On 7th and 8th December, Leo Club of Singapore Metropolitan organized our first ever Leo Youth Service Awareness (LEOYSA) Camp, in collaboration with Students Care Service (Hougang and Clementi).
It was a 2-day non-overnight camp with the aims to raise social awareness on community service, to influence youths with the mind-set of sharing and contributing to the community, and at the same time, help to raise their self-esteem through serving the community.
On the first day, the camp started with ice-breaking games to allow the facilitators and the participants to get to know each other better. It was followed by outdoor mass games to raise their energy level and build teamwork among the participants. The highlight of the day was the Aging Simulation Game in which the youths were tasked to complete a series of actions that depict the common issues that older adults face in daily life. This game was designed to help the youths better understand the challenges that older adults face on a daily basis, and to enhance their communication skills with the elderly in the future. During the game that simulated physical impairment, an elderly who had difficulty walking struggled with carrying a heavy item. We were touched and impressed when one of the youths sprang up immediately and volunteered to help to carry the item up the stairs.
At the end of Day 1, our Leo members shared with the youths on how to plan a Community Service Project (CSP), from planning to the execution stage. In order to put things into context, the youths were split into two teams and asked to brainstorm and plan for a CSP at the Lions Befrienders (Ghim Moh). The teams came out with the ideas of sandwich-making and bingo respectively, and they pitched the ideas to us for sponsorship. With the allocated budget, the youths then went to purchase the logistics needed.
Day 2 started with the final preparation and briefing, before heading off to LB (Ghim Moh). It was heart-warming to see how passionate the youths were during the executing process. Many of them who were shy at first opened up their hearts and brought joy to the elderly, through simple actions such as chit-chatting and helping the elderly with the sandwich-making and bingo game. At the end of the CSP, the youths put together their hands to tidy up the venue and had a debrief session to share their experiences and how they think they can improve further.
A mini Kindness Day was held after the CSP, to help the youths step out of their comfort zone and show kindness towards others. The youths were creative in the way they advocate kindness, some of them helped to clear plates at a hawker centre, passed kind notes and origami hearts to strangers to brighten up their day, Christmas carolling etc., just to mention a few!:)
Coming to witness the fruits of the project which we have planned and worked hard for 5 months was really very fulfilling and meaningful. It was really heart-warming to be able to the develop the potential of the youths to lead and plan service projects, and most essentially, to provide the first step for them to be who they are and open their heart to show care and concern towards others. During the service visit to LB (Ghim Moh), we witnessed how the youths put everything together to plan an interesting Bingo game and sandwich-making activity for the elderly. The smiles on the elderly faces warmed our hearts and we know that they touched the youths too. At the end of the camp, what told us that the youths enjoyed themselves was their unwillingness to leave the compound and them asking whether there will be future events. It was a meaningful experience organizing and executing the LEOYSA Camp and what we gained from the youths and social workers are priceless.
It was a really fruitful and fulfilling camp not just for the youths, but for us too. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Metro Leos who have worked hard to plan and execute this camp, our friends who have volunteered as part of the organizing committee and facilitators, the social workers from Students Care Service (Hougang and Clementi) and National Youth Council - Young Changemakers for the grant support.
