Spread kindness at the Kindness Carnival

The Singapore Kindness Run took place yesterday morning at Angsana Green, East Coast Park.

With the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) and Runners Heart-Reach as two of the event’s main organisers, the committee hopes to use the run as one of the events to encourage everyone to start to show and share kindness in Singapore.

In doing so, their ultimate goals are to inspire Singaporeans to show graciousness with one act as a time, by sparing a thought for the people around us, in order to create a gracious society and make life better for everyone.

The 2018 edition of the race had featured a 10km Competitive Run as the main event, as well as a 3.5km Fun Run, and an 800-metre Kids Dash, in order to cater to runners of all abilities and preferences.

The race route had been relatively straightforward and it is one that I am quite familiar with, with the 10km event taking runners from Angsana green towards East Coast Park’s ParkLand Green and then making a u-turning and heading back the same way that we had come.

I had also spotted three hydration points along the way for the 10km route, which I thought was more than ample for runners. These points had been stocked with water or 100PLUS isotonic drinks or both.

Near to the finish line at about 9km, the organisers were also giving out fruits to runners so that they could replenish their energy levels in time for the final sprint to the end point. I thought that this had been quite a nice gesture on their part.

With the weather being rather kind to runners too, it was also not as hot and muggy as it had been for the previous few days, making it more bearable to run 10km. The cool sea breeze also helped as well.

Runners had received a finisher tee shirt, race medal, finisher tee shirt, can of 100PLUS drink and a Gardenia raisin roll on completion of their run. I thought the Gardenia roll had been rather delicious!

Post run, there were booths set up by the various event sponsors, such as SG Bikes, KOS sunglasses and Platinum Yoga. As well, the SKM was giving out windmill daisies as well as Singa the Lion figurines, the latter of which proved to be so popular that I did not even manage to get my hands on one!

I also caught up with a few friends at the race village including Mohammad Shariff who is more commonly known as the Singapore Blade Runner because he runs with a prosthetic blade.

This Singapore Kindness Run however, is just one of the events in Singapore that aims to promote kindness and graciousness in Singapore.

In fact, runners who had taken part in the run and who wish to continue to spread kindness in Singapore, can head to the Kindness Carnival, which is returning for its sixth edition at the Singapore Sports Hub this coming weekend as part of Kindness Day Singapore.

A fun filled event organised by the SKM, the carnival, which will be free to the public, aims to celebrate and promote kindness through engaging activities suited to the whole family.

Photo Credit to SKM

This Kindness Carnival will be happening at OCBC Square on Saturday, May 19th from 10am to 9pm and commemorates organisations and individuals who made a difference and hope to inspire more to embark on the kindness journey and care for one another.

Said Dr. William Wan, General Secretary of SKM, “Kindness Carnival promises to infuse kindness values into engaging activities which I believe, is a refreshing approach.”

As well, to mark the first weekend of Ramadan, SKM will be holding a Mass ‘Iftar’ session for 500 people to educate the public on the significance of fasting and self-reflection. In being kind and caring for each other, this also helps us to understand the various cultures present in our community.

Said Dr. Wan, “I especially look forward to everyone coming together for the mass ‘Iftar’ session. It is a sign of our strength in diversity, how people from different beliefs can come together and accomplish something greater together.”

Other activities at the carnival also include folding origami daisies and penning words of appreciation towards the people who have made a positive impact in our lives as well as learning dialect phrases and making terrariums with the elderly, in order to help us to understand each other better.