live WELL 04 Life Through A Lens live HAPPY 12 Friends Before Neighbours my LIFE STORY 16 The Ah Boy Next Door ISSUE JANUARY 2018 live TOGE THER // RESIDENTS HAVE FUN AT HDB’ S ‘ LET’ S PLAY’ ISSUE JANUARY Contents 2018 live TOGETHER 01 LET’S PLAY EDITORIAL ADVISERS Director, Policy & Planning Eileen Neo Deputy Director, Planning Shivvonne Wong Community Relations Manager Tan Xiao Rong live WELL PUBLISHING AGENT 04 LIFE THROUGH A LENS 08 DEAR HOME OWNERS Mediacorp Pte Ltd Life Storeys is a community publication by the Housing & Development Board. Filled with lifestyle features, this newsletter brings to you live HAPPY stories and happenings from your neighbourhood so that you can know your community a little 10 CORRIDOR CHATTER: better and play a more active role RINGING IN THE in community-building. Join us NEW YEAR in creating a gracious and harmonious living environment 12 FRIENDS BEFORE for all! You can also access the NEIGHBOURS electronic version of Life Storeys at lifestoreys.hdb.gov.sg or scan the QR code. live GREEN Copyright ©2017 14 HEARD IT THROUGH Housing & Development Board (HDB) All rights reserved. No part of THE GRAPEVINE this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means. This publication is printed on FSC™-certified paper. The paper choice and printing methods are green and environmentally-friendly, leaving behind less carbon footprint. my LIFE STORY 16 THE AH BOY NEXT DOOR Printed by Times Printers live TOGETHER life storeys LET’S amily PLAY fun time RESIDENTS YOUNG AND OLD PLAYED TO THEIR HEARTS’ CONTENT IN A SERIES OF HDB EVENTS DURING THE YEAR-END SCHOOL HOLIDAYS. PAGE 01 LET’S PL A Y HAPPY CHILDREN WITH THEIR SCULPTED BALLOONS live TOGETHER life storeys IN THE GIFT-GIVING MOOD CARNIVAL GAMES AND ACTIVITIES ith one month to go until Christmas, seven- year-old Elizabeth Wang knew what she wanted to do. “My daddy helped me make Wthis ‘Merry Christmas’ card. I’m going to give it to my friend who lives in the same HDB block as me,” said Elizabeth, while at Bedok Town Square on 25 November 2017 with her family. They were among the many residents present that day as HDB launched a special series of fun events, called ‘Let’s Play’. Held over three consecutive weekends, Let’s Play was created for residents of all age groups to come together at various town squares and community plazas to indulge in the simple, pure joy of play. Each day comprised fun-filled activities from morning to night, including a bouncy castle and carousel, balloon-sculpting, art and craft workshops, game booths, skit performances, cooking demonstrations and movie screenings. Creating art and craft PAGE 02 Booths set up by student and resident volunteers further brought out the carnival-like atmosphere. we utilised only recyclable materials such as The card-making activity that Elizabeth cardboard, used newspapers and empty engaged in was planned by students from Catholic Yakult bottles.” Junior College (CJC), who manned not one but four Likewise, a smaller group of Victoria Junior booths at Bedok Town Square. Besides writing College students, including Tamara Fernandez, messages of appreciation for their neighbours organised an upcycling workshop, where residents and families, residents could also participate in learnt how to repurpose the pockets from old recycling-themed games, or walk blindfolded denim jeans into sling purses or luggage tags. through an obstacle course intended to simulate “Fabric waste is a big problem in Singapore. What a messy HDB corridor. “We wanted to raise better way to address it than by getting residents awareness of the 3Rs — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to make something useful out of their old clothes — as well as promote neighbourliness through our instead of throwing them away?” said Tamara, 17. activities,” said Jonathan Lim, 17, one of the CJC “The purses and luggage tags can also be given to student volunteers. “To put the 3Rs into practice, neighbours or family members as gifts.” Showing off THE ART AND CRAFT BOOTH IS GREAT AS their tote bag designs IT ENABLES US TO PARTAKE IN A CREATIVE “ACTIVITY TOGETHER WITH OUR NEIGHBOURS. THE FINISHED PRODUCT — A D-I-Y CARD IS ALSO A MEANINGFUL ITEM WE CAN GIVE TO THOSE AROUND US. Mr Rahul Tyagi, 36, a Bedok resident whose daughter Shaanvi, 5, made a card saying “I love you” for her mother at HDB’s Let’s Play event A KAMPUNG VIBE The second installment of the three-part Let’s Play series took place at Kampung Admiralty Community Plaza on 2 and 3 December 2017. Highlights included the ITE College West students’ interactive game corner featuring classics like Snakes and More fun for the little ones Ladders, darts, Spin the Wheel as well as charades, which sought to inculcate good neighbourly habits. “When Lucas and I play Snakes and Ladders at home, it is usually just the two of us,” said Ms Jessie Teh, 48, a Woodlands resident whose son Lucas, 