Berklee-bound songwriter Lee Fengheng shares about his recent win at NEA’s Eco Music Challenge 2011.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

Lee Fengheng (in red) with his vocalist Robert Sunga (in black) and other contestants from the competition. PHOTO COURTESY OF LEE FENGHENG.

Not many 21-year-olds can boast about having a self-penned song playing on the national airwaves but for Lee Fengheng’s heartfelt ode about saving Mother Nature, he was crowned winner of The National Environment Agency’s Eco Music Challenge 2011 in August. “World Without Fences” is the Clean and Green Singapore 2012 campaign’s official theme song and has been played on Mediacorp’s 98.7 and 93.3 radio stations. The song also appears on the Eco Music Challenge Season 2 album launched in October, with sales proceeds going toward an environmental non-governmental organization.

While Lee has competed during his secondary school- and university-going days, this is his biggest break yet. Impressively enough, Lee is a self-taught musician who has never had any formal music training, save for some early guitar lessons from his church ministry leader.

However, his foray into song-writing only came in 2010, when he joined the People’s Association Song-writing Competition. In the recent singer-songwriter competition organized by 987FM’s called The Next Big Thing, he emerged among the top five in the final round together with his vocalist, Robert Sunga, who was also the vocalist for “World Without Fences.”

Lee, a City Harvest Church member who once volunteered in the JAMs (Jesus For All Minds) Church as a guitarist is now serving in his cell group in the same capacity. He will be pursuing his studies at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in United States next year.

City News catches up with the passionate musician for a chat about his main takeaway from the Eco Music Challenge 2011 as well as his plans for Berklee.

What do you think is the average Singaporean’s awareness about green issues?

Singaporeans probably already know it. Many times, it’s about whether they choose to embrace it, or close one eye and ignore it. I think the NEA has done a great job in educating the public about going green. It’s evident in the posters we see around in toilets, shopping malls, and parks.

How did it feel to see and hear your song on national television?

I was thrilled! It wasn’t just about being able to see it on TV, it was the immense satisfaction I got seeing the fruits of my labor; I had random people telling me they heard my song and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was also surprising when the song was played in the movie theaters while I went to the cinema one day. It was something money couldn’t buy, and I thank God for it.

How has taking part in this competition altered your awareness about the message of Clean And Green?

It made me more aware of the environment and our surroundings. Going green is more than a campaign, it’s a lifestyle. I’ve come to realize that we all have a part to play and it takes unity for anything significant to happen. I have grown to embrace this lifestyle and educate others when I can.

What are three things Singaporeans can do today to make this world greener?

It begins with the little things: they can make the effort to clear their food trays after consuming their meals, turn off any electrical appliances that are not in use, and use environmentally friendly bags when going grocery shopping.

What are you currently doing as you wait to enter Berklee?

Currently, I perform four to five nights a week at various places such as Timbre @ The Arts House, Timbre @ Substation, One Altitude, Oriole @ 313, One Twenty-Six)with my band, Afterhours. I also teach at SOMA (School Of Music And The Arts) and Medley Music School during the day. I continue to write and produce songs in my free time. I am also applying for various local scholarships and grants to fund my music education.

What will you be studying at Berklee and what are your plans upon graduation?

I plan to study Composition and Production at Berklee. I would like to be a session guitarist, composer, as well as a producer. Having knowledge of many musical instruments gives me the ability to arrange music in different styles and helps me with composing as well. I am also interested in film-scoring and writing jingles.

What advice do you have for aspiring musicians?

Don’t give up. Be sure of what you want to do. I think many young musicians have a misconception of a music career. They think that they have to be the solo artiste singing original songs, selling CDs and performing at concerts. There are actually many options in the music industry—be it a recording engineer, session musician, songwriter, producer, gigging musician in pubs/clubs or a music teacher. Young musicians should be prepared to spend hours in practice and sacrifice time out with friends. It takes a lot of dedication and commitment to be successful. They also need to always return to their roots and remember why they wanted to do music in the first place. That is very important for longevity in the career as well.

Log on to Lee Fengheng’s Facebook page at “Feng Music” for more updates and information.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and you can help raise awareness and funds by shopping at Watsons.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

Live and loud at last year’s Pink Ribbon Walk. The Walk has grown from year to year. PHOTOS COURTESY OF BREAST CANCER FOUNDATION

As some of you are reading this, thousands of participants are gathering at the Waterfront at Marina Bay for the Watsons Pink Ribbon Walk. They will traverse a 3.8 km route in support of breast cancer awareness.

