Challenging stereotypes through community engagement

Ariel LIM, a Year 4 Life Sciences student, who is also pursuing a Minor in Public Health, is an active contributor to the College of Alice and Peter Tan (CAPT)’s community outreach programmes.

She was part of the Planning Committee of CAPT’s Community Engagement Festival (CE FEST) 2021. The CE Fest is CAPT’s annual flagship event which aims to celebrate the uniqueness of different communities, through community engagement and partnerships.

She said, “I learnt how to accurately portray various communities in a dignified manner while being sensitive, mindful and empathetic. My team and I realised that there is always much more to a community than meets the eye. This experience helped me to unlearn stereotypes and broadened my perspectives about different communities in Singapore.”

The 2021 iteration of the event offered 17 trails which participants could go on to learn more about the wide variety of communities – from buskers to migrants, people on the spectrum, “rough sleepers”, elderly cardboard collectors, and many more.

“My interactions with people from all walks of life have shed light on many deep-seated societal issues. This taught me to draw the line between being an activist and being authentic, and how every individual has the power to be a voice to convey hidden stories to comfort, heal and understand,” she added.

The experience has reminded Ariel of the importance of active citizenship.

Ariel (second from right) and the CE FEST planning committee members on a recce to Waterloo Street for the inter-religious trail.

Ariel (second from right) and the CE FEST planning committee and facilitators on a recce to Jalan Kukoh.