Posts filed under 'Community & Rootedness'
The NYAA GAHA, in conjunction with *SCAPE, held the first installment of our Leadership Speaker Series at *SCAPE on 30 March 2013. This series was designed as a forum for youths in Singapore to discuss the lessons of leadership with the leaders of today. The theme for the first installment was “Leadership in Crisis” and the guest speaker was Mr. S R Nathan, the 6th President of the Republic of Singapore.
Mr. Nathan started the session with a short address followed by an intense and thought-provoking dialogue with the audience. Mr. Nathan shared about the challenges he faced in handling the Laju incident – Singapore’s first encounter with international terrorism- as well as many related leadership lessons he had learnt over his years in the public service. Furthermore, he taught his audience how these lessons and skills could be applied today.
There were more than 90 participants present at the event, comprising of both GAHA members as well as youths from varying educational institutions and professional fields. The participants commented that they enjoyed the intimate setting of the event and were glad to have learnt about the insights Mr. Nathan had shared with them.
The next installment of the speaker series will be held in June. Information on sign-ups will be released soon.
March 31st, 2013
On 8th December 2012, NYAA-GAHA organised a “Back-to-School” Christmas Dinner for 50 GAHA members. This event was held in Professor Brawn’s Cafe, a social enterprise that provides jobs for people with autism. The “Back-to-School” theme saw GAHA members donning their school uniforms once again, interacting with each other through childhood games like charades, SNAP and five stones, followed by a buffet dinner and gift exchange. This dinner also allowed GAHA members to know about the upcoming GAHA events in 2013 as well as interact with like-minded volunteers to embark on projects that allow them to serve beyond Gold. Ms Sue Walker, Regional Director, Asia Pacific Region from The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was also at the cafe to grace the event.
December 9th, 2012
The NYAA-GAHA introduced a new ground-up initiative to collect and recycle e-waste, in conjunction with a two-day North East Clean & Green Singapore Carnival that was held at Tampines Community Plaza on 17 and 18 November 2012.
Through inviting e-waste “donations” and door-to-door visits to households to share with residents what and how to recycle e-waste, NYAA-GAHA collected a total of 4 bins and a pallet full of e-waste, weighing 638kg. The team also partnered with IKEA to provide an LED light bulb for every 2.5 kg of e-waste that was collected. These LED light bulbs will be used to replace the lights of the less-privileged families in Tampines to help them to be more energy efficient.
What is e-waste: Electronic waste refers to outdated and unwanted computers and other technology equipment. It includes items such as mobile phones, cable modems, laptops and lithium ion batteries. E-waste accounts for over 70% of the toxic waste in landfills. Many materials contained in different e-waste is potentially hazardous if improperly handled throughout their life cycle. For example, if e-waste is disposed in landfills, these materials have the potential to leech into and contaminate surface and ground water.
Valuable resources can be recovered from e-waste. Many discarded machines contain usable parts which can be salvaged and combined with other used equipment to create a working unit.
November 19th, 2012
The Gold Award Holders’ Alumni (GAHA) and Tampines East Community Club Silver Connect came together to organise an outing for the senior citizens of Tampines East on 11th November 2012, to celebrate Grandparents’ Day as well as to promote youth-elderly bonding. 18 enthusiastic GAHA youths and 17 other volunteers from Silver Connect accompanied 32 seniors on a trip to Gardens by the Bay.
November 11th, 2012
NYAA GAHA Delegates with Member of Parliament and the Founder of Social Innovation Park, Ms. Penny Low
On the 18th and 19th October 2012, five GAHA members attended the Global Social Innovators Forum (GSIF) held at the Grand Park City Hall Hotel.
“Inclusive Innovation” was the title of this year’s Global Social Innovators Forum (GSIForum). As its title promises, the GSIForum was truly inclusive – it gathered all the stakeholders: thinkers, experts, businesspeople, policymakers from all walks of life. The opening plenary was chaired by Penny Low, Member of Parliament and founder of Social Innovation Park. Ms. Low shared that collaboration between the people, public and private sectors are critical to bring about social change. Her presentation quickly set the tone for the forum. For the two days, at every corner of the venue, one can hear delegates from different organisations talk about ideas and collaborations.
The breakout workshops allowed more opportunities for delegates to spar ideas and generate potential solutions for real issues that we are currently facing.
October 19th, 2012
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