Organised by the Singapore Kindness Movement, the very first Kindness Carnival took place at the Singapore Sports Hub last Saturday, with the aim of celebrating and promoting kindness through engaging activities suited to the whole family.

A free event open to the public and attracting about 1,000 walk-in guests, the main highlight had been the mass ‘Iftar’ session for 500 participants, to educate the public on the significance of fasting and self-reflection. 

This is because in being kind and caring for each other, it helps to understand the various cultures that are present in our community.

I had been there to witness the ‘Iftar’ session taking place and I though that it had been quite eye opening and interesting, with not only Muslims, but people of all race and religions who were gathered together to break fast at 7.08pm with delicious nasi briyani.

Witnessing this, I felt that this had reflected the multi cultural aspect of Singapore, at its finest. It was also very heartwarming that so many people from all walks of life, had come together to show their support for the session.

Prior to breaking fast, the guest of honour, Grace Fu, Minister of Culture, Community and Youth, was also received at the carpark by the General Secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement, Dr. William Wan, and then she had been led to a mat near the stage in front of the ‘Iftar’ participants.

There was also a welcome address by Dr. Wan too, who had shared more about celebrating of kindness in Singaporeans.

Besides the ‘Iftar’ session, there had also been booths set out by the various Ground-Up Movements (GUMs) who are basically bonding agents that promote the message of kindness to different communities through pro-social initiatives in Singapore.

The GUMs which had booths at the carnival, were:

• Unity & Peace
• Project CARE
• Geylang Adventures
• Cassia Resettlement Team
• PlayVocates in Action
• Cyclove
• The Volunteer Switchboard
• Volunteer Bike Patrol and
• Air Amber

As I was walking around the carnival, I found myself engaged by the various activities at the booths, and these included terrarium making activities to bond the elderly and the public, a Kids Adventure Playground using recycled materials like cardboard boxes, as well as the serving of Kopi and the placement of Gigi blocks on the floor to form an artistic installation.

I thought that the Kids Playground had been quite interesting in particular and I felt it was amazing that the children are so creative. With a simple piece of cardboard, I had wondered how they were able to create such interesting and innovative structures to play with.

In addition to engaging in some of these activities, it was also enlightening to chat to the various GUMs about what they are doing in terms of spreading kindness in Singapore. 

And listening to them, I had thought that it was heartwarming that there were so many people who recognise the values and importance of being kind in their own special ways, realising how this can ultimately impact Singapore to become a better society in general.

For example, I thought it was quite interesting that the Cassia Resettlement Team supports relocated residents from Dakota Crescent and Sims Drive who are mostly elderly and rental flat residents through house visits and community events to bring everyone together, thus promoting active citizenry and ground-up community participation.

On the other hand, I also found out that Cyclove is a group of trainee teachers who organise cycling related activities and workshops for migrant workers as well as creating chances for local Singaporeans to interact and communicate with migrant workers to promote understanding and empathy.

As well, the Singapore Kindness Movement also had a booth at the carnival too whereby carnival attendees could fold origami daisies in order to symbolise kindness. 

This had been quite interesting and I gave it a go. There were two types of daisies – a paper version and a windmill version. The windmill daisy proved to be much harder to fold than I had originally anticipated!

In line with most carnivals, there were also free popcorn, candy floss and hotdogs being given out at the Kindness Carnival too. I tried a hotdog and it was really nice; I was quite amazed that the sausage had been warm, too.

And of course, there were games to play such as a throwing darts game, as well as photo booths for selfie-loving millennials to take pictures at and get Instagram ‘Likes’ to immortalise their attendance at the Kindness Carnival.

As well, there was also an enthralling performance by acapella group Synchronny and I had thought that they were really talented – I had been blown away by their performance.

The event had concluded with a lighting up of the symbol of Kindness Day SG, whereby Dr. Wan and Minister Fu were then invited to cycle on SGBikes to light up the Kindness Day backdrop and this was followed by the presentation of the certificates of those newly inducted into the Kindred Spirit Circle – these represent individuals who resonate with kindness and promote the messages of kindness among Singaporeans.

Overall I would say that I’d had lots of fun checking out the inaugural Singapore Kindness Carnival and I must say that this has made me realise that Singaporeans can indeed be a kind and generous lot; in fact we are already making inroads into becoming a much more gracious society.