Fund-raising fiesta

The school that Mom was working in, was having a fund-raising fun fair. Mom volunteered her whole day to man the ticket booth and other activities. Although I was not exactly keen on going to a fun fair while still nursing a fever and cough, we still went to give support to Mom anyway. Although sometimes Mom might complain of being tired (she is already a retiree) but I think she was most happy volunteering her time for a good cause. Also when she was in the company of the students, she was happy and enthusiastic. She was most enthralled when the students scored very well for their exams, and the school did very well in the last GCE "O" Levels. And I think, to her, that is very important on the happiness quotient.

Besides volunteering her time, she also contributed in buying those fun fair tickets too, so that her grandchildren can play and eat at the fun fair. The kids played lots of games and got many little little goodies and souvenirs. There was the signature teddy bear of the school as well.

The crowd was horrendous. I think there was probably about 2000 people at one time in the school compound (they expected probably about 5000 visitors). And the noise with the loud music and DJ and the students' chatter was .... wow, extreme loudness to me. I did not liked rubbing shoulders with the crowd, squeezing our way around. But it sort of brought back memories of my own school days.

As adults, we could observe and notice what the students did to run their own stall, the games they thought of, the food they were selling, and you could imagine the time and effort these kids and teachers had put in. As adults, we could also be critical and thought some of the things could have been done better or thought the prices charged were not worth the value of what you got in return.

But as a student in those days of school fun fairs, I remembered we were equally excited and pompous as well. As students then, we were so "preoccupied" in doing our best to raise funds and brainstormed for ideas on how to make the most money for our stall. I remembered my class used to sell fried rice with little round fried potatoes, and also we sold Magnolia ice cream in a cone. Both were best sellers and we topped the school as the class with the highest profit. It was so fun.

So I guess we could be more forgiving when we see these kids doing the same as what we did umpteen years ago. We saw the effort they put in, we felt their pride to contribute something for their school. It was something praise-worthy. Thus I know Mom might have felt the same sentiments.

For me, I "contributed" to the fund raising by buying food and buying 3 decorative doggies on sale. I let niece choose one (her blonde doggy is not in the pix) while I chose the one on the right. Think I will give the doggy on the left to Rich Friend since it resembles Muffy.