The walk on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 6 p.m. takes participants past key attractions around Marina Bay including the Art Science Museum, the Floating Platform, Merlion Park, and The Promontory. This is also the event that launches Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Singapore.

This is possibly the third Pink Ribbon Walk BCF has held in its 13-year history. “Since BCF first started, the key launch for Breast Cancer Awareness Month has taken on several forms: a vehicle rally, a car rally, a run and now a walk,” says Noor Quek, president of the Breast Cancer Foundation. “The walk has been on and off, but [this year it is] bigger and better, and caters for as broad a sector of society as is possible. Walking also allows for older people, children and less fit individuals to participate at their pace. An evening walk makes it even more fun and manageable, as they can enjoy the skyline at sunset. This year, a carnival and some fun events like an auction of Dell computers, Zumba and the Pink Gloves Dance will add to the festivities.”

Quek notes that this year’s walk has garnered greater support from families and corporations, “men, women and children, rather than groups of young people. It seems to be seen as a good, healthy way to bond, and for a good cause.”

Also, health and beauty retailer Watsons has adopted BCF as its official charity for the second year running. Watsons has an admirable target of raising S$100,000 this year for the foundation through three avenues: the Watsons Pink Ribbon Walk, the selling of BCF pink ribbon pins and the giveaway of BCF Breast Books, and the Watsons’ Pink Shelves Program, which launched on Sep. 22 and will go on till Nov. 16.

Cathy Yeap, managing director of Watsons Personal Care Stores, tells City News why this cause. “According to the Singapore Cancer Registry Interim Report 2005-2009, breast cancer remains the number one cancer killer among women in Singapore. On average, approximately 1,492 women are diagnosed with the disease annually, with at least 354 lives claimed every year. With the increase of breast cancer cases in Singapore, Watsons strongly believes in promoting the cause of protection and prevention against this disease.

“Through its 105 Watsons Personal Care Stores, Watsons would like to reach out to its more than a million customers that visit the stores each month, most of them women—including its 400,000-strong card membership database—to help raise awareness of breast cancer. With an increasing presence and involvement in the healthcare industry with 30 pharmacy outlets and more in the pipeline, Watsons also aims to take a greater step towards health initiatives by supporting BCF.”

The BCF has also organized Pink Ribbon Runs.

The Pink Shelves program, which runs in 40 Watsons stores islandwide, has four partners: Brands, Johnsons & Johnson, L.D. Waxon and Procter & Gamble. Participating products range from vitamins and bird’s nest to shampoo and facial care items. For every product sold, S$0.10 will go to BCF.

The monies raised will go towards funding awareness activities, “in particular, counseling training sessions, support and volunteer services to in- and out-bound breast cancer patients as referred by hospitals, and outreach via various forms of media. The money raised will also fund activities for support programs,” explains Quek, adding that the Pink Ribbon Walk, as a support program, has been paying off in greater ways.

“Looking at the increasing number of participants … it would appear than more people are beginning to appreciate the fact that early detection can save lives and breasts. [The Walk is] a nice, non-fearful way to pass a serious but hopeful message to a wide audience.”

“Watsons hopes that the funds raised will provide BCF programmes the means and expertise to help patients and even survivors to cope with the tough times they are going through,” adds Yeap.

For more information, go to the Breast Cancer Foundation’s website at www.bcf.org.sg and Watsons at www.watsons.com.sg.

This season of Arise & Build, themed “My Church, My Life”, sees City Harvest Church members ready to arise together again and give to God’s house.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

This weekend of Sep. 24 and 25, City Harvest Church will enter into the sixth year of its building fund campaign.

The Arise & Build Pledge weekend will happen on Nov. 5 and 6, and the four-month Building Fund period is from November 2011 to February 2012.

This announcement, made by Kong Hee, senior pastor of the church to members at a meeting on Tuesday, Sep. 20, was met with warm applause and loud cheers.

Themed “My Church, My Life”, Arise & Build this year focuses on City Harvesters and how many of the turning points and key moments in their lives are closely tied to God and church.

