Congratulations to Mrs Carol Chong, Mr Owen Tan, Mr Derek Ong and Ms Sharon Khoo, the four winners of the Silent Heroes award! The winners were chosen from 52 nominees, of which, 13 were shortlisted as finalists and 4 were chosen to be award recipients. Out of the 4 winners, we are honoured that 2 of them are active volunteers with SNM! 
 
Mrs Carol Chong won the Compassionate Foreigner award for her multiple volunteering activities in bringing our residents out on trips within the neighbourhood, being a tele-befriender and leading seniors in daily exercises. She continues to lend her support as our volunteer and our seniors look forward to spending their time with her.
 
Mr Owen Tan won the Inspiring Youth award for his activities with Cycling Without Age (CWA), spreading joy to seniors by bringing them out on cycling rides which brought about a refreshing change of pace and environment. Our seniors from the Nursing Home and Senior Care Centres actively participates in CWA’s ‘Moving Generations’ programme, where Mr Owen had piloted them on trishaw rides during these sessions.

 

Thank you, Mrs Carol and Mr Owen for your meaningful contributions to the community and our warmest congratulations on winning the well-deserved awards!

ഇതിലേ നടന്നവര്‍

ഇതിലേ നടന്നവര്‍,
ഈമണല്‍ത്തരികളില്‍
മായാത്ത പദമുദ്ര
വീഴ്ത്തിയീ വഴികളി –
ലൂടേ നടന്നവര്‍,

തപ്തമീ മണ്ണിന്‍റെ
പൊള്ളുന്ന ദുഃഖങ്ങള്‍
സ്വന്തമാത്മാവിലേയ്‌ –
ക്കൊപ്പിയെടുത്തവര്‍,

തിരയുള്ള, ചുഴിയുള്ള
കടലിന്‍റെ നടുവിലൂ –
ടൊരു നീലരാത്രിയില്‍
എതിരേ തുഴഞ്ഞവര്‍,

അലിവിന്‍റെ നനവുള്ള
വിരല്‍ മുദ്ര ചാര്‍ത്തിയീ
വഴികളിലിന്നലെ –
യെങ്ങോ മറഞ്ഞവര്‍,

ഒരു നാദധാരയില്‍
സ്വരരാഗ ഗംഗയില്‍
ഒരു നേര്‍ത്ത ലയമാ –
യലിഞ്ഞങ്ങു ചേര്‍ന്നവര്‍,

അവര്‍ പണ്ടു പാടിയ
പഴയ ഗാനങ്ങളെ
പുതിയൊരീണത്തിലായ്‌
തുടരുന്നതെങ്ങിനെ?
അറിയാതെ ഞാനിരിക്കുന്നു.

അവരാണു തന്നതെ –
ന്നോര്‍മ്മകള്‍ക്കീമഴ –
വില്ലെന്നു ഞാനറിഞ്ഞില്ല.

അവരാണു തന്നതെന്‍
കൈകളിലീമുള –
ന്തണ്ടെന്നു ഞാനറിഞ്ഞില്ല.

അവരാണു തന്നതെന്‍
കരളിനീത്തീക്കനല്‍
അതു ഞാനറിഞ്ഞതേയില്ല.

അവരിന്നുമെരിയുന്നു
തിരിനാളമായുള്ളില്‍
അതു മാത്രമാണു ഞാനറിവൂ –
അതുമാത്രം …അതുമാത്രം…അറിവൂ.•

The Mirror does not speak,
But you can hear what it says,
It speaks to your soul
Through that unbroken gaze
Your conscience laid bare,
Through that reflection there,
Four values that remind anew,
That it must begin with you

𝑂𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑀𝑑𝑚 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑖 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑀𝑑𝑚 𝑅𝑎𝑗𝑒𝑠𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑖 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑝 5 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 29𝑡ℎ 𝐸𝑥𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑀𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝐴𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 (EMA). 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑦𝑎ℎ 𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠.

𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑀𝑑𝑚 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑖 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑀𝐴 𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑎ℎ 𝑌𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑏, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝑀𝑑𝑚 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑆𝑁𝑀’𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝐻𝑎𝑛𝑑, 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒-𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑖𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑆𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑌𝑜𝑢, 𝑎 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 100=50 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒.

𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢  Jamiyah Singapore 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦!

One Night, On The Last Train To Jurong

By G. P. Sasidharan

Hurrying through an unusually quiet Raffles Place,
I descended the steep and silent escalator,
to the cavernous belly of the station;
knowing that the last train to Jurong,
would soon be approaching.
I looked up and murmured in relief.
“Ah! Three more minutes.”
Settling on a concrete bench,
I looked around. Two metres away,
stood an old man, fidgeting,
seemingly impatient to get home.
Nearby, two ‘executives’, brief cases in hand,
engaged in an animated, but whispered chat.
As the train arrived and doors slid open,
we hurried into the last coach.
The doors began to slide shut,
as a young couple rushed in,
giggling and hugging each other.
Settling on the vacant seats opposite
and ignoring all else,
they whispered, kissed and cuddled,
as the old man promptly dozed off.

The train sped on,
stopping at stations,
disgorging and picking up weary commuters.
The speeding train kept the couple busy,
as the ‘busy executives’ gazed at them,
grinning, nodding and shaking their heads.
Arriving at Braddell, the old man woke,on cue,
and shuffled out, as the doors opened.
As the train slowed and stopped at Bishan,
the ‘executives’ alighted, albeit reluctantly.
The young man smiled at me.
Returning the gesture, I nodded
as the train sped on.
On reaching Canberra, I stood up,
muttered, “Good night!” and
began the short stroll home.