Celebrating Friendships Across Borders

The world may have changed a lot due to the COVID-19 virus but the bonds of friendship remain steady. Our Citizen Ambassadors (CAs) who volunteer with us to help uplift lives through our programmes and build strong people-to-people relations across physical borders, came together with their friends from the international community in a borderless online world to celebrate International Day of Friendship, which fell on 30 July 2020. 

Over a month before that, they shared with us what friendship means to them and pledged their commitment to build a better world. One aptly captured it as “Friendship is knowing somebody will always be there for you.” You can hear more heart-warming thoughts here.

Then on 7 Aug 2020, 31 of our CAs and Friends of Singapore (FOS) joined us online, connecting with both old and new friends. They also included some of our media alumni from India and Indonesia. They all took part in Singapore theatre company, How Drama’s interactive comedy show Fat Kids Are Harder To Kidnap on Zoom. The show was directed by our very own CA and Arts for Good Speaker, Melissa Sim. Over half an hour, the actors entertained from their own homes through a collection of 15 different skits, with the audience choosing which skit they wanted the actors to perform. Indeed, it was an evening well spent. 

CA, Dr Chua Soo Pong, shared that the online show was “a unique way of connecting with friends by looking at the pandemic positively and through a humorous lens.” A view similar to FOS, Chris Davies: “I enjoyed it hugely. Very funny, and good to know that we all feel the same about the virus!”

CA, Zahara Mahmood: “Seeing how the actors interacted with each other and engaging the audience throughout the plays made the event so memorable. The best Friendship Day celebrations so far, such a big group too!”