Arise & Build is one of the defining elements of City Harvest Church, an act of faith exercised in one heart and spirit by the church. Since 1994/1995 when it started the first building fund to pay for the rental and set-up of Hollywood Theatre along Tanjong Katong Road, the church and its members have seen their faith and giving rewarded by God, in physical and spiritual ways.

For Cheo Meng Chin and Josephine Lim, long-time members who have given since the first building fund, this is an exciting time. “We have been anticipating this Arise & Build campaign as we are excited that we can once again step out in faith, expect the unexpected and for miracles to happen and doors to open,” says Lim. “We saw how our firstborn, now 12, gave generously two years ago, and she was happy with her participation in the last campaign. So, this is really an expression of the Bible verse, ‘As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’”

Members young and old give to the building fund collectively to fulfill the vision for this place for worship. Like the people of Israel in 1 Chronicles 29, who gave to the building of the temple of the Lord —“with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the LORD”— we bring our gifts, living out the saying, “Unequal amounts but equal sacrifice.”

A PERFECT PLACE FOR WORSHIP

In April this year, City Harvest Church fulfilled a six-year dream for a new place for worship when it moved into Suntec Singapore. While it already owns a building at 1, Jurong Street 91, that space has a seating capacity of only 2,300. Suntec Singapore is the perfect location for CHC as it easily fits the size of its 22,049-strong congregation, is centrally-located and accessible by public transport, and it has existing facilities and retail amenities to cater to the needs of members and attendees.

In March 2010, CHC became a co-owner of Suntec Singapore via an investment in the consortium which owns Suntec Singapore. Through the co-ownership and lease agreement signed, the church has non-exclusive use of Halls 601 to 603 on the sixth floor, the Theatre plus 10 meeting rooms for 47 weeks of each year for the next four years; CHC has the option to renew for another six years thereafter. The church’s use of the space complies with URA’s updated 2010 guidelines for religious use of commercial venues.

“The reality in Singapore is such that without a co-ownership [or] joint venture, it is very difficult and costly for a church to own and use a property for the long term beyond the plots allotted by HDB, which are offered on 30-year leases only,” explained Kong at the meeting. “In view of the above ownership structure of Suntec, the ‘co-ownership and lease’ model has been the most realistic and cost-efficient way for CHC to use the premises for worship. At the same time, our strategy allows us to use the returns from our shareholdings to substantially defray the rental cost incurred from the usage of the halls.”

The sum CHC projected for the use of Suntec Singapore is S$310 million over the next 10 years. This amount is not what the church paid for its stake in the consortium; it is for the total investment in the consortium, purchase of fixed assets or capital expenditures (seating tiers, graphics wall, LED screens, etc), the estimated future rental expenses, and other operating costs related to the usage of the licensed area in Suntec.

“Based on the amount raised from previous Arise & Build campaigns, we will conservatively need another eight to nine years, from 2011 to 2020, to raise the amount … CHC hopes to achieve the goal of self-sustainability in a shorter period,” said Kong.

Currently, the amount that CHC needs to raise is S$229 million over the next eight to nine Arise & Build campaigns, he said.

The church accounts for the funds raised and its expenditure at the end of each financial year. These accounts are revealed to executive members at the Annual General Meeting, and thereafter, made available online at the church website.

For Dee Teo, 35, this will be her first Arise & Build experience. “I’m excited to give to the Lord, to build our place of worship. I’ll challenge myself to give!”

For Lau Quan Han, 25, “this Arise & Build brings new excitement. I have given through junior college, national service and university and I’m keen to give especially since God has blessed me with my current job. My giving this time not only expresses my love for the church, but my gratefulness for God’s faithfulness too.”

A number of members City News spoke to felt that the decision to use Suntec Singapore has been carefully considered and was the right one. “I feel it is the most wise and prudent decision at this point of time. Suntec is suitable not only in terms of location, but also to the numbers and growing needs of the members of our church. And we have a stake in it. I am confident that this is the best possible move Pastor Kong and the leadership of City Harvest can make,” says Gideon Yeo, 25.

Kong closed with a call for all members to knit their hearts together and to honor God and love people through this Arise & Build season. “Thank you for choosing to stay committed and united together … Our church will keep on learning, improving and we remain committed to each and every member. Let’s continue to build a church without walls, reaching out to the unchurched, loving people fervently and most importantly, loving and glorifying Jesus in our lives.”

