Racial Harmony Day

Singapore, being a multi-cultural country always tries to bridge the gaps among races. A day called Racial Harmony promotes unity and strengthens bonds amidst the diverse people of Singapore. This year Racial Harmony Day was celebrated on July 20. Students, teachers and even parents of Griffiths Primary School (Nathan's school) were encouraged to go to school in National costumes to interact with other people and participate in the different activities prepared.

The Filipino parents put up a booth, the palabunutan, to show a popular game (in fairs/festivals) in the Philippnes. 200 plus gifts were prepared for the lucky dip at 50 cents per number-per "bunot" as we'd say in tagalog. Much to everyone's surprise, the gifts were all finished after the first recess of the students. Our booth was totally an attention grabber-with the attractive prizes that were displayed, it's no wonder kids flocked to our booth and didn't stop picking a number 'til they got the prize they wanted (haha!).

After recess, there was a short program in the hall, where students from primary 4-6 recited a poem in different languages-mandarin, malay and tamil. Teachers also had a simple fashion show for the children, parading the different National Costumes of the various races in Singapore. What was so unique about it was that teachers who showed off the costumes weren't exactly wearing the National costume of his/her race-like a chinese teacher was wearing a malay costume, another, was a Malay teacher wearing an indian costume-cool huh?! Looking at them was like a mismatch of cultures. The celebration didn't last long, after the program in the hall, the students returned to their respective classes and parents were asked to listen to a group of people about fun activities for families.