Making a Stand for Animal Welfare
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Entirely designed by the group members themselves, these comic cards were sold to raise funds for ACRES.
Ask JC2 student Shao Hongxin of Hwa Chong Institution what his pet peeves are, and he'll tell you that nothing riles him more than the misconceptions some people have of animals. Take cats, for instance.
"People think that cats are a nuisance because they shed fur, leave bodily waste in public areas and can cause a noise disturbance. This is a very wrong impression of cats!" he fumes. "On the contrary, cats are clean animals and can be easily toilet-trained. These misconceptions breed intolerance for animals in public areas."
His schoolmate Coco Tay Xinjun, chips in, "It's unbearable for me to watch footage on the cable TV channel Animal Planet, of puppies covered with fleas and pets being abused to death on Miami Animal Police and Animal Cops Phoenix!"
With such strong convictions, Hongxin, Xinjun and two of their peers took to the streets to raise public awareness about animal welfare.
Besides selling the comic cards, volunteers also shared about the importance of promoting animal welfare.
Their efforts were the brainchild of group leader Zhao Rui, who roped in Hongxin, Xinjun and Ma Xiaorui for the service learning project. "Our project consisted of three aspects: education, encouragement and engagement," Rui explains. "We put up posters in school highlighting the mutually supportive relationship between man and animals, and the activities conducted by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES). To encourage people to support our cause, we set up booths in school to sell our comic cards of five different designs and conducted a street sale on Orchard Road too." The proceeds of the sale went to ACRES.
As for achieving engagement, Rui elaborates, "We conducted a tour to the Singapore Zoo for our volunteers to develop an appreciation of the beauty and importance of animals. We also facilitated an online discussion forum to provide a platform for people to share interesting facts and opinions concerning wildlife."
Overcoming initial difficulties
When the team launched their project in April this year, things didn't go smoothly from the start. "This project seemed easy at first, but reality soon set in," Rui reflects. "We found ourselves drained of physical and mental strength to create more designs for our cards. We found ourselves unwilling to do another street sale. We found ourselves receiving more and more cold stares from the trains of people, and kept facing constant rejections to our call for volunteers."
Xiaorui adds, "Since our sale period clashed with the exam period in the junior college section, we were often rejected both by individuals and CCA clubs as many of them were very busy."
Students spent the day at Orchard Road during the street sale of comic cards.
Yet their perseverance eventually paid off. "When someone rejected me initially, I never gave up and kept inviting them to every subsequent event in a very polite manner. I always 'unconsciously' tried to mention the cause that our project tries to promote," recalls Rui.
Other pieces also fell into place, as Hongxin recounts. "We got the support of some of our juniors. And it turned out that my cluster mentor happened to be the teacher in charge of the high school section's Mathematics Appreciation Club. With his help, we collaborated with the CCA to conduct fund-raising."
Changing mindsets
The service learning project concluded successfully in late June and has spawned new converts to the cause for animal welfare. "After helping out in this project, I have realised that the world does not belong to human beings alone," remarks one of the new volunteers, Zhong Jianlin. "Animals are part of nature and humans must stop being selfish. Through working as a volunteer in this project, I have been deeply moved by Zhao Rui and her group members' sympathy towards animals and their passion to promote their cause."
Given their strong desire to make a difference, this project might have been the students' first step in promoting better animal welfare, but it will hardly be their last. Perhaps through their efforts, eventually every dog - or other animal - will have its day.