For members who have not attended any of the courses conducted by NACLI, I would like to share with you the course that I have attended on 21 & 22 November 2009. This is a 2 days course and involves visit to place of worship.
The objectives of this course is to encourage grassroot leaders to further appreciate Singapore's history, heritage and diversity; and to promote racial harmony and social cohesion.
We started our Day 1 journey to Gurdawara Sahid Silat Road Sikh Temple at 10:00am. The man in black polo is our course coordinator, Dr Prem Kumar.
Arrived at Silat Road Sikh Temple. All of us are required to cover our head with a scarf or a big handkerchief, wash our hands and remove any intoxicant materials, cigarettes before entering the temple.
We took a group photo before entering the main hall. Can you find me?
We were treated to a healthy Sikh morning tea. Chapatis with sour yogurt, plain cereal, dal and a cup of hot milk tea without sugar.
After the morning tea, we were given an Introduction to Sikh Religion, their practices, their belief, etc. We have also learnt a Sikh greeting - "Sat Sri Akal" which means roughly, "He/She Be Blessed who say Truth is God". "Sat Sri Akal" is used by Silks throughout the world when greeting other Sikhs regardless of their native language.
After the lesson, we were brought to the praying hall.
Next stop, Chinatown Heritage Centre.
Chinatown Heritage Centre houses a wealth of memories and untold stories from the past. Discover the secrets and chronicles of the migrants who made the perlios journey from their homeland to Singapore.
Can you find your surname?
Experience the dismal and cramped living quarters the early migrants led.
Haha...that's me! As a 裁缝师父......
Last destination of Day 1 journey, we visited the Malay Heritage Centre , Istana Kampong Gelam.
The Malay Heritage Museum occupies the former Istana Kampong Gelam. It aims to showcase the history of Malays in the region and traces Singapore's own Malay heritage, social and economic development in nation-building as well as their contributions and aspirations for the future.
Re-live the historic event of the Kampong Gelam fire in 1847 on the wall mural.
A typical HDB unit of the late 70s. The HDB unit represents their adaptability and resilient in facing the challenges, living together in a multi-racial society. The young lady in blue, Ms Wong Irnina Binte Mohd Shafiee (one of the course participant from Yuhua Constituency), was the "acting" guide on that day. She did a very good job explaining to us about the Malay culture. Thank you Irnina!
We also get to know Zubir Said, the composer of Singapore's National Anthem.
We began our Day 2 program with a guest speaker from Taoist Mission Singapore to talk on Taoism in Singapore.
Taoism is about learning, cultivation and practice, that is, learning about the ways of the Tao, self-cultivation to achieve Tao and practising the teachings of Taoism. Its origins could be traced back to the time of Yellow Emperor(Huang Di, 黄帝), thereafter it was promoted by the philosophical writing of Lao Zi(老子), and finally organised as a formal religion by Zhang Dao Ling(张道陵), the religion's Celestial Master.
After the talk, we started our journey to Qiong Yao Jiao Di (琼瑶教邸) temple.
We were brief on the Basis Tenets of Taoism, the Taoist Symbol of TAIJI, basic Greeting Rites and Taoism View of Life and Death.
After the temple visit, we had our lunch at Seah Im Food Centre before heading back to NACLI for our final de-brief of the 2 day Harmony Journey Tour. Each of us was given a post card size colour paper, a box of crayon and a picture frame. We had to draw about what we have seen & learnt from this learning journey.
And this is my master-piece!
