Ng Anne Beatrice’s story
Faculty of Arts
BA

In March 2024, Ng Anne Beatrice, a second-year Arts student, led a five-day service trip to Dumaguete in the Philippines to construct rural toilets (locally known as comfort rooms) for the people who are living in extreme poverty to hone environmental sanitation and hygienic cleaning in their communities. The project, which joined hands with International Camp Ministries (ICM), was supported by the Yang Tuck Ming and Wong Fung Ying Service Learning Fund.

Anne (with a black hat) and other participants of the service trip were given hands-on experience to build toilets in the rural community of Dumaguete.

During the service trip, Anne and other participants performed dedicated tasks in the construction of toilets, including digging holes, building septic tank covers, constructing walls and toilet bowls, and installing vent pipes and improvised faucets.

The toilet was built by Anne and other participants of the service trip.

As the initiator of the project, Anne was eager to make an impact on the rural community in Dumaguete, particularly after having on-site visits to Filipino cities. “After getting in touch with ICM through partnership in voluntary work, I had the opportunity to visit some cities in the Philippines and witnessed the substandard living conditions. So, I would like to do something meaningful to them instead of paying for a visit”, she said. Coincidentally, CEDARS was encouraging students to apply for different funding for their service projects, which ignited her desire to kickstart the project.

Anne (in the middle of the front row) was grateful to be involved in the construction of rural toilets which has substantially enhanced sanitation in Dumaguete.

Anne also highlighted the difficulties that she encountered throughout the project, especially in recruiting participants to join the service trip. “Being a self-initiated service project, it was challenging for us to attract students to engage in the service trip. Therefore, my friends and I spared no efforts in searching for students who have the passion to serve the underprivileged”, she stressed.

Rounding up her experience on the service trip, Anne reconceptualised her perception towards voluntary work and the deprived. “When we are doing volunteer work, we may consider ourselves to be superior as providers of financial resources. In fact, we should also educate the underprivileged for sustainability with the skills, rather than viewing them from a materialistic perspective”, she emphasised.