A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of joining The American Association of Singapore and LJE Sports in some local charity work. We were invited by the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) to come and share something about American Culture with local disadvantaged children.
Some background:
SIF run a program here that provides opportunities for the international community to share tales, songs and dances from their culture with disadvantaged youths and children in Singapore, to enrich their lives by encouraging the discovery of their talents in the arts through cross-cultural exchanges. The program is called the Arts Connection: Little by Little.
Now given the timing, there were no significant holidays or festivals on the horizon for us to focus on (in terms of breaking out the arts and crafts!) and theatrically we are each a little challenged... so we decided to teach these kids about 2 things every American grows up with; Basketball & chocolate chip cookies!
The kids were given an intro into the sport, then the guys from LJE Sports showed off a few tricks and taught them some key moves. Then came the baking! Can you believe these kids had never eaten cookie dough before!?
What an eye opening experience.
To think before meeting us, these children were AFRAID of sport, many had NEVER played a sport before! They left with smiles from ear to ear, talking about how much fun they had! How amazing to have brought something new into their lives, something positive that encourages hard work, training, team work, health and fitness and above all FUN!
In the kitchen, the children were shocked to discover that we would eat the mixture before cooking it! BUT kept their minds open and... one by one, gave it a go. Everyone took baked cookies home to share with their family :)
The faces say it all! :)
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