Christmas Care-nival
The joy of Christmas is best when shared, so we brought it to our foreign worker friends.
2018
by: Tan Yu Jia
Christmas is a cherished season, usually celebrated with close friends and family — but last year, NTU Caretalyst spread the love beyond boundaries, by hosting a Christmas carnival for foreign workers at Westlite Dormitory.
On 29th December 2018, the team of 29 volunteers from NTU Caretalyst and SIM Caretalyst came together to put up an evening full of activities at Westlite Dormitory.
The dormitory is home to almost 320 foreign workers, many of whom have not celebrated Christmas before.
The season of Christmas always involves gifts.
Each of the foreign workers received a handwritten card, each prepared by our volunteers to thank the foreign workers for their hard work.
Every one of them was invited to pick one card, and as they read it, many of their faces lit up. We started to see smiles as they waved the card and showed it around.
Our foreign worker friends enjoyed an evening of games, with many of them lining up at the tables, queueing for a chance to play toss.
At the same time, an ice cream stand was set-up to provide a sweet refreshment under the sweltering hot sun. It was not long before a snaking queue formed at the stand as well.
Beyond words, they could also capture moments at the carnival with our Polaroid photo booth. Many of them posed with the volunteers and took a picture with their newfound friends.
While this was going on, a jam band took the stage at the center of the carnival and performed a few classic Christmas songs.
Though there was a rough start in the programs due to technical difficulties, the show still carried on, and the band filled the carnival with music and laughter.
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As more and more workers gathered around to watch the performances, we invited a few of them up to participate in games on stage. In one game, participants had a box strapped to their waist, which was filled with ping pong balls. The fastest person to shake all of the ping pong balls off would be the winner; much frenzy and cheering ensued as each of them jumped and shook as best as they could.
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But the excitement was not over yet; it was time for the highly anticipated circus performance.
Our very own Caretalyst volunteer, Edwin, performed a mesmerizing juggling routine, where he juggled almost anything from balls, pins and even cigar boxes (yes, Edwin is a man of many talents).
It was indeed the highlight of the night, as many people in the audience began to clap along enthusiastically and cheered Edwin on. Even workers who did not attend the carnival began to look down at the arena through their windows to see the spectacular sight.
“Ooohh”s and “aaahhh”s could be heard all around, and the performance ended with a rousing round of applause.
Our Caretalyst member, Choon Hong, spearheaded the planning and operations of the Christmas Care-nival together with the Empower committee, a committee in Caretalyst dedicated to planning community service projects for the club.
He shared that the committee started planning for the carnival three months ago, while juggling school commitments and examinations. During the carnival itself, he was busy running around coordinating the programs, but he said he did share a brief conversation with one of the foreign workers.
“He said that he enjoyed the event and felt grateful for what we are doing to appreciate them. He was certainly very happy.
It left an impression, as I realised that despite their huge and tiring contribution, they do not get the recognition and appreciation they deserve, to the extent that our small one-off event is enough to bring them joy.”
Joy is meant to be spread far and wide, and we can’t wait to bring more of it into different communities this year.
Stay tuned to our upcoming projects on Instagram at @caretalyst, or simply contact us via DM or caretalyst.ntu@gmail.com if you would like to be part of us!