For the second year, The Body Shop partners organizations to petition against trafficking of young persons. Here’s what you can do.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

The Body Shop Singapore and campaign partners celebrate 114,886 petitions collected from Singapore against the iconic city-scape. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BODY SHOP.

Leila (not her real name) was nine when her mother handed her over to an “aunty” who promised to bring her from Nepal into India to get a job. But she found herself sold into a brothel, where she was gang-raped and beaten, and eventually forced to have sex with men every day and night.

Leila’s story is no horror movie. Across the world, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked for sex. Some of them get pregnant and die from complications at birth. Others contract sexually-transmitted diseases, or if they survive, end up trafficking other children.

Traffickers commonly source for children from Third World countries around Singapore: Indonesia, India, China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Children in Singapore, on the other hand, have a right to education, live in a low-crime environment, and most learn theoretically about sex from sexuality education classes in school—not in practice, on the street. Singapore is what non-profit groups like ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for sexual purposes) and HOME (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics) refer to as a “destination” country: every weekend, an estimated 400 men take a ferry to Batam to engage prostitutes, many of whom are under the age of 16, though few will admit it.

In June, Singapore was “upgraded” to a Tier 2 ranking in the United States’ Trafficking In Persons report, which means that while Singapore does not fully meet standards of human trafficking, it is making efforts to do so. This report may have ruffled feathers, but it is still encouraging that Singapore is off the human trafficking watchlist. As Pia Bruce, the executive director of the National Committee for UN Women Singapore, noted, “[this] reflects that Singapore is quite fast going forward to tackle this issue.”

Trafficking—a US$36.2 billion business—is a deeply complicated industry: some governments own the brothels that buy these children; and many of those who seek help from the authorities end up in jail for being in a country illegally.

From left: Eleanor Chin, Head of Brands & Values, The Body Shop Singapore; Bridget Tan, founder-president (HOME); Pia Bruce, Executive Director, The National Committee for UN Women, Singapore; Josephine Chow, General Manager, The Body Shop Singapore; and Jo-Anne Aeria, Values Manager, The Body Shop Asia Pacific

The fight is a long one, but one that is being picked up by more parties. HOME, which aids mistreated migrant workers in Singapore, including the occasional young girl smuggled into Singapore to sexually service foreign workers, has been active in rescuing a number of trafficked persons. Its founder, Bridget Tan was named a 2011 TIP Hero by Hillary Clinton for her exemplary work in this field.

The Body Shop has had a long tradition in fighting human trafficking. Its founder, the late Anita Roddick, championed the cause before her death in 2007. The Body Shop Singapore has entered into its second year of its “Stop Sex Trafficking Of Children And Young People” campaign. At a press conference on Aug. 23, general manager Josephine Chow revealed that 114,886 signatures have so far been collected by The Body Shop in Singapore. This petition is part of a 6.9 million-strong global petition signed in more than 65 countries to eradicate sex trafficking.

“The sheer number of signatures clearly demonstrates that people in this country really care,” she said, while Bruce added that a task force now exists in Singapore, made up of representatives from the Singapore Police Force and the Immigrations & Checkpoints Authority and co-chaired by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Manpower.

Eradicating trafficking isn’t going to happen overnight, and it is not the duty of one group but the responsibility of every global citizen. Awareness is the first step in the right direction. You can do your part by heading to any Body Shop in Singapore and signing the petition to stop sex trafficking of children and young persons. The Body Shop, together with HOME and the National Committee for UN Women Singapore, will be presenting the signatures to the United Nations on Sep. 29. Let your signature be counted.

You can sign the Stop Trafficking petition at all Body Shop outlets before Sep. 29.

Depression gets heard in a new book My Voice: Overcoming—A Journey Of Hope.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

Depression is a tough illness to understand—and an even harder one to overcome.

A chronic disease of the mind and body, depression is not just a case of “the blues.” Sufferers describe it as an overwhelming sense of hopelessness, and symptoms include fatigue and low energy, a loss of interest in most activities, suicidal thoughts, significant weight gain or weight loss, sleeping a lot or being unable to sleep.

The suicides of famous depressives like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, or poet Sylvia Plath, or Hong Kong actor Leslie Cheung, have only further enhanced the “mystery” of clinical depression.

