Service Day 2010

On 12 March 2010, several schools gathered at St Patrick Secondary School early in the morning for Service Day. Among the participating schools were Bedok South, Changkat Changi, Coral, St Hilda’s, St Patrick and Tampines Secondary School. To better understand the level of awareness the public had about fire safety, we set out to conduct a survey at Marine Parade. This was followed by us distributing pamphlets and explaining to the public about Fire Safety, ICE (In Case of Emergencies), CPR and First Aid. By doing so, we aimed to raise the level of awareness the public had of these issues.

We had to approach the Marine Parade residents by going from door to door. Our rehearsed opening line to every house went something like this. “Good morning Sir! We are from the National Civil Defence Cadet Corp. We would like to take a moment of your time to conduct a survey. Hope you don’t mind.” After a few houses, my group mates and I sounded like broken records. Luckily, two to three groups of about four to five members were assigned to our designated HDB flat which undoubtedly lightened our burden.

Many of us were brimming with excitement at the start of Service Day as it was not something a student normally gets to do. After a moment of tedious climbing of stairs, the novelty wore off and my group mates were tired out from the strain of the activity especially when I insisted on not taking the lift. I had good reasons for doing so. Waiting for the lift would be a waste of time. On the contrary, climbing the stairs was a good form of exercise.

Despite the exhausting nature of the activity, we felt our hard work pay off as we had gleaned invaluable life lessons. On the whole, we were satisfied with our service in getting feedback from Marine Parade residents about fire safety at home. There were a few residents who were not willing to cooperate with us and that had caused us much unhappiness. We learnt to take their negative attitudes in our stride and calmly and determinedly continued our survey. We also realised the importance of team work. As some residents did not speak English, we took turns to translate the message to them in our respective mother tongues. It was not easy having to translate some phrases, especially some technical jargons.

As George Bernard Shaw once said, “When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.” During the Service Day, we definitely encountered difficult situations such as eliciting information from uncooperative residents. However, with a positive attitude and an unwavering determination to succeed, these situations present themselves as learning opportunities for us.

As a teenager who has been thriving on society’s benefits, I am pleased to partake in events like this and contribute to the community. To the cadets who have yet done the Service Day, I hope you will enjoy giving back to the community as much as I did.

By: SSGT Siti Nur Zafirah Bte Noorjihan
Bedok South Secondary