Yun and Siew Sze, do you remember our Rainbow House project? The one where we actually thought we stood a chance in getting to visit Bangkok and do community service there? I just found our essay deep within the crevices of my hard disk, hidden in the 'Academic' folder. My computer does look rather obsolete but I love it so because just typing on it reminds me of the many projects, letters, documents, lists and essays I had to generate on this beloved faithful laptop. It may be slightly outdates and cranky (weird whirring sounds from time to time) but it's seen me through so much. All the fake vcds I used to watch on this, sometimes accompanied by the girls. It reminds me so much of the scholar life. The online shopping, the research, the project work chats (good grief), the movie marathons… I'll never be able to go back to that. Everyone has to move on though I really think my years as a scholar, no matter how crappy some of the hostels were, they were the best years of my life. These are random pieces of memory (not in any particular order of importance or chronology) that I treasure dearly:

1. Hui En and I playing the guitar and singing worship songs together even when we're supposed to be studying.
2. C501's Pringle's Cans Pyramid and collection of Post's cereal boxes. Pity there wasn't any competition at that time for the most number of containers collected; we'd have won hands down.
3. The SARS quarantine at Dunman. Monopoly anyone? No? Well how about Monopoly then? How about monopoly 3 weeks STRAIGHT??
4. Lava's neon green flip-flops she wore to FORMAL DINNER!!
5. Tracy's countless delicious cookies/cakes/etc… and how moldy she let them become.
6. Sok Yih's love for the Beatles. I miss her. Sok Yih, do you read my blog? Tag me! I'm searching for thee.
7. Practising with Shili (Well girl, it’s NOT 'Impossible'… Let's do it again one day)
Chun and me waving the long long loooong holey paper strip thingee and freaking Siew Sze out. (Lightning!) Shili, I want those photos.
8. Hui En's alarm clock. Hui En can I just say that I really miss having a deep-sleeper room mate?
9. Praying with Hui En.
10. Figuring out silly flab-busting exercises with Phuong and Lili. Oh and the rare jogging trips aka coconut water outings!
11. Listening to Yun’s craving for cavemen and KFC. Actually, we all crave bloody KFC.
12. Clubbing with the girls.
13. The online shopping mania.
14. The funny (and not so funny) security guards.
15. Havoc-ish hostel birthday celebrations. *Argh she's here! Hide! No, ARGH where is the cream/cake/lighter?? Argh! Argh wait! Turn off the lights! Argh run! Argh!! ARGHH!!
16. Playing the "I'll marry the guy who ____" game. Eg: Siew Sze: I'll marry the guy who buys me the sundae cone! (ss ah, naik saham sikit lah… terlalu murah)

This isn't working. I could go on forever!

You know, I really believe that if there were only women left in this world, we'd survive. Girl friends like these give you everything you could possibly want in a relationship: friendship, care, concern, support, a shoulder to cry on, hugs… and they let you borrow nice clothes! It's just that, well, we'd all die off within one generation unless we somehow are able to reproduce asexually.

And for your reading pleasure, the little essay we submitted for the Rainbow House thing:

We Can Make A Difference

The main issue we are addressing is poverty. Poverty will lead to prostitution, sweatshops, and deprivation of basic human needs such as food, shelter, water, clothing and education. Our target group is specifically the children, so as to pull them out of the poverty cycle at its earliest stage.
Our scheme is inspired by World Vision 'Sponsor a Hopechild' programme. From there we aim to get the schools in Singapore to sponsor children in the third-world countries. Each class could fund a child, if financial status permits. The minimum amount is S$39, which means in a class of 30, each person pays only a meager S$1.30 per month. Besides funding, the class could also interact with the child by writing letters and sending presents.
Social workers from the local welfare organisations can assist the forging of ties between the class and the child. The social workers can act as translators to express the thoughts of the child when replying to the letters and reduce the communication barrier due to different languages.
Investing in children, through increasing their standard of living, healthcare and education, is the best fuel for the world's economic growth. One way of investing is by sponsoring them so that they can acquire daily necessities to survive. These children would not have to live in insecurity. Sponsoring the children also gives them more choices in their life.
The difference that we want to make in the lives of such unfortunate children is to give them hope through offering them primarily financial assistance. The interaction from the letters would give them encouragement, concern, and hopefully love. Both of these methods would minimise the chances of these children being led astray and back into the poverty cycle.
As for Singaporeans, the scheme will promote altruism. They will learn to understand people from a different social background better, hence more inclined to care for others. Being exposed to different cultures, Singaporeans will be less ignorant.
This project is not merely a dream, it is one that can be carried out. It is feasible, it is doable, it is not far-fetched. We have the passion to take this plan further and make it reality. Initially the project may not be able to help many children, but we are concerned with making a difference to even one child. Every child matters. We can make a difference.