Seeking to impart new skills to their deaf beneficiaries, 10 volunteers from the Farrago Club of NTU Welfare Services Club Regular Service Project (Deaf Community) organised an inline rollerblading workshop on 8 February 2020 at National Stadium Promenade. This workshop was conducted by trainers from professional skating school Inline Fitness, and it continued Farrago’s series of programmes that hope to bridge the gap between the hearing and non-hearing community in Singapore. Previous programmes included a magic workshop and photography session.
Each volunteer was paired with a deaf participant during the workshop. While only one of two planned sessions were conducted, the participants were able to bond over a shared learning experience, as not all volunteers know how to rollerblade before the session.
Activities in the workshop included teaching balance and body control, providing an opportunity for the participants to become familiar with the rollerblades before they skated on their own. The trainers and volunteers worked in tandem to ensure that the deaf participants understood the instructions, allowing them to learn basic maneuvers and safety procedures without rushing through the course. At the end of the session, most participants were able to skate without assistance, as well as balance on the blades on their own.
The beneficiaries joined in the activity enthusiastically and praised both the volunteers and instructors for ensuring the safety of the participants, with first aiders on standby. The activities also facilitated interaction among the volunteers and beneficiaries, with many expressing hope for similar sessions in the future – safe spaces where the hearing and non-hearing communities can come together to share and learn.
It was an exciting day for our deaf participants. Judging by the smiles on their faces, I’m sure both the participants and volunteers had fun helping one another in learning something new. Low Wei Yan, Farrago Centre Head
About NTU Welfare Services Club
Founded in 1985, Welfare Services Club (WSC) is a non-academic constituent club in NTU that provides an umbrella of voluntary activities and social work to all students. Besides growing from strength to strength in membership, WSC has also undergone incredible expansions in its activities to reach out to more service users every year. Currently, it runs 9 Regular Service Projects (RSPs) serving the Deaf, Elderly, Children of Low-income Families, Children with Chronic or Terminal Diseases, Intellectually Disabled, People with Mental Health Issues, Physically Challenged, Visually Handicapped and Youths-at-risk, which comprises volunteers engaging these service users weekly at various locations.
WSC also runs 5 Special Projects and 4 Supporting Committees. The Special Projects include Camp OutReach, Challenge ur Limits, Ignite Change, Overseas Volunteering Expedition and Volunteer Management and they provide additional support to service users both locally and overseas. The Supporting Committees include Finance, Growth & Opportunities!, Internal Relations and Publicity and Publications and they provide operational support to WSC. Volunteers engaged in Special Projects and Supporting Committees gain invaluable skills in entrepreneurship, events management, planning, coordination and many more.
