELP other people for the sake of thinking they are in the BETTER position to, cos we simply are not!
i suppose the word "CAMBODIA" appeals to those souls who believe that the people over there NEED mORE HELP than those in Singapore. I mean how many of you actually agree nikun and sokphua and gang NEED our HELP? how many times have you tried to explain to your friends that well.. sometimes we are so much of a hindrance.. its really about the experience and how we apply it to the local context. ultimately i believe its an exchange of cultures and exposure and experience. well.. you may think otherwise.. its perfectly fine by me... hee
posted by tank @ 4:55 pm
6 comments
6 Comments:
wah ma!!! totally agree man, there have been too many trips ard in NUS tat every tom dick & harry u met will be wearing one of those shirts boasting "MPX, Project angel, etc etc" shouting at u tat they been to cambodia or india to "help" but are all of them who went really did much humanitarian contribution? not all of them and not a lot done i feel, cos most of the time, we e "helpers" are usually shield from the risky stuff, and usually only do some simple stuff to show our 'great humanitarian effort'... whether is tat true for all i do not know but tat has been my feeling so far for projects in NUS. to me, there are some ppl out there who jus want to go, maybe for so called life experience or even maybe jus maybe for e tag of "oh oh i've been to cambodia to help b4, and it's such an experience but let me tell u more bout Ang Kor Wat..." anyway not tat i wan these projects to end or anything, juz tat maybe future projects should review their purpose of going and ppl who are going are in the right attitude and heart, hopefully these projects have more meaning in them, and not jus a rougher holiday trip for friends !!! Lets see more love on this place we call Earth!!! whahaha super cliche...
-GTM-
sry ar....to say the truth...i'm also guilty of being "more" interested in going for overseas community service(CS), personally. so here are my view! haha
1st off, i really dun mind doing CS locally, it's just i dun wanna stay in singapore for everything, need to see the world, ya? experience the different cultures at the same time
2nd, think amanda also asked me the qn why would i wan to go for an overseas CS during the interview b4 the trip. What i replied was that it's quite limited what we can do in Singapore for CS, most of the time it's to help a certain group of people, which could be in the form of interaction, cleaning up the place...
But overseas, there is a chance for us to experience CS of a different kind, one which gets us "work" (not much but dun think we'll be digging in singapore right?), one which places us in a totally unfamiliar environment and culture. This...i feel is what i'm also looking for in CS...a personal challenge...kinda selfish i guess :/, but then again, it's something worth going for, though maintaining the fact that CS still comes 1st!
as for the shirt....yah, some damn extra...cannot take it man...wanna let everybody know they went there to "help" izzit...kaoz...anyway that's why i think our MPX 2 shirt is damn cool....simple yet so nice
one more thing....who is GTM sia???
||YYT||
up UP!
GTM - yongming
it's sad but most ppl still believe doing CS overseas makes them a better/more noble person OR,it will look better on their resume as compared to doing CS locally.
amanda, i get your frustration, but it would really take alot of effort to correct this misconception; "ppl in cambodia really need our help"
aiya.. actually my point was more about using "doing overseas CS" as a promotion gimmick, so to speak. and it becomes an issue when volunteerism is ermm.. how should i put it.. "glorified"-chuijia! yup! den pple who participant might have other agendas (which is ok) and not give his/her all when volunteering (which is NOT ok).
its ok if this is part of your OVERALL participation in CS. but if this is just the start and the end den its just too sad i think.. resources have been wasted at the expense of others..
GTM's ma
ya,i think i get how u feel amanda, and sometimes, i think i might me falling into the category of what u meant by "the start and end" ... =(
anyways, me aside, i must say im really impressed by some ppl in MPX2. people who are selfless enough to keep aside time to show concern to the unpriviledge. keep up the good work ppl! may some of these good rub off me~ =)
All of us start somewhere, sometime. As some of you have heard before, doing social work is a source of happiness and energy for me as the people are usually giving off postive vibes.
It is indeed dis-heartening to know if has been just used as a promotion gimmick. Show some responsibility when promoting NUS lah.
Not wrong to have multiple agenda but "Go with a heart".
Yezhong
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