Camp Outreach

NTU student volunteers work hand in hand with the hearing impaired volunteers to refurbish the school, and build new toilets.

Student volunteers trying something they have never done before – building a toilet!

Volunteers teaching English to a class full of eager students.

A hearing impaired volunteer uses a chart and signs to teach.

Volunteers finish a mural for the school.

Through active volunteerism, this project aims to empower the hearing impaired community in Singapore, and help them realise that they too can make a difference in society in their own unique ways.

Volunteers faced not one, but two communication barriers – between the hearing and the hearing impaired, and between the Singaporean volunteers and their Vietnamese beneficiaries. But this was exactly what made Camp Outreach a unique programme, as participants overcame these barriers to achieve common goals.

Before the trip, students had to undergo an eight-week course under the Singapore Association for the Deaf. This helped them learn sign language in order to establish basic communication with their hearing impaired partners.

Steven Lu, hearing impaired participant: “I experienced adventure and a sense of empowerment as I moved towards a meaningful purpose in life. The community involvement activities organised by Camp Outreach triggered us into thinking we aren’t unfortunate anymore.”

Tan Wei Ming, student volunteer: “The joy and enthusiasm of our hearing impaired friends will always serve as a reminder for me to be optimistic about everything I do.”

Students also organised monthly outings with their hearing impaired partners to build up rapport within the team, and understand their common goals. For example, one of the outings was coordinated with CityCare Organisation, during which the students and their hearing impaired partners helped to clean the houses of elderly people who stayed alone in Telok Blangah estate. This brought out the importance of teamwork and gave an opportunity for participants to familiarise themselves with one another.

About Camp Outreach

An Overseas Community Involvement Project (OCIP) held from 8 to 16 June 2013, 24 students embarked on this effort to improve the living environment of the villagers in the Phuong Thinh Commune in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The students and hearing impaired participants constructed new roads and toilets, refurbished the existing schools and taught hygiene practices and English to the primary school students in the community.

About Welfare Services Club (WSC)

Founded in 1985, the Welfare Services Club (WSC) is a non-academic constituent club in NTU that provides an umbrella of voluntary activities for all students. With a current strength of about a thousand members, WSC is constantly seeking to extend its outreach to the underprivileged in society.

Currently, WSC runs 7 Regular Service Projects (RSPs), serving the Elderly, Children, Hearing Impaired, Intellectually Disabled, Physically Challenged, Visually Handicapped, and Youths-at-risk. These RSPs consist of volunteers serving the beneficiaries weekly at various locations in ways such as conducting personal development workshops and leisure activities, and giving academic mentoring.

On top of that, WSC also runs 6 Special Projects (SPs) and 4 Supporting Committees (SCs) to provide additional support to beneficiaries, both local and overseas. These projects involve the planning and execution of ad hoc events throughout the year.