CIP – Singapore parents with children in schools should be familiar with this term. It stands for Community Involvement Programme. Whether at primary, secondary or JC levels, school children are given tasks or projects under CIP.

In primary level, students may be assigned tasks such as washing toilets, flag days or visiting charitable homes. At secondary level, examples would be helping out in libraries, fund raising or helping out in other community work. At JC level, students are expected to show more involvement and this can be attachment to any of the charitable organizations.One such example is SANA which stands for Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association. My daughter who is in JC1 was attached to SANA for 7 days (4/12 – 12/12) with 2 of her school mates. After their attachment, this is what they have to share.

The 3 Little ‘Pigs’

Camaraderie (from Lee Yu Mei, Nasirah Mansor and Ttay Pui Boon)

Have you heard of the story of The 3 Little ‘Pigs’? Well, this is not about the Three Little Pigs but Three Little Girls, that is US! And here is our story . . .Once upon a time, there was not a school called Meridian Junior College (MJC). In 2002, MJC was born. Joining MJC in 2006, the three girls did not know each other despite being in the same school for almost a year. We finally crossed paths when we joined the volunteer attachment programme at SANA.

When we first stepped into SANA, we absolutely did not know what to expect. But we were pleasantly surprised when were were warmly welcomed by all the staff at SANA. However, the first few days started slow as we were trying to fit into the surroundings. But special thanks to our mentor, Jean, who made this process much, much easier for us.

So what makes our stay at SANA interesting. Our first duty was to come up with a proposal for fund-raising, which was not exactly exciting and certainly nowhere near fun. Thankfully, Jean decided to mobilize us in designing a mega snake-and-ladder game which we enjoyed through and through. We were given a chance to unleash our childlike creativity which seemed to be missing in our hectic JC lives.

Along the way, we learnt loads about SANA and we also had a taste of what working life is like. Volunteering at SANA is an experience like no other because we were exposed to several teen issues such as smoking, teen pregnancy, hanging out late and most importantly, drug abuse. We realize that nowadays, these issues are very real and that everyone is equally susceptible to such temptations, including us.

We will always miss the times we shared during these 7 days’ attachment, the laughter, the joy and most importantly, each other. As they say, friendship is born at the moment when one says to another, “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” Friendship and teamwork were the two things that made our stay at SANA fruitful. Like the three little pigs, we too, found out that hardwork was the single most important thing during this attachment. If only it had been longer . . .

To all young and robust teenagers out there, trust us, volunteering at SANA is one decision you will never regret. Pick up an application form and be a SANA volunteer, satisfaction guaranteed!