In Singapore, 5.6 percent of people suffer from depression, and in the world over 121 million people are affected by this mental illness. Yet, awareness of depression is still very low. But a recent book published is a good start to getting the word out—and greater understanding of depression.

Chua Seng Lee, who was Chairman of the National Youth Council Mentoring Steering Committee in 2009, has collected honest stories from people suffering from depression in his new book, My Voice: Overcoming—A Journey Of Hope. This is the third volume in the My Voice series, started by Elim Chew in 2004. Each of the My Voice books has served as a voice of an unheard sector of the community.

Sparked off by the shocking suicide of a young man he was mentoring, Chua embarked on a journey to explain what depression sounds and feels like. Among the people whose stories appear in this book are actress and entrepreneur Jacelyn Tay, who shares frankly about her rapid rise to success and just as precipitous fall after a business failure, radio personality Danny Yeo, who describes the harrowing feeling of being drowned by endless work with no hope in sight, and Jen Lee who was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder due to sleep deprivation, which drove her to have hallucinations.

Chua’s journey took him not only to people who experienced depression, but to the ones who have made it their life’s work to help depressives. His interview with Professor Kua Ee Heok, senior consultant psychiatrist at National University Hospital is enjoyably enlightening, revealing that mental health can be managed if the patient can be convinced to tell stories—a good tip for those who have ageing grandfathers at home.

Information and advice from experts like Associate Professor Leslie Lim of Singapore General Hospital, and heads of bodies like the Institute of Mental Health and the Samaritans of Singapore come packaged in narrative format, making understanding the treatment and the problems of the illness an easy task. Many depressives fail to seek proper help and manage their illness because of the stigma attached to mental illness, but active efforts are being made to create greater and more grassroots public awareness in Singapore.

Chua’s book (with a foreword written by President SR Nathan) deals also with caring for caregivers—many end up suffering from depression after looking after a family member with depression. He writes about his personal experience of grieving and finding closure after the death of his friend.

At the tail end of the book is a series of beautiful artworks by young people, much in the style of Chew’s My Voice series. Chua has very thoughtfully also included an index of helplines for people seeking help for depression.

All in, Overcoming is a fairly comprehensive layman’s guide to depression, covering what to look out for, how to deal with it, and where to get help, a sure step in the right direction for helping sufferers and lowering suicide rates.

My Voice: Overcoming—A Journey Of Hope (Write Editions, S$20) is available at all major bookstores.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

It sounds like an interesting enough premise: aliens landing in Arizona in 1873 and facing off with cowboys.

A lone cowboy (Daniel Craig) who cannot remember who he is stumbles into the town of Absolution, wearing a strange device around his wrist that works like a handgun. Before long, he discovers he is Jake Lonergan, a wanted gunslinger who stole gold bullion from the richest (and meanest) man in Absolution: Colonel Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford). When Dolarhyde’s spoilt brat son Percy (Paul Dano) is captured by the aliens together with half the town, the colonel and Jake forge an uncomfortable alliance to save the captives. Their journey to find the aliens takes them through scuffles with Jake’s old gang of bandits, and a group of native Indians who help Jake regain his memory of having been captured by the aliens and escaped, but not before he watched his woman, Alice, burned to ashes.

Trailing Jake is a mysterious woman, Ella (Olivia Wilde) who turns out to be from another planet that the aliens have destroyed. Together they embark on a quest to find the alien ship, free the people, and destroy the aliens, of course.

Craig’s flinty face and complete lack of humor makes this movie utterly ponderous to watch—even more so when you consider that Robert Downey Jr. was the first choice for this Jon Favreau vehicle. Ford is the show’s saving grace, displaying flashes of his Indiana Jones panache even at the age of 69.

Buy the ticket if you’re desperate to catch a movie this weekend, but if not, just wait and watch it on Mio for S$3.99.

Rating:

Founders of City Harvest Church, Kong Hee and Sun Ho share their sentiments about the journey of the church to this point.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

CN FILE PHOTO

CITY NEWS: City Harvest Church is 22! What are your feelings about seeing the church cross this milestone?
KONG HEE: We’re both greatly humbled by what God has done in this church and through this church. Twenty-two years ago, we started out with nothing close to this many people. But God has certainly brought us a long, long way, not just in the number of years we have existed or the number of members we have, but in our strength and tenacity, our compassion to lend a helping hand to the less fortunate, and our spirit of love and unity as a church family.