10, is an only child. “Being here today gives him a chance to play with more people and make new friends.” Another Woodlands resident, Ms Susan Ho, 56, volunteered for the event and — together with her two teenage daughters, a colleague and a neighbour — ran a marbled PEOPLE TODAY ARE ALMOST ALWAYS paper workshop. It attracted children ON THEIR SMARTPHONES OR IPADS. and adults alike, as they exercised their “WE WANTED TO PROVIDE GAMES THAT creativity while using cooking oil and water- based food colouring to create a marbled ENCOURAGE FACE-TO-FACE COMMUNITY effect on paper. “The workshop is not only INTERACTIONS, AS WELL AS BONDING an outlet for people to have fun; it also has PAGE BETWEEN MULTI- 03 educational value,” said Ms Ho, a pre-school GENERATIONAL educator. “Children learn about science, specifically the fact that water and oil repel. FAMILIES. They also learn how mixing primary colours, such as yellow and red, creates secondary Fateha Muhamad (right), 18, colours like orange.” ITE College West student and The Let’s Play series wrapped up on the Let’s Play volunteer weekend of 9 December 2017 with a two- day event at Punggol Town Square. COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS The Let’s Play student volunteers all have one thing in common: they are volunteers under HDB’s Friends of Our Heartlands network. Under this network, volunteers are trained to become champions for gracious and responsible heartland living. They can also plan and execute projects to strengthen community ties, in this case the Let’s Play activities. The students — as well as Ms Ho — also received support from the HDB Friendly Faces, Lively Places (FFLP) Fund, which encourages residents to initiate community-driven projects to liven up their neighbourhoods. To find out more about the Friends of Our Heartlands volunteer network,visit www.hdb.gov.sg/FOH . For more information on the FFLP Fund, visit www.hdb.gov.sg/FFLPFund live WELL life storeys LIFE THROUGH A LENS THE STORIES BEHIND eld in conjunction with HDB Community Week, the “Celebrating THE WINNING LIFE in the Heartlands” photography competition is organised SNAPSHOTS biennially and invites Singaporeans to contribute photos that FROM THE 2016 capture the heartwarming stories of community ties in the heartlands. CELEBRATING LIFE This nationwide competition aims to strengthen residents’ sense IN THE HEARTLANDS of belonging and to encourage them to play a more active role in PHOTOGRAPHY community-building. The photographers behind some winning entries in COMPETITION. 2016 tell Life Storeys about the inspirations behind their images. PAGE 04 FRUITS OF LABOUR (Open Category, Merit Prize) Residents beaming with joy at having gathered a hearty harvest from their community garden. “I’ve been taking photos for over 40 I find community gardening a great years. I took this one in particular concept. HDB residents may not have while on a freelance job assignment their own backyard or lawn like those in Jurong East. To me, it truly living in private estates, but these captures the essence of heartland gardens enable us to tend to plant living, as residents — of different and grow vegetables. Better still, the races — are seen gathering to work harvest can be shared with all!” together to ensure their community CHIN BOON LIAN , 67, garden flourishes. This is exactly FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER, how life in Singapore should be like. JURONG WEST RESIDENT CHIRPS AND CHATTER (Open Category, Merit Prize) Visiting the bird-singing corner is a treasured weekly ritual for bird-lovers. PAGE 05 “I took this photo in my Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood on a Sunday morning. I wanted to showcase a popular leisure activity that my fellow heartland residents embark on. Most of us call it the bird-lovers’ corner. Enthusiasts frequent this unique space not only to admire birds, but also to chit-chat. Often, they seem to be in a joyful mood, just like in this photo. Besides bird-lovers’ corners, HDB estates are designed with many other features that encourage communal living such as void decks, playgrounds and gardens. One can usually find bus stops, train stations, shops, markets and food centres nearby — an HDB estate is really a st convenient living space.” STORIES ACROSS STOREYS(Open Category, 1 Prize) by Hang Loo Ming TAN AI LIAN , PERSONAL ASSISTANT, ANG MO KIO RESIDENT AT A GLANCE Launched in 2013, INSTAGRAM CATEGORY the “Celebrating LIFE in the Heartlands” photography competition has attracted more than 8,200 photo entries from 2,400 participants, received over 3 competitions held in 2013, 2014 and 2016. GLORIOUS AND BRIGHT (Merit Prize) by Richard Torres A GOLDEN GLOW (Merit Prize) by Mohamad Hafi z Bin Sulaiman live WELL life storeys PAGE 06 OLD IS GOLD (Instagram Category, Merit Prize) The dragon playground has brought joy to different generations of residents.