Along with St John’s Ambulance Brigade, the Saints Interact club went to Chennai, India for Community Involvement Project. On the first day, we met at the airport where Mrs Charles led a prayer for us to have a safe trip, then we went in and boarded the plane. We were fortunate to stay in a service apartment compared to the youth hostel which we first supposed to stay at as the service apartment was very clean and had facilities such as air conditioning and restaurant downstairs. After putting our luggages in the rooms, we went to a shopping centre where we watched a bollywood movie named “Enthiran”. It was enjoyable as it was first time for most of us watching a bollywood movie.
On the second day, we visited a school called Vana Vani Matriculation Higher Secondary school where we saw their morning assembly and some performances by the students in that school. After the performances, all of us including the selected students of Vana Vani school went to the Indian Institute of Technology Madras where we saw presentations of water studies and experimental labs where the students of the institute test out the water activities. It was an eye opening experience as Singapore we have not seen such experiments being carried out in Singapore. We also ate lunch together with the students of Vana Vani school and we set off to AMS IPD ORTHOPAEDIC CENTRE CHENNAI where the disabled children lived. We went in and gave the gifts we had brought along. All of us said hi to the children and felt how lucky we were to be born perfectly fine. At night, we went to a hotel to have dinner with the Rotarians in India and the food was so tasty that everyone went for seconds. It was a great way to end the day.
On the third day, we headed for the Dakshin Chitra Indian Architecture and saw many houses and different types of carvings in the houses. Also, we saw a play of a native warrior and tried pottery which was so interesting and amazing. Some of us also rode a cow which was quite surprising and exciting. Before we left, we bought some souvenirs at the shop near the exit. After leaving, we headed for the St Thomas Mount where we tooka lot of photoraphs and some of us had more fun because we took memorable photographs.
On the fourth day, we went to Cuddalore School orphanage home where we saw the children who experience tsunami and lost their parents and how they had to live in an orphanage. We prepared gifts for them as well before we came to india in Singapore. They looked happy to see visitors and receive gifts as well. We went to Pondicherry which was a French colony for a tour. It was a 2 hours trip from the orphanage home. As soon as we reached Pondicherry, we saw there were many people trying to sell their goods to tourists. Some of them were very persistent that some of our students felt angry and disturbed. However, some of us bought their goods which made them stop following us. At night, we reached Pegasus Institute of Excellence and dozed off.
On the fifth day, we had various types of activities at the Pegasus Institute of Excellence which everyone enjoyed and were satisfied with. One of the activities that everyone liked was the obstacle courses which all of us were divided into 4 groups and we were given a task to finish. It was for us to cross over to the other side of the area full of obstacles with only using 2 logs and 1 rope. It was so tough that no one managed to finish it but we gave it our best as most of us finished half of the course. We had to cooperate and have teamwork to finish it. At night, we ate dinner and some of us wanted to stay up all night to play with each other. We felt kind of sad to think that we had to leave the next day.
On the last day, we visited the Hindu Senior Secondary School where we met the students of that school and played games together. All of us enjoyed the games as it was easy for everyone to comprehend and play. We also visited St Thomas Basilica which was the national shrine and we went in to pray and have a look. After which we went to shop at a big shopping mall and we headed to a French restaurant to have a farewell dinner prepared by the Rotarians of rotary club of madras chenna patna. We enjoyed the food and thanked them before heading off to the airport. We soon reached the airport and left for Singapore.
(Written by Kim Sang Hwee- VP Interact Club)
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