Campus
Voice for the voiceless
For the first time in NP, a group of students have expressed support for HIV/AIDS patients in the most unlikely of ways - by keeping quiet about it.
This inaugural fund-raising campaign, which was held on Oct 30, is initiated by Action for Aids (AFA) and executed by the Leo Club of NP. With an initial target of 200 participants, the organisers were pleased with the more-than-expected turn out.
The aim of this campaign is to expose students to the difficulty HIV/AIDs patients face when sharing about their condition. This is personified through the pledge of silence that each participant takes. Besides that, they were issued with donation cards.
“We hope that through this campaign, youths [are able] to reflect on the predicament of people living with HIV/AIDs, and use their silence as a voice for the voiceless,” says the project director, Li Jia Yi, 18, a second-year Early Childhood Education student.
Jia Yi and her team started organising the Pledge of Silence since June. They wanted to create a higher level of awareness among students and garner their support for this cause.
Elizabeth Chin, 18, a second-year Early Childhood Education student who took part in the campaign with her friends, described Pledge of Silence as an “innovative and different way” to show her support for charity.
Pledgers had to also exercise integrity when it came down to keeping mum. Participant Darren Liew, 16, a first-year Psychology and Community Services student says, “It’s a demonstration of self-control.”
He adds, “Compared to the HIV/AIDs patients, it was only eight hours of silence that we went through.”
Elizabeth, however, did not like the experience entirely. “It’s horrible [and] completely awful not to speak for eight hours. I have millions of thoughts in my head, but I just cannot share [them] with anyone.”
Despite the high turn out, the attendance for such campaigns may not necessarily be a good indicator of sincere support as suggested by Jia Yi.
Malcolm Ang, 17, a first-year Accountancy student, who participated in the campaign out of curiosity, said he would only feel the need to be concerned about issues that affect him directly.
He says, “I don’t have any friends with HIV/AIDs. I just thought it was rather cool to be keeping quiet for eight hours. It’s like a challenge to myself.”
Such an attitude really questions if the hype about an event precedes the real need to care.
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