Wednesday 21 May 2014

VULTURE AND THE KID


Personal Reflection:

Entong:
I feel that this picture reflects about poverty in parts of the world. This picture shows a vulture eyeing on the poor and skinny child, showing that even a child had became of a prey of an animal. This makes me think back about how blessed I am to have sufficient food to eat and water to drink. People in other parts of the world are suffering from famines as well as poverty, but we continue to throw away left over food and forgetting to off the tap water. Every second, there are people dying in poor countries such as Africia, but we can do nothing about it. The only thing we can do is to appreciate what we have and stop wasting our resources. Although we are not able to do something very effective for those suffering from poverty and famines in other parts of the world, I believe that if we learn to not take things for granted and appreciate what we have, it is enough.

Fernanda: 
I am sure this picture of the vulture and a kid makes some of us feel uncomfortable. The fact that a human being had become a prey of an animal makes me feel truly upset and sorry. This paints how serious poverty had gotten in the third world countries. The kid in the picture looks like he is suffering from malnutrition and here we are wasting our food sources. I count myself lucky to be born in a developed country where i have no fears of having to face not having food or proper shelter to live in one day. Some people have started addressing this problem but while we are as students of age 14, i think the best we can do is to stop wasting resources and know how forunate we are to have proper education. It is time the world starts doing something about poverty.

Qianyu:
I think this picture reflects poverty and it also shows how lucky and blessed we are to be able to enjoy the luxuries that we have around us, like the handphones and electricity that we take for granted. While we are here enjoying the modern and luxurious lifestyle, people are suffering in other countries, hunted as prey for vultures which feed mainly on decaying flesh due to their poverty that eventually led to their inability to feed themselves. Thus, we should not be taking these luxuries around us for granted, as in other countries, people are suffering much more while we are here complaining about first world problems such as having our phone batteries dying out. We should understand how blessed we are to be able enjoy life simply with food fed to our mouths while people in third world countries are suffering due to hunger and poverty.

Amos:
 The fact that the vulture is shown in the background behind a very malnourished kid shows that the kid is so malnourished that even a vulture think it is dead as vultures are scavengers. This is just one of many pictures that show poverty. Poverty is very common throughout the whole world especially in less developed countries such as China and parts of Africa. In one of the UN conferences in the 1980s, I teenager called Severn Suzuki adressed the problem of poverty to the people in the UN conference. Even thought efforts have been made to improve the life of the poor. There is still a very distinct gap between the more fortunate and less fortunate in developed countries. One example can be our country, Singapore. Is not an uncommon sight to see construction workers from china or India working in nearby construction sites to build us fortunate people houses to live in or a place to enjoy such as shopping malls while they are working and living in such a bad condition. Even though Singapore has implemented efforts on improving the conditions which construction workers live in, there is still a long way to go.

Suikiat:
The vulture and the child symbolizes how badly poverty is affecting the people in poorer countries. This poverty, in my opinion is beneficial for the whole human race in general as the population of 7 billion combined with a birth rate that is higher than the death rate is not sustainable for long periods of time and thus should be advocated. Global warming has affected since the industrial revolution, as the standard of living became higher. Hence, by not helping the poor, we are saving more money for the progress of the country and economic development. Of course, whether its leaders and good enough to make that country shine is a separate issue, but by not helping the poor, we are creating a more superior race as the money saved from welfare can be used to benefit the rest of the country where funds can be used. As there is a higher standard of living among the rich, this would allow more eco-friendly technology to be developed as the higher standard of living would cause more global warming. Also, funds saved from welfare can allow funding for projects like this to improve eco-friendly technology. In addition, as the poor people would die eventually without welfare funds, we would have a more controlled population to deal with and in the long run, the human race would not die out so quickly.

CID E BOOK

Our group's researched information of Anhui in the E-Book!








