IMPACT 0222: CARE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Nurhidayah is one of the people behind the COVID-19 care pack for students at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS). She leads a team of students, most of them with special needs, to show kindness and care to others. In the process, they created a customised care pack for all students at CPAS. This is her letter to the youth.

Dear Youth,

COVID-19 has brought misery to many across the world. Millions of people have been affected both physically and mentally. In this dark period that Singaporeans are facing, the call to help others in need is loud and clear, especially for those with special needs or disabilities.

As an educator, I believe this might be the most important time to develop and inculcate the values of resilience and compassion in our students. As part of our school’s initiative to instil these values, we selected six Secondary 3 students to brainstorm ideas on how they could give back to the community during this period, especially to the special needs community.

After much research and discussion, the students decided to design a COVID-19 care pack for the young adults from the CPAS.

The COVID-19 care pack consists of basic medical necessities such as facemasks and hand sanitisers as it may be challenging for them to obtain such items.

This project took three months to complete under the close supervision of the care team, which comprised a school counsellor, student welfare officer and allied educator (Learning & Behavioural) officers.

The care team provided guidance and advice throughout the whole duration of the project. It was no easy feat for the students as they had to juggle between preparing for their exams and planning for this project. However, it was truly heartwarming to see them working very hard to execute this project to the best of their ability.

Apart from learning about the skills and knowledge needed to run a project like this, our students also learnt about empathy, teamwork, compassion and generosity. Before embarking on this project, a few of them were unfamiliar with CPAS. But after doing their research, the students decided they needed to have more items in the care pack to bring greater benefit to the beneficiaries.

Instead of just facemasks and hand sanitisers, students decided to include stationery sets as well as motivational cards to lift the spirits of our beneficiaries. It was a truly touching gesture that the students  went the extra mile to show care, kindness and positivity to the beneficiaries. I believe they have gained much from this experience.

As a final thought, I would like to share this quote by Mandy Hale: “To make a difference in someone’s life, you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect. You just have to care.”