NUR ON THE MOVE ROADSHOW

Welcoming Indra at the school foyer

Close up with a soccer star; Indra Shahdan

Hanaffi, my ex-student is involved in theatre works

Hanaffi and Indra

The students went gaga over Indra

The Sec 4 boys did not want to be left behind too

The dramatists who ruled the stage

One for the road before they rush to another school

A promo shot for Ain Society

Engaging Indra on stage to share his experiences

Students clambering for Imdra's autograph

Thrilled at being photographed with Indra

The drama was a hit with the students

The grand dad voicing his concerns over his grandchildren's behaviour

FROM A VICIOUS CYCLE TO A VIRTUOS CYCLE

I organised an assembly programme for our students and invited the Ain Society to perform a drama for them. The drama was well-received and the students had a shock of thier life when Indra Shahdan, our national soccer captain was called on the stage to share his experiences on his teenage days and his perspectives on why education is important for our youth.

NUR-on-the-Move
BRIEF DRAMA OUTLINE

The drama performance is driven by 3main characters; an old grandfather and his troubled teenage grandson and granddaughter. The teenagers are getting into a lot of trouble i.e. lost of interest in school, unwanted pregnancy, excessive drinking habit etc. This worries the concerned grandfather who desperately confides in his neighbours for advice.

Meanwhile, the grandchildren feel lost and frustrated and do not know what to do about their situation. They start to blame other people and refuse to acknowledge their mistakes. Fortunately, they have good friends who encourage them into looking for various modes of help and discouraging them against getting into further trouble. These suggestions are initially met with resistance, but both of them finally relented to it after much persuasion.

The grandfather’s witty character is hoped to act as a bridge for the youth audience to see the issue of troubled youths from an adult’s point of view. The short drama also captures the chaos in the teenagers’ family and how it has resulted to their misbehaving and involving in negative activities. Some of the youth audience may be able to relate to this particular scene which shows parents who are in conflict with each other and choose to resolve it through violence. It will add on to the understanding of the background of the main characters and the intensity of the frustration that they are facing.

In all, the drama performance hopes to convey to the youths that no matter how challenging their life is, they themselves have the ability to make it better and the situation is not entirely hopeless. This is the angle where the roadshow wants to promote the NUR teens helpline to inform the youths on an avenue of help should they have any problems to share.

For the interaction session, Ain Society invites renowned local icons such as singers, actors, footballers, celebrity DJs etc. to share their experience being a teenager and the challenges they face to achieve their current status. Both the emcee and the invited speaker engage the participation from the youth through quizzes or on stage spontaneous performances.

More about Ain Society:

Ain Society was founded in 2000 by 12 activists who resided in Woodlands, the northern part of Singapore, mainly to serve the residents in that area. As it grows, its target group has widened not only to the residents in the north, but also island wide. ‘Ain’ means ‘eyes’ in Arabic. It is chosen to symbolize as the ‘eyes’ of the community to foresee and address social problems in the community especially among the youths and disadvantaged families.

Their tag line is ‘Love, Care, Concern’ .

Check their hotline service which is part of the Integrated Programme for Troubled Teenagers which brings together several Malay/Muslim organizations in Singapore.

NURteensLINE: 9 7777 687 OR 9 777 NUR