Doing Well by Doing Good
This is a rather popular book that was featured a few years back.
For those who attend CHC, you might recall Pst Tan preaching on it a few years back.
Was reminded about this while reading the Straits Times today.
The Straits Times did a feature story on India's development, particularly, Singaporeans who are making a living residing in the various parts of India.
One of the man featured was Mr Ding Eu-wen, a 25-year old North Western University graduate working for an NGO EMBRACE in Bangalore Tarnataka. EMBRACE is a start-up NGO which manufactures infant-warmer as an alternative to infant incubator. A traditional infant incubator costs about USD20,000 to manufacture. Because of the high cost involved, many hospitals in the rural part of India which cannot afford one within the hospital sees premature infants dying every day. The infant warmer which costs USD200 is a much cheaper alternative, and potentially a life saver.
This post is not dedicated to promoting infant-warmer.
Mr Ding could have easily landed a job in any MNCs given his education and family background. But the 25-year old chose to devote his time working for a start-up NGO because he wanted to make a difference. It's interesting that this former ACJC student scorned at the idea of being a social worker at age 17 because quote "there's no real money in it"
So what caused the change of mind?
He attributed it to the increased exposure while travelling to different parts of the world.
The more he travels, he felt an increasing sense of responsibility to DO something.
It really got me thinking once again.
What do I want to do with my life? And more importantly, what do I want for Baby C?
The husband and I have been talking about this over the past 1 year.
Daddy A is a very intellectual person, and given his education background, he wants Baby C to follow his footsteps and do very well in his studies. Amen to that.
Haha I remember while we were at Harvard University in February this year, Daddy A was whispering to my tummy and say "Baby C, welcome to your future university!"
Harvard University
However we both agreed that beyond being bookworms, we would like our children to be exposed to social realities at a young age and we want to travel with them and show them the different kind of life beyond what Singapore can offer.
I think our short stint in the USA changed our perspective.
We talk about making a difference, do something positive with our lives. We preached that alot in church. But it is only when we had a chance to live and travel in the US, venturing into the inner cities, visiting poor suburbs as well as wealthy cities, that the whole spectrum of experiences got us thinking. These travel experiences shape our perspective on what matters in life and what we want to do with it. There is a world out there beyond CHC, beyond Big Days, beyond Singapore that needs someone to make a difference.
I hope Baby C can experience first hand the different cultures and societies
(both the Ups and the Downs)
I want him to start understanding the concept of Doing well by Doing Good at a young age.
First up, it gonna start with the parents. Would love to bring Baby C with me to the old folks home and Children's home soon when he is slightly older.
Daddy A and I are going to commit to our first property very soon, a resale HDB at Serangoon Central. Well meaning friends have encouraged us to go for a private property, seeing that it makes alot more sense from an investment standpoint, especially now. But we've decided on a much cheaper alternative as we felt that it is more worthwhile to save up the spare cash for Baby C's education, and more importantly, to fund our family's travel expenses with BabyC.
We hope (and think) that the exposure gleaned from these trips would be more valuable to Baby C than living in a private condominium.
Haha HK Disneyland, Orlando Universal Studios are probably not going to be on Baby C's travel list anytime soon (not our idea kinda trips. just personal preference). Hopefully Cambodia and Taiwan are 2 destinations that we can work towards pretty soon. :)
Ok enough of rambling.
I'm so inspired to re-read the book "Doing well by Doing good" again.
Time to pray and hit the sack
Selah to all...
This is a rather popular book that was featured a few years back.
For those who attend CHC, you might recall Pst Tan preaching on it a few years back.
Was reminded about this while reading the Straits Times today.
The Straits Times did a feature story on India's development, particularly, Singaporeans who are making a living residing in the various parts of India.
One of the man featured was Mr Ding Eu-wen, a 25-year old North Western University graduate working for an NGO EMBRACE in Bangalore Tarnataka. EMBRACE is a start-up NGO which manufactures infant-warmer as an alternative to infant incubator. A traditional infant incubator costs about USD20,000 to manufacture. Because of the high cost involved, many hospitals in the rural part of India which cannot afford one within the hospital sees premature infants dying every day. The infant warmer which costs USD200 is a much cheaper alternative, and potentially a life saver.
This post is not dedicated to promoting infant-warmer.
Mr Ding could have easily landed a job in any MNCs given his education and family background. But the 25-year old chose to devote his time working for a start-up NGO because he wanted to make a difference. It's interesting that this former ACJC student scorned at the idea of being a social worker at age 17 because quote "there's no real money in it"
So what caused the change of mind?
He attributed it to the increased exposure while travelling to different parts of the world.
The more he travels, he felt an increasing sense of responsibility to DO something.
It really got me thinking once again.
What do I want to do with my life? And more importantly, what do I want for Baby C?
The husband and I have been talking about this over the past 1 year.
Daddy A is a very intellectual person, and given his education background, he wants Baby C to follow his footsteps and do very well in his studies. Amen to that.
Haha I remember while we were at Harvard University in February this year, Daddy A was whispering to my tummy and say "Baby C, welcome to your future university!"
Harvard UniversityHowever we both agreed that beyond being bookworms, we would like our children to be exposed to social realities at a young age and we want to travel with them and show them the different kind of life beyond what Singapore can offer.
I think our short stint in the USA changed our perspective.
We talk about making a difference, do something positive with our lives. We preached that alot in church. But it is only when we had a chance to live and travel in the US, venturing into the inner cities, visiting poor suburbs as well as wealthy cities, that the whole spectrum of experiences got us thinking. These travel experiences shape our perspective on what matters in life and what we want to do with it. There is a world out there beyond CHC, beyond Big Days, beyond Singapore that needs someone to make a difference.
I hope Baby C can experience first hand the different cultures and societies
(both the Ups and the Downs)
I want him to start understanding the concept of Doing well by Doing Good at a young age.
First up, it gonna start with the parents. Would love to bring Baby C with me to the old folks home and Children's home soon when he is slightly older.
Daddy A and I are going to commit to our first property very soon, a resale HDB at Serangoon Central. Well meaning friends have encouraged us to go for a private property, seeing that it makes alot more sense from an investment standpoint, especially now. But we've decided on a much cheaper alternative as we felt that it is more worthwhile to save up the spare cash for Baby C's education, and more importantly, to fund our family's travel expenses with BabyC.
We hope (and think) that the exposure gleaned from these trips would be more valuable to Baby C than living in a private condominium.
Haha HK Disneyland, Orlando Universal Studios are probably not going to be on Baby C's travel list anytime soon (not our idea kinda trips. just personal preference). Hopefully Cambodia and Taiwan are 2 destinations that we can work towards pretty soon. :)
Ok enough of rambling.
I'm so inspired to re-read the book "Doing well by Doing good" again.
Time to pray and hit the sack
Selah to all...
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