It’s not been the easiest of journeys. Sun and I and the rest of our pioneering leaders never expected it to be. Any breakthrough from God requires us first to meet face-to-face with a wall of resistance. Although we have our fair share of “walls,” God has always given us the grace to scale over them.

What have you experienced in this past year about the church that surprised you in a pleasant or touching way? Something unexpected that gave you great encouragement?
SUN HO: Kong and I have always been a missions-minded couple. We believe deeply in the call of Christ to reach out to the nations and to give as many people as we possibly can a chance to say “Yes!” to Jesus. So in our growth and vision as a church, we have always encouraged our members to “find a need and meet it” and to build a “church without walls”; never to evangelize through “fire and brimstone” preaching, but rather through living lives that exemplify the possibility of a better life and eternity through Christ. As leaders, Kong and I have always tried to put our own needs aside in order to fulfill the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. So this year, after our situation began and the world started to crumble around us, it was very touching for us to see how our needs and emotions mattered so much to our members. Day after day, we would receive emails filled with love and support, with verses that spoke into our lives to edify and encourage us; messages sent through Twitter and Facebook; even text messages from former members that have left the church but expressed that they are still willing to stand with us because they believe in us. These are the simple things that matter the most to us.

What would you count as the highlight of this year, and why?
KONG: I would definitely count the move into Suntec as the turning point moment of the year. It surely brought up some of the most scathing critiques of our church and me from disgruntled bloggers! But putting all that aside, I don’t want any member of CHC to miss out on what the historic move into Suntec means to us as a congregation—which is God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness to us as a church! For years we have heard preachers and ministers prophesy that we will be a church for the city, within the city, and to penetrate the culture of our city. Within us, we always have a deep, burning desire to be a relevant voice for Christ in Singapore. Over 22 years, our members have worked really hard to take our creative arts, our technical expertise and our ministry standards world-class. The move to Suntec marked the culmination of all these efforts. Truly, this is a “New Day” for God to move in a new way among His people. Going forward, I am excited to see what He has in store for us!

Sun, you have been back for a year. Even though it was not under the most ideal circumstances, what have you enjoyed and appreciated about being home, being in the office, being in church this past one year?
HO: I’ve been on the mission field for so many, many years, and not one day passed when I was away that I didn’t miss my church friends and the work of the local church. So it definitely means a lot a lot to me to be able to be back helping out in the church office, worshipping with my closest friends, and being with my family.

You set the theme “Choose Love” for this new year. Can you share with us what this means to you, and what do you hope to see in the church toward this direction?
KONG: Like what Sun has mentioned earlier, we have always been a very missions-minded church. But for this year, we were given the revelation that it is important for us to “take time to smell the roses” too as a congregation—to enjoy our friendship, fellowship and faith together. God brought us together as a church not just to work, work, work but to worship, worship, worship together! CHC has always believed that we should love God wholeheartedly and to love people fervently, and the theme of “Choosing Love” is just to re-emphasize that among us. I pray that it will not just be a slogan for 2011, but will become ingrained into our ethos as a church to always choose Christ and to choose love toward one another.

What is your wish list for CHC this coming year?
HO: The house of God is a place where people find a deeper revelation of the Word of God, where they can encounter the Holy Spirit tangibly and through those encounters develop an intimate personal relationship with Christ. It is also where they find a sense of belonging and identity with others who hold our similar faith and beliefs. My wish for CHC this coming year is simply that our church will continue to be all these things and more to our members.

What would you both like to say to your church on this special occasion?
KONG: We would like to say thank you for choosing love. Your love, together with Christ’s, makes us complete. Let’s “Come Together” and make 2012 our best year yet!

This mother of two discovered blogging as an avenue to encourage others, make a difference, and win an award along the way.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

Daphne Ling with the stars of her blog, Kirsten (left) and Truett

“I started my blog three months after taking the plunge into full-time stay-home motherhood,” says Daphne Ling, 29. “At first, it was meant to chronicle my journey as a mom so I could look back in 10 years and remember all the heart-melting baby moments. But as I started writing, I found that it was a great way to stay connected to the world outside.”

