Service Day 2012
On the 24th of Oct, it was the annual NPCC service day. The cadets learned much in those few hours they spent spreading awareness on various issues and did reflections on it.
一
I always found the service day a meaningful thing to participate in, as it gave me a chance to interact with the public on their safety, and how to help make Singapore a more pleasant place to live in for all. This is the second time I participated in it - the first being in Secondary 1.
I found that after this, I feel more confident in approaching a stranger to talk to them on ways to keep themselves safe. Also, this service day allowed me to interact with my juniors more and gave me a chance to see them gain the confidence to be more vocal and less reclusive.
I also had to change our approaches based on the people present. I was stationed near the MRT bus stop and I had to cater to the public there who were mostly people rushing to catch the next train. So sometimes I could only hand them the brochures before they walked off.
All in all, I felt that this service day was a good way to let me not only interact more with my juniors but also let me grow more as a person. This event taught me that I had to be patient to get the job done and to ensure I must have a pleasant tone to everyone despite how rude they may be in rejecting the brochures.
- CPL (NPCC) Kelly Kong
一
The annual event – Service Day for our unit was held not long ago on the
21st of October. Before we left the
school to proceed to either Tanah Merah or Bedok interchange, we changed into our full uniform and after uniform inspection;
we were split into our assigned
groups. [Group 1-3 would be going to Tanah Merah interchange; Group 4-8 would be going to
Bedok interchange] CPL Yu Min, Jovine, Rachel and I were in group 7. We were given a
stack of four types of pamphlets covering on different aspects such as road safety
and unlicensed money-lending.
Firstly, the main aim of
this event was to disseminate crime prevention and road safety effectively to the community.
We took the MRT to Bedok Interchange and attracted a lot of attention on the
trip there since we were all in full uniform. Upon arrival at Bedok interchange, we
immediately got into our groups and started. As for my group, we went in pairs. I was
with CPL Yu Min. As we read through the pamphlets that contained information
regarding the different aspects as well as contact numbers of organizations they could
refer to, she explained to me what to do as she went for PYA before. We then started handing out those pamphlets as well as explaining briefly on crime prevention and also traffic safety. We hesitated at first but gained more courage as time goes by and were more confident in approaching strangers to promote crime prevention and road safety even though some of them sort of rejected and refused to take those pamphlets or listen to us as they were in a rush. We only had limited time as the time allotted was only less than two hours. Another problem faced was the communication between us and the people there. Some of them did not understand English and we had to translate on the spot, which I think they could barely comprehend what I was saying. Everything ended around 5 and we headed back to school.
Overall, for this event, not only did we get the opportunity to convey the messages of crime prevention and road safety to the community as well as explaining to them the dangers of crimes and accidents to raise their awareness, it also instilled more confidence within us as we approached different people and got to articulate confidently on the various related information. As we do this, we ensured that we maintain strict discipline and to be polite at all times and it will also lastly, minimize crime or accidents from occurring.
- LCP (NPCC) Ng Shi Ni
一
Before we set off, we were split into 8 groups. The first three groups were positioned at Tanah Merah while the rest were
positioned at Bedok. I was in the 8th group so I was positioned at the latter. we
were supposed to hand out flyers, and unlike other groups, the 3rd group &
our group had another job to do- pasting of bicycle tags [can be used to track
the bicycle is missing] To me, it was both a good and a bad thing. This meant
that we have something extra to do but we can also experience something different
from the rest.
On the way there, I was pretty much nervous as it was my first time doing this and I did not know how it would turn out. I was also feeling a bit awkward as I was thinking; 'What if I had met someone I knew - wouldn't it be weird? Should I approach them or not?'
Once we reached there, we got to the area near Sheng Shiong and started handing out flyers. Our group was split into 2 pairs. CPL Xin Yi & I were in charge of handing out of flyers while the other pair were in charge of pasting of bicycle tags. At first, we had intended to switch roles after a period of time but didn't do so in the end.
I realized that handing out flyers was actually not as easy as it seems. People often avoided us when we were about to approach them. Finally, we managed to hand out a flyer to a Malay lady. I was really happy because we were able to hand out our first set of flyers! I was also relieved at the same time because we had one less set of flyers to hand out.
However, it still was not easy afterward, as some of the people there looked a bit fierce thus we were a little afraid to approach them. Sometimes, some people that we approached have already been given flyers from the other groups, so it was really a tough job to do.
When it was 5 o'clock, we stopped everything. Some of the groups have managed to give out all of the flyers while others such as our group still had some flyers left. I was a little disappointed as I had expected to finish giving out all the flyers, but I was quite glad that we still handed out a lot of flyers and I knew we had done our best.
This was really an interesting and enriching experience for me as often I only see people giving out flyers but now it was my turn to give out flyers to the people to allow them to be aware of some precautions to take when crossing the road [road safety] or when coming across loan sharks. It may seem easy on the surface but actually, when we do it, it is actually quite a tough job because many people do not like to be given flyers as they think it is useless so they tend to walk away to avoid us. I am really thankful to those who were willing to stop and listen to us and accept our flyers.
- CDT (NPCC) Shermyn Tan
On the way there, I was pretty much nervous as it was my first time doing this and I did not know how it would turn out. I was also feeling a bit awkward as I was thinking; 'What if I had met someone I knew - wouldn't it be weird? Should I approach them or not?'
Once we reached there, we got to the area near Sheng Shiong and started handing out flyers. Our group was split into 2 pairs. CPL Xin Yi & I were in charge of handing out of flyers while the other pair were in charge of pasting of bicycle tags. At first, we had intended to switch roles after a period of time but didn't do so in the end.
I realized that handing out flyers was actually not as easy as it seems. People often avoided us when we were about to approach them. Finally, we managed to hand out a flyer to a Malay lady. I was really happy because we were able to hand out our first set of flyers! I was also relieved at the same time because we had one less set of flyers to hand out.
However, it still was not easy afterward, as some of the people there looked a bit fierce thus we were a little afraid to approach them. Sometimes, some people that we approached have already been given flyers from the other groups, so it was really a tough job to do.
When it was 5 o'clock, we stopped everything. Some of the groups have managed to give out all of the flyers while others such as our group still had some flyers left. I was a little disappointed as I had expected to finish giving out all the flyers, but I was quite glad that we still handed out a lot of flyers and I knew we had done our best.
This was really an interesting and enriching experience for me as often I only see people giving out flyers but now it was my turn to give out flyers to the people to allow them to be aware of some precautions to take when crossing the road [road safety] or when coming across loan sharks. It may seem easy on the surface but actually, when we do it, it is actually quite a tough job because many people do not like to be given flyers as they think it is useless so they tend to walk away to avoid us. I am really thankful to those who were willing to stop and listen to us and accept our flyers.
- CDT (NPCC) Shermyn Tan
