We handed-out aid items, prepared meals for the orphans and did our best to bring joy and hope to their lives. The children saw us not as volunteers but as friends who came to hold their hands through troubled times.
Today my thoughts are still with the children of Aceh. Their smiles, the laughter and their faces will always remain with me.

We visited a refugee camp in Sri Lanka, where we sang songs and played games with the children in the camp. We sang at the top of our voices. As we sang louder and louder, we could feel the excitement, the adrenaline rush in the children. For a few minutes we forgot where we were. The children were just so full of joy and laughter. Their radiance inspired all of us to be optimistic for the future of Sri Lanka.

Before this humanitarian journey, all I knew about Laos was its bloody military history, temple ruins and also the beautiful mountain ranges. Laos is all that, and so much more. What travel guides fail to articulate is the spirit of the Laotian people, and that is what makes Laos the beautiful country I now see it is. I gained a life experience I didn't expect, and it has inspired me to live my life more for others instead of just for
myself.

These children belonged to the Tsunami generation, where the event of one day had altered the course of their lives forever. Although we can’t change their past, our presence gave them joy for the present. Our visit certainly gave these children the reason to smile and also gave them hope for the
future.

It was a life-changing experience for me when I realized that there are thousands of homeless children in Mongolia who live in manholes. Many were killed by the boiling water seeping from the pipelines during winter. It is my hope that everyone will do his/her part in a life-long fight against poverty. Let's reach out to those at the bottom rungs in our societies. As Norman Rice once said, “Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.

My humanitarian involvement made me realize that there is a bigger world out there crying for our help. It takes more than 2- week mission to right the wrongs present in Zimbabwe. I really learned more about others and myself during this humanitarian trip and would like to encourage others to do so. Be involved; it will transform your vision, your values.

On the bus ride to the football venue, I sat besides Anthony, one of the street children from Centro Maguel Magone. "Do you have books in Singapore?“ he asked. He said he didn't have any. Suddenly, I felt so guilty for being so extravagant. I have so many books in my house, but never really appreciate them.

Going to Zimbabwe left me ashamed, because I thought that I would be bringing the people there so much, but when I arrived I found I could only give so little of myself, and take so much back from them in return. Zimbabwe was not life-changing, earthshaking or tear-inducing in the prototype of the Hollywood movie portrayal. But I learnt things along the way, and it is the accumulation of small lessons that contribute to the gradual life-changing, earth-shaking, tear-inducing process that is growing and maturing.

The lesson I learnt on my humanitarian trip was to be more appreciative of the things that we enjoy in our comfort zone back home. The children in the countries we visited appreciate the smallest gifts we gave them. Even a packet of tissue brought such gratitude, and you wouldn't believe it. On reflection, I couldn't help but feel guilty of taking things for granted. We had so much more to learn from these under-privileged children than we could ever teach them. It was much more than just a trip out of Singapore; it was a life-transforming journey-one that I would never forget.

I learnt about real courage and was touched by the inner strength of the children in Zimbabwe From my experience, I learnt about the beauty of Life itself - to appreciate and treasure the smallest blessings in my life, to try to do everything with a bit more sincerity, and most of all, to Love.

I hope more Singaporean youths will give themselves a chance to participate in these humanitarian programs as these encounters give fresh and wider insight about the world and about life. For one, we will realize how sheltered we are in Singapore. We don’t have any worries whether we will have enough food or even enough clothing to wear for the day. We need to realize that materialism should not be our primary focus in our lives. We should aim to create an even better society for ourselves. I am glad to have gone for this relief effort and it certainly has helped change my life.

The humanitarian trip has been a pivotal point in my life. It seems as though I have been living in a bubble for the past 17 years, sheltered by wealth and security. East Timor gave me the chance to expose myself to a completely different world, so different from what I had known, and this while I am still young. It thus opened up a whole lot of options for my life. Since happiness and wealth are relative, perhaps I should search for alternative life’s goals for my future rather than follow what I thought is the way for me to go.

Perhaps we should just have sent them money - wouldn't that have been more useful than going ourselves? I don't think so. What we gave them was a few days of fun and entertainment, transient and fleeting. But I know that the memory of those days will linger in their minds and in their hearts for years to come. People need love more than they need money, and if nothing else, we showed them that we cared by being there with them. And I know this mattered to them; I felt it. During the concert we put up for them, as we watched and heard them cheer us on, I felt such love and gratitude from them that I came close to tears.

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