Singapore-Switzerland Youth Exchange Programmes Alumni

SECOND SINGAPORE YOUTH DELEGATION
TO SWITZERLAND
10 June - 24 June 1995

Members of the NYAA youth delegation to Switzerland with their hostess, Mrs Brigette Meier in Scuol, Switzerland.

Exhilarating, enjoyable, enriching, an "eye-opener" - that's how the ten Award participants and an adult leader described their stay in Switzerland when they visited the country from 10 - 24 June 1995 on the 2nd Singapore-Switzerland Youth Exchange Programme, organised by the NYAA Council and sponsored by the Swiss Business Association, Singapore.

The group was better prepared for the trip this year as they had the experiences of the first group of participants, who visited Switzerland in June 1994, to fall back on. Before leaving, the group visited the Ministry of the Environment and Singapore Joint Civil Defence Force to understand roles and functions of these organisations. This knowledge would allow the participants to make a comparison of the systems in Singapore and Switzerland, and assess how Singapore could learn from Switzerland. The group also met several times to learn a Swiss folk dance and several Singapore community songs in preparation for the trip.

In Switzerland, the eleven participants stayed in Chasa Minar in the village of Scuol. This was their home and base for the next fortnight during which they visited a recycling plant, an air-raid shelter, a fire station, an old folks' home and some tourist attractions in Tarasp, Sils, Mustair and St Moritz. They also paid a courtesy call to Mr Not Carl, the President of the Cantonal Government of Grisons, and visited an international school in Ftan three times during which the particpants joined in some of the school activities with the students there.

The Singaporeans had the opportunity to touch snow for the first time in their lives when their new friends from the international school brought them to Offen Pass for trekking. During their visit to the old folks' home in Scuol, the participants sang Singapore community songs and performed the Swiss folk dance for the residents at the home.

Environmental studies like recycling, waste disposal and littering formed the core of the group's learning during their short stay in the village of Scuol. The Singaporeans were very surprised that the Swiss had to pay for recycling and marvelled at how the Swiss pride themselves to keep their homes clean and green.

Keeping their homes and the environment clean is very much a way of life for the Swiss and this social habit starts at a very young age. Within the home, the children are given a fair share of the cleaning and household chores as few Swiss employ maids. To them, keeping the home and surrounding clean is a socially responsible and honourable thing to do. It is values like this that the Singapore participants concluded would help Singapore in its effort to be clean, green and litter-free, but we still have a long way to go. Nonetheless, it is better for the Singaporeans to start their youngs late on the "clean and green" way of life than never, and this is the message the participants of the 2nd Singapore -Switzerland Youth Exchange have been promoting since they came back to Singapore.

SECOND SINGAPORE - SWITZERLAND YOUTH EXCHANGE PROGRAMME (10 June - 24 JUNE 1995)
Leader: Mr Walter Pang	Buona Vista Secondary School
Members:
1. Mr Shivan Sathasilvam	Bedok South Secondary School
2. Miss Chua Siew Koon	Buona Vista Secondary School
3. Mr Low Ren Tze	Clementi Town Secondary School
4. Miss Toh Su Ping	Crescent Girls' School
5. Miss Ang Yih Ching	Hwa Chong Junior College
6. Mr Shaiful Khairi	Majilis Pusat Singapura
7. Miss Jacqueline Koh	Ngee Ann Polytechnic
8. Miss Valerie Yeo	Raffles Girls' School
9. Miss Choo Hooi Kiang	Serangoon Junior College
10. Miss Tay Jia Hwei	Swiss Cottage Secondary School