Youth of different faiths celebrate Vesak Day by doing good deeds

Giron Althea Isis Canonizado may be a Roman Catholic, but she and other youth of different faiths marked Vesak Day yesterday by doing good deeds.

The 17-year-old was one of some 50 young volunteers that helped to pack more than 1,000 packets of porridge within an hour at Masjid Khalid in Joo Chiat Road.

The porridge, prepared daily during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is given out to those who break fast in the evening.

The mosque's chairman Alla'udin Mohamed, 65, said: "It is a small thing (of packing porridge), but it creates a big bond.

"I am happy that the youth came here today to learn and appreciate the diversity that we have... tolerance is not enough, we need to build understanding from the ground up."

The Vesak Day celebration was part of the South East Community Development Council's "Celebrating our Festivals" series, which aims to have Singaporeans from different faiths and races celebrate the major festivals.

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Other than packing porridge, Canonizado was one of South East CDC's Racial Harmony Youth Ambassadors who was involved in a two-week campaign of doing good deeds leading up to Vesak Day.

They include teaching the elderly how to use a smartphone, helping a stranger with directions and propping up a fallen shared bicycle.

VOLUNTEERS

Vesak Day celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha.

Yesterday, the volunteers, whose ages ranged from 16 to 25, also toured Shinnyo-en Singapore's temple in Eunos, where they learnt more about Buddhist beliefs and practices.

National University of Singapore undergraduate Mirabel Loh, 22, a Christian, said: "Before today, I didn't know what Shinnyo-en was, I thought it was a separate faith on its own. But I learnt that it is a denomination of Buddhism that shares the same core values."

Mayor of South East District Maliki Osman said yesterday's celebrations were part of the CDC's effort at bringing harmony and deepening appreciation of different faiths in Singapore.

"We believe it is very important that we cannot take the racial and religious harmony that we've had for the last 50-over years for granted," said Dr Maliki.

"I think in Singapore we want to go beyond (tolerance), because the common space will continue to be smaller and limited, so we need to deepen the appreciation of differences."