Why are these youths going hungry this weekend?
These two teenagers are giving up eating any food this weekend for a good cause.
Lin Kwun Tong, 18 and Farhana Eusope, 15, are two of more than 1,800 volunteers and youths who will be participating in World Vision's annual global 30 Hour Famine Camp, happening in Singapore on Friday and Saturday, 17 to 18 June.
"I heard about Famine camp through my school and it seemed very interesting because I've never come across an event that makes the participants starve," said Lin, who is currently studying in Raffles Junior College.
"It seems like an experience which will be quite interesting, because I haven't starved myself on purpose, plus I'm quite a food lover," he added.
Farhana also said that her initial motivation to go was due to the pictures she saw over the Internet and through word of mouth.
"My seniors put pictures of themselves in the Famine camp on Facebook. They also said how much fun they had, so that got me interested.
"When my teacher brought it up, I decided to go because I want to participate in the cause against poverty," said the Pei Hwa Secondary School student, who revealed that she will be attending the camp together with half her class, who are all participating for the first time.
Organised for 15 to 18-year-olds, the Famine camp will be held at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, where participating youths will have a chance to experience what is may be like to be deprived of the sense of sight and to feel helpless through the Dialogue in the Dark (DiD) exhibition. DiD is Ngee Ann Polytechnic's training and learning facility that allows users to travel through simulated environments in complete darkness.
The two students find that such an experience would be useful in future community involvement projects that they join in.
"It will be a great opportunity for me to expose myself to how living in a third world country will feel like," said Farhana, who has been exposed to community involvement work for about four years now.
"My mum brought me to Red Cross to give out clothes to Indonesia for the less privileged. I learnt a lot from my family so it was a good experience for me and I could also lend a helping hand at home," she added.
Lin chipped in as well, saying, "From this experience, I will definitely be more aware of what's going on in third-world countries, and I'm planning to go for more of these activities and on more service trips.
"It will also help because I'll be more aware of what exactly the people are going through, and feel more strongly about the cause," added the second-year junior college student who went to Phnom Penh, Cambodia last year for a service trip with his school.
Apart from attending the camp, both Farhana and Lin will also be participating in the YOUth SAY contest, wherein youths between 15 and 25 are encouraged to submit creative entries based on themes like food, water, health and education in the form of written, pictorial or audio-visual pieces.
Farhana and Lin expressed hope that youths in Singapore can get more involved with charity at home, and then perhaps proceed to more community involvement in less fortunate people in the region.
