Community Service

Community Service - 1st October 2011
INC Family Day Carnival 2011
Scribe Leader Jeremy Tan

The Integration and Naturalization Champion (INC) Family Day Carnival was held at Mt Sinai Plain Playground on 1 Oct 2011 from 3 pm to 6pm. It was organized by the Ulu Pandan CCC Integration and Naturalization Champions. The guest of honour was its adviser Mr Christopher de Souza, MP for the Holland- Bukit Timah GRC.

The Carnival was to foster bonding. Bonding amongst family members, residents of the estate including foreigners, permanent residents and new citizens.

The Carnival was open to all and required the purchase of a $2  entrance ticket. The $2 ticket was a steal as it entitled one to participate in  the many game stalls  including the popular laser guns shoot out, local delights  such as Satay, Roti Prata, Hot Dog Burger, Char Kway Teow, ice cool Bean Curd drinks and mineral water.

The children were not forgotten as there were the bouncy castle,  ice cream, pop corn and candy floss to keep them entertained.  There was also an exhibition  booth set up by the Civil Defence Force and prizes were given to correctly answered quizzes.

The highlight of the Carnival was the Family Treasure Hunt game and the Laser Gun shoot out, fathers vs HPPS Cubs. Attractive NTUC vouchers and other prizes were given to winners of the Family Treasure Hunt.

18 HPPS Cubs were invited and volunteered their service for Community Event.

After a hearty lunch, I made my way to school to assemble for the community service at Mount Sinai Plain just  some 300 meters away from our school.  We arrived at the Plain at about 2:50 pm and there were not  many people yet but soon people started to stream in after 3pm.

 Aklea and the organizers assigned the Cubs their tasks. We were divided into groups  Some of us were stationed at the 5 entrance points to greet and welcome visitors to the Carnival. Others were assigned to stations for the Family Treasure hunt. At the stations,  the treasure hunt participants in groups of family answered quizzes , did jumping jacks , push-ups and frog jumps at the stations manned by the Cubs. . The station I liked best was station 6 where family members had to eat a sour sweet and sang “Happy Birthday” without changing their expression. How hard was that? It was really funny when the participants tried to keep a straight face.

The Cubs were also asked to form the “Guards of Honour” to welcome Mr Christopher de Souza. We did this with must pride. Before Mr de Souza left the event, he shook hand with each and every Cub presented a gift as an appreciation to each Cub. Mr De Souza took a group picture with the Cubs.

In the family reassure hunt, 8 family teams participated. At first, the teams were confused as they could not find the stations but once they settled down, they were speeding from station to station after completing their tasks at the station. My station was the 8th where the teams did 15 jumping jacks, 15 frog jumps and 10 push-ups. The winning team was the Tan family. It was not surprising as Mr. Tan, the father, did the push-ups on one hand and at the same time, talk on his phone. 

It was not all work and no play for the Cubs. There was the fathers vs the Cubs in the laser machine gun shoot out. It was real fun as the Cubs hid behind trees and bushes, ran for cover behind trees from tree to tree and even positioned themselves in prone positions like professional fighting soldiers. The Cubs did not have a strategy and were running about like chickens without heads. The fathers were better organised and strategized and at the end they “killed 20 Cubs” while the Cubs killed “6 fathers”. The fathers won the shoot out.

Towards the end of the carnival, each Cub was given free ticket by the organisers and the Cubs enjoyed the local delights and participated in the games. Then, the Cubs assembled and when all were accounted for, they headed back to school after playing and eating for about half an hour at the Carnival. It was a community service many of us would want to volunteer again.












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