Before my trip to Phnom Penh, I remember feeling a pervasive sense of cynicism and weariness about the world. 2016 was a trying year, especially with it being characterised by all the chaos and political turmoil that many around the world had to endure. The disillusionment was omnipresent, and as much as I hate to admit, it seemed as if our humanity was on the edge of destruction.

On 8-11 December 2016, we participated in the Youth For Change Conference, organised by World Vision (WV), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This event aimed to equip youths with skills and knowledge to enact real change, and to connect like-minded youths all over the world.

On 19 November 2016, the Raffles Interact club joined other World Vision youth volunteers to engage and educate children and parents at Family Survival Playstreets.

7 individuals, drawn together by a love for music, a desire to use our gifts for a greater cause, and by Karen’s email blast. A quick round of introduction made it clear we were all from vastly different social groups and phases of life. There wasn’t much of an orientation; one hour into the introduction session we were launching into an animated brainstorming session on how to in a very practical way bring music to children in Cambodia. And yet two sessions later I find myself eager to meet these people again, from the very day we set a date to meet. So I asked myself, what was it about them? Before that though, what actually is World Vision Musicatalyst?

From 10-11 June 2016, I attended World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine Camp, which was held at Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) and different activity sites around Singapore. This year, the theme was Taking on the World and we took on the role of eco-exiles. We had to experience poverty worsened by climate change and were driven from our homelands as a result. 

Hunger. Poverty. These are major global issues that most avoid discussing, simply because the scale of the problem seems overwhelming, making it unbearable to talk about. But the 30 Hour Famine Camp proves that youths in Singapore can make a tangible difference.

Hello! We are a group of students from Hwa Chong Institution who have come together to raise awareness on global poverty and ultimately implement a child sponsorship programme in our school as part of the Hungry to Help Challenge. Our starting approach was to get students to care more about poverty, and offer them possible avenues to help in a tangible manner.

The Youth Summit on Redefining Volunteerism was a truly eye opening event and having attended it as a volunteer, I have gotten a much closer glimpse as to how the seminar has made an impact on the students who had all come together, eager to rediscover ways in which they can make a difference.

Youths in Singapore generally find it easy to put themselves in the shoes of others and are thankful for what they have, yet do not translate this belief into action, according to a recent survey by World Vision Singapore. Over 310 respondents aged 15 to 35 responded to this survey that aims to evaluate empathy and gratitude in Singapore’s youths.