CHINGAY PARADE


Group Reflection: 
We feel that this trip is very enriching and helped us learn more about Singapore's different cultures. It also allow us to fully comprehend the meaning of one Singapore, the spirit which binds all of us together as one nation.Although there are a lot of races, we are considered as one nation. The different colors represents the organizations and races and one nation represents one people' ( the fabric). It also taught us that Singapore is a multi-racial society which works together as one. Different cultures, different languages, different skin tones, different in many ways but as long as we put our hearts together as one, nothing will come in our way.



Personal Reflection:
Entong:
It was my first time watching the chingay parade not on tv but in real life! Although it was just a rehearsal performance, i could say that the performers really put in their best effort. There were many elaborated and beautifully decorated floats showing different races as well as the places of interest of Singapore. I learnt more about the different ethnic races through those well decorated floats and their unique dances through the dancers and performers. It was really a fruitful experience as i was able to learn and enjoy at the same time. Not only that, the long batik cloth also showed how closely knitted is Singapore. I learnt more about the importance of racial harmony in Singapore since Singapore is a multi racial country. This was the highlight of the whole performance as it was the main focus, showing more about the theme of this year chingay parade: 布海同心. Not only was the performance amazing, there were also cheers led by students, showing how bonded our school is, even as a cohort. We also hyped up through the cheers as well as the fireworks at the end of the parade. It was really heart warming to see we, rv students, doing the cheers together, displaying school spirit. I felt that the whole chingay parade was enriching and it helped me to understand more about Singapore's culture and despite Singapore being a multi racial country, we are still united as one. I also gained more knowledge about the chingay parade, thus i feel that it was a really enjoyable trip!
Fernanda:
This was my truly first experience in catching a live Chingay parade. It feels great to be given this opportunity to watch the parade live. It was my first time experiencing the atmosphere and the way things function there. The theme this year, 布海同心, taught me the importance of coming together as a Singapore. Neither does one person's nor his race's efforts work alone. The only time when you achieve something great is when everyone joins their efforts to develop the best the want. An example is the batik cloth which was stitched by different races and organizations. It was a huge masterpiece and without everyone, the result would not have been as satisfying. Chingay parade 2014 is a great exposure for us students to understand more about the different cultures. It was a wonderful and enriching one and i hope to experience more of such.
Qianyu:
From the chingay, i have understood how this particular event symbolises Singapore's rich culture and history with beautiful and vibrant colours. It had symbolised the unity between different races in Singapore and how Singapore is united despite being a multi racial country. During the chingay, one of the most memorable sights was when the dancers brought out the 360m long batik. The long piece of batik, right orange in colour, was eye catching. Later then we realised its symbolism- it was sewed bit by bit together by different organisations. This fully shows how Singapore came together as one to complete this long task of sewing a 360 m long fabric just for the event  and i feel immensely proud of the country and hard work put in by many who put in effort to make this event a success and successfully bringing out the message behind chingay- we are still an unified country despite the different races.  
Amos:
Chingay parade 2014 was a huge success, it was meant as learning experience. However, it also help us bond with our schoolmates more. Since we did not have to pay to go, it was even better. From each float, we can learn more about the organisation that owns the float. For an example, our group learnt that this year will be Tourism Singapore 50 year birthday as on Tourism Singapore's float, it states 50 years. Our school was very active, we kept on cheering and shaking our pom poms. Our school spirit was clearly visible and even the ushers found our school very enthusiastic and started cheering with us. Overall, the experience was a great one. In Chinese, this event was 一举两得, we bonded with our schoolmates better and took away from the event.

Suikiat:
It was the first chingay parade i have attended in my whole life and it was spectacular. The singapore spirit there was enormous as everybody cheered for the wonderful performances, put together by those who work for weeks and months just for this eventful night. Not only did we further develop the love for our country, our school spirit was also developed as we celebrated the event together as a school and watch the brilliant performances together. This event symbolized Singapore's short but rich culture and history. This event showed the many types of celebrations the different major races of Singapore had since many years ago. It shows how Singapore is not made up of different groups of people but how Singapore is one big country where everyone is united.

CHINGAY POWERPOINT SLIDES