I was at Pink Dot 2012...

Last weekend, 15,000 Singaporean citizens and PRs headed down to Hong Lim Park for the fourth Pink Dot event. This is the first time though that the event was held in the evening. With pink torch lights in their hands, Hong Lim Park became a sea of bright pink lights that was a sight to behold (as one could see from the videos).

This is my second Pink Dot. It's a venue for straight and LGBT Singaporeans to gather and celebrate diversity, inclusiveness and the freedom to love

Last year, I came to the event with friends to watch and show our support to the local LGBT community. This year, I had more participation because the group I'm volunteering with had a booth at the Pink Dot Community Tent. (I didn't join the formation though. Reason mentioned below.)

It was really encouraging to see quite a number of LGBT and LGBT-friendly organizations existing in the frequently-stereotyped as conservative society.

Walking around the booths, there were groups for youth, for lesbians, for transgenders, for fans of LGBT movies and fiction, for bears, and so on.

In our booth, we gave out information flyers on the services offered by the organization.

Around 7 plus, this year's Pink Dot ambassadors headed to the small stage at the center of the Speaker's Corner to lead the Pink Dot formation.

Everyone was requested to turn off all their torch lights. The countdown began, and soon enough the dark space was lit by thousands and thousands of pink lights. The song "True Colors" started to play and everyone just started singing. It gave me goosebumps.

Along with other foreigners, I watched all of this happen from the designated bservation area. Regulations of the venue state that only Singaporean citizens and Permanent Residents can join in the formation. I understand and respect this.

This year's Pink Dot campaign video was dubbed "Someday." In the video, it shows a vision for the LGBT community in Singapore. I thought that the campaign video theme was also apt for me and fellow foreigner supporters. All of us, if not most, aspire to be able to go join the Pink Dot formation as well... someday.

Meanwhile, huge congratulations to everyone behind Pink Dot 2012. Without a doubt, it was successful both in staging the event and more importantly, delivering a message that the LGBT community exists and is part of the Singapore society.

Til next year again...

6226 2002...

In a previous blog post, I'm sure I have mentioned that one of the things I wanted to continue while I'm here in SG is volunteering.

The Pink Dot last June(?) 2011 was one of the good venues where I found out about the different LGBT and LGBT-friendly groups in the city.

One of the organizations was Oogachaga.

I think I have had a post about Oogachaga (or OC, as it is more popularly known).

For a couple of months now, I've been participating in in some of their activities both as a volunteer and as a participant.

So far, it's been a good experience. The activities have been a good venue to know more about the local LGBT community, as well as meet more people.

One service that the OC has is counselling. They have phone and email counselling services. Both services are free.

For the phone counselling, I believe the number to call is 6226 2002. The hotline service is Tue, Wed, Thur - 7-10PM, and Satu - 2-6PM.

Meanwhile, the email counselling can be availed of via the website - http://www.oogachaga.com/care

Do check out the OC website for more information about their services.

Here is a feature on the group for Pink Dot.

Volunteers appreciation dinner party...

Whereas Friday night was the company year-end party, Saturday night was the OC volunteers appreciation dinner party.

Uhm, I actually feel like I'm not that entitled yet to be part of the activity since I haven't done a lot yet so far. I've just had one service session, and then there's the volunteer work during the game show at Play.

But anyway, I decided to go to the party because it would be a venue to see my OC batchmates and I guess meet other volunteers as well.

The venue for the dinner was Cumin Bali, an Indonesian restaurant along Tanjong Pagar road.

The invitte said that the theme for the night was "Resort at Bali." Eeep! I've never been to Bali, and I really have no idea where to get traditional costume so I interpreted the theme in my own way. Hehe! I dressed up as a Bali tourist.

Good friend Melvin was also attending the dinner. He picked me up at Bishan, and we drove to TP. When Melvin arrived, he was dressed in a batik shirt. He saw what I was wearing and he goes, "Why are you not in costume? It said Resort at Bali." I replied, "Well, I'm dressed as a Bali tourist. Dun worry. If I stick out like a sore thumb in the crowd, I wouldn't go in." LOL!

We got to the venue, and saw some of Melvin's friends at the registration table. The pair were dressed in tank tops, shorts and flip-flops. Haha! Melvin asked them the same question he asked me, and he got the same answer that I gave him. Hehe!

As we made our way to the dining area, I saw my batchmates Chinmay, Jin, Jane, Kevin and the other Kevin. Haven't seen them in a while so we had a great time doing a little catching up.

The night started with a "Getting to Know You" activity. Everyone was asked to get up and move around and talk to people. It was a good opportunity to meet new folks.

Immediately after, dinner was served. Indonesian cuisine kinda reminds me of some Filipino dishes. I particularly loooooved the grilled chicken, because it tasted very much like chicken tocino! Haha! Jeez, I ended up having a cup and a half of rice. Eeeeep! Good thing I've already decided to skip the Standard Chartered run today.

The next part of the night's program was the awarding of volunteers who have been serving OC for a number of years now. Some of those recognized have been with OC since 2006. It was really inspiring to see them and listen to their short speech.

Many of them had the same reason behind the decision to volunteer - to work towards making the Singapore society more open, accepting and understanding of the LGBTQ community.

Good Saturday night.

Volunteer work training begins tomorrow...

Tomorrow evening will be the start of the training for a local group I will be volunteering with.

When I made the move here, I told myself that one of the things that I want to do when I've finally settled is to get myself into volunteer work.

Yeah, blame it on the Pahinungod years of my life. The three years with my university's volunteer group have really sparked the fire of volunteerism in me. For that, I am forever grateful.

Wherever I go, I have always tried to look for ways to volunteer.

Last June during Pink Dot, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that several LGBT groups are present in this supposedly conservative country.

I decided I would get in touch with one of the groups to find volunteer opportunities.

After doing some research, I sent in my application for a volunteer post to a couple of these groups.

A phone call, a face-to-face interview, some email exchanges and as I've mentioned in my earlier post, I will be starting my training tomorrow night for the volunteer work.

I'm really looking forward to the training, and the real "work" after the training. The LGBT sector is one area I'd like to volunteer with and I'm glad I will be able to do that here.

More deets soon.