Pre-trip Introspection

Bat Man, Ophrah Winfrey, a wide-eyed youth going on a community service for the first time? What do they all have in common? A savior mentality. I think many of us (privileged Singaporeans), myself included, find that we are entitled to take on a savior mentality when venturing into a less developed society – as if without us, they are rendered hopeless and destitute.

A fellow human being first. A USP scholar second. 

Embarking on an exclusively-USP research trip, it is probably easy to get carried away with bearing the image of a “USP scholar” or carrying that “scholar” tag into a foreign land. Perhaps, if not careful, I may find myself going in with a superior attitude – a hero going into the messes of a developing society to fix it, to fix them. Upon deeper reflection, I find that such an attitude is more prevalent than we think. As controversial as it sounds, I personally find community work like building houses for villagers in a foreign land less impactful than we think. Often times, we seem to be doing more for ourselves – for the feel-good factor – rather than for the recipient.

Although this trip is vastly different from an overseas community project, there is still the danger of going in with such a misguided mindset. Hence, I am careful on this trip to not let it become one of those “savior projects”, where I “lower myself” to save them from their unsustainable or misinformed practices. Rather, perhaps a position of humility and equality will be a better start to a rich learning experience.

I would like to think that the word human stems from the word humility – that being human is to think less of yourself, and more of others. Through this trip, beyond just the research and elephants, I hope to understand perspectives, heritage, culture, people. The world is a complicated intertwining of values, beliefs, personalities. Maybe then, it isn’t too far-fetched to say that a group of young Singaporean injecting ourselves into a completely different culture, is a microcosm of this world – where various cultures and beliefs attempt to reconcile with one another to bring progress to society. Together, with that idea about humility and what it means to be human, I hope that this trip will be an opportunity for me to cast aside my preconceived notions whilst entering a foreign land, and learn to truly embrace a fellow human being’s culture and beliefs with humility.

Besides all that introspection, I look forward to learning from my fellow USP friends who have so much to offer not just from their different disciplines but from their unique takes on life. To be in a place where the sciences, humanities and social sciences all collide, will indeed be a privilege and a colourful experience. Although our topic, “Sustainability”, seems to be largely science and economics, I’m sure that the insights brought to the table will be beyond these two sub-topics and I am excited for that. 14 more hours till the start of a (hopefully) mindblowing experience and I can’t wait.