Most of our friends would now associate Fridays with none other than Rebecca Black’s viral anthem, Friday. Our friends in Ngee Ann Poly however, decided to make Friday, 3rd of June, memorable by making hand paintings viral.
Do not be mistaken, their hands are not painted for mere hipster points. Instead, the paintings are symbolic of their pledge to go without a necessity they are most reliant on daily, for 8 hours long.
Our friends from the School of Humanities recently launched a “Pass The Fast” campaign to gain empathy and raise awareness on the plight of people in poorer communities and countries. This event was a lead up to the upcoming 30 Hour Famine camp, co-organized with World Vision. The camp will be held on the 17th-18th of June as part of NP’s outreach initiative.Students, lecturers, the Director of HMS herself as well as our very own Principal, Mr Chia made pledges that very day.
Director of HMS, Mrs Choo, had pledged to forgo elevators that day!
Now that is a commendable feat for us students (especially after that delicious serving of Kaki Fuyong!)Booths were erected for students in strategic locations in school and you’d be surprised at the type of pledges our friends made.
Diana, a Year 3 student of the Diploma Child Psychology and Early Education described the event as, “Breathtaking!”
NP students were put to the test, but we are pretty sure it was all in good effort. Some had even pledged against social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Personally, it made me realise a bad habit of ours whereby we tend to look past the small things in life. We often take advantage of the fact that we live in a society where everything has already been prepared for us.
I’d like to wrap up with a quote from a favourite movie of mine, V for Vendetta. "We are told to remember the idea, not the man. Because a man can fail. He can be caught, he can be killed and forgotten. But 400 years later an idea can still change the world."
Likewise with this Past The Fast, I’m pretty sure the idea of appreciating the small things in life will live on with our friends past this campaign. Kudos HMS!
Photos courtesy of Dakshayani and Dawn Peh
