Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 20. August 8 1975

21.7.75 — Students Hard at it in Gotong Royong

21.7.75

Students Hard at it in Gotong Royong.

In knee-deep mud, slick and filth, 400 University of Singapore students spent their Sunday clearing up a drain in Geylang Serai.

The Gotong Royong is the first of its kind organised by the Students' Union Freshmen Committee and the Community Welfare Committee.

With picks, shovels, and baskets in hand, the seniors and the freshmen, boys and girls, braved the dirt and the stench for this community project.

The 609 metre (2,000 feet) long drain which Stretches from Paya Lebar to Jalan Nyior kampong and is a health hazard to villagers.

A spokesman for the welfare committer said: "We decided on this project after noticing how the drain clogged up and flooded when there was a downpour."

Below is part of a conversation of some of the students after the day's work.

One of the students said,"..... actually what the villages did are hard to believe, they dumped the rubbish into the drain and causes blockage which only brings inconveniences to themselves."

Another student asked, "Do you reckon they do so willingly?"

"I don't really know, after all it is a fact!"

"As a matter of fact they don't intend to block the drain, they have no alternative as the authority concerned is not prepared to collect the rubbish of these villagers whose houses are not officially numbered. Rubbish left beside the houses were driven into the drain during a heavy rainstorm. Steps were taken Jo retrieve the rubbish, but the next downpour will again carry it back into the drain. As time goes by, the villagers have to put up with dumping rubbish in the drain. Who is responsible for the consequences? Is this sort of living condition to be improved?"

After the discussion, the student realised his lack of understanding of the villagers. In the last and final analysis, the student is convinced of his lack of contact with the outside world.