This article is part of the CCA Previews for 2016.
By Angela Tham (16S03D), President, and Trudy Chak (16S03D)
The very heart of Interact is service. Upon joining Interact, we come into a community of warm, spirited individuals who share unequivocally in the same passion to serve, all without knowing what to expect. The yearlong journey we undertake together brings quiet moments of satisfaction and warmth weaved together that touch and brighten lives: not just our own, we hope, but the larger community around us.
Weekly service brings the reminder that we are much more capable of giving than we think. The exhaustion from arduous hours in school pulls away in the afternoon as we watch a smile light up a child’s face when he chatters excitedly about his own day or a kindly elderly who shares about simpler times “back in their day”. We know this honest exchange only comes from conscientiously sitting by them week after week, building up their trust in letting us help them and establishing a real and genuine connection. In moments like these, you’ll take comfort in knowing that you have removed each brick in the wall standing between yourself and the people whom you wish to serve. In moments like these, you’ll realize that they have filled a gap in your life just as much as you hope to have done in theirs.
Few are fortunate enough to find likeminded company who share the same fervent passion. Our 80 interactor strong community in Raffles Interact provides just that. We believe in the personal touch, with the strong emphasis on direct service. Along with four main club events, you may also expect ad hoc club service scattered throughout the year, serving as a platform both for intra-club bonding and for exposure to marginalized segments of society that we may otherwise not have had contact with. Since Interact stems from International Action, it seems only logical that apart from local service, we have an annual International Understanding trip to Cambodia. The trip exposes one to realities faced beyond the confines of our island and grants acumen to the role each individual has to play in ameliorating these global issues that plague the world at large.
Service isn’t a skill to be honed nor does one need a talent for it. Instead, service comes genuinely, permeating every aspect of our lives and comes through in the little acts. This is perhaps what truly brings us together: the common guiding light of a sincere desire to serve and love. Keeping this in mind, so long as you have the heart, Raffles Interact warmly welcomes you.
hi boys and girls, do keep up the good work. you do not understand fully the importance of your work. you will appreciate when you go into society next time. community work and serving the less advantaged segments of society will help to build an empathetic and caring society. as rafflesians, you guys are privileged. we have been accused of living in ivory towers. not any more. use this opportunity to learn how to serve. a certain comic hero said, ” with great power comes great responsibility.” this responsibility now rests on the shoulders of you young men and women. keep on keeping on and make a positive contribution to society, one smile at a time.