Ling also admits, “While it was fulfilling to stay home with two non-talking babies all day, I was starved for conversation and blogging was a good way to use up some of that 20,000-word-a-day quota I had.”

Ling’s blog Mother, Inc was started in February 2009. In the short two-and-a-half years it has existed, Ling has used the site to not only share her honest views on parenting issues, but galvanize supporters for a good cause, such as a fun day for the beneficiaries of the Children’s Cancer Foundation.

Ling was awarded the Best Parenting Blog award two weeks ago at the Singapore Blog Awards 2011, beating out nine other finalists. Bloggers were judged on how entertaining and inspiring their blogs are, as well as how well they express and present their content. The Blog Awards is organized yearly by OMY, under Singapore Press Holdings. Judges this year included filmmaker Kelvin Tong and fashion designer Keith Png.

Ling with Dr. Tony Tan. PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAPHNE LING.

Kids and Clicks
The stars of Mother, Inc are Truett, 3, and Kirsten, 2. “They’re as different as two kids could possibly be, but they’re each other’s best friends. I’d say that most of the blog posts are inspired by the crazy things they do and say, like this one time when they almost got us into trouble with the police, having made numerous nuisance calls to 999 without my knowledge,” reveals Ling, adding that she received a warning letter. The blog post was wittily titled: “I’ll Remember To Blog When I’m In Jail.”

While every parent feels that their own child is the most adorable/intelligent/funny, Ling captures her offspring’s moments of strengths and weaknesses the way one tries to catch bubbles without bursting them, with all the swirling colors and sentiments intact.

“Truett is a sweet, sensitive soul,” she describes. “He loves his sister as much as he loves trains and gummies, which is an awful lot. Occasionally, he says that he loves trains and gummies more but we suspect that deep down inside, it’s probably the other way around. Kirsten is a free spirit and an attention magnet. She sings at the top of her lungs in the malls and runs up to peer at the uncles sleeping at the void deck. She’s usually the one instigating her big brother to commit random acts of mischief and rushes to comfort him when he’s upset.”

Ling, who used to work in advertising and media relations, and for a season was a volunteer editor for City News, writes well—her heartfelt post on the May general elections struck a chord with many first-time voters, attracting 5,000 Facebook “Likes.” It scored her a recent meeting with Dr. Tony Tan, along with other prominent bloggers like mr brown.

She credits her husband, Kelvin Kao, 31, a senior account manager in a public relations agency, for being her partner and chief cheerleader in Mother, Inc.

“My husband is the biggest fan of the blog, and besides taking care of the technical stuff like adding the Facebook ‘Like’ button, he often gives ideas, both topic- and treatment-wise. It’s definitely one of the reasons why I’m still blogging today, because it’s a commitment to write and edit photos—which I sometimes do late into the night—and I’m glad that he understands what I do. Also, he gives me awesome feedback on my posts. And by that I mean he always says that my posts are awesome, which is extremely encouraging.”

Making A Difference
In October last year, Mother, Inc organized Happee Day for kids from the Children’s Cancer Foundation. “Through the blog, I managed to get the word out and got a lot of support from over 40 bloggers who helped publicize the event,” she says.

“I also used the blog as a platform to get sponsors on board, in exchange for publicity. It was a risk though, as everything from the logistics to the venue to the different booths was entirely sponsor-driven; for example, we only confirmed the catering sponsor for 250 people about two weeks before the event. If that hadn’t worked out, I would have had to fork out over S$3,000 for the food alone! But in the end we got over 30 sponsors, so that was pretty amazing.”

Ling evidently enjoys touching lives in ways big and small. Her blog draws regular emails from readers. “From the onset, I wanted to keep it as real as possible, which meant talking about topics bloggers don’t typically talk about, and sharing difficult personal experiences I’ve gone through, like post natal depression and breastfeeding. And because of that, I often get emails from readers who share how they felt encouraged after reading some of my posts. It helps them to know that they’re not alone and someone else has made it through to the other side,” says Ling.

“My personal take on parenting is that it is a tough enough journey without having others judge you. A lot of parents have commented that they felt better as parents after reading my posts.”

Ling’s blog Mother, Inc is at www.motherinc.org .

Contributed By Theresa Tan

Tan with his eye-opening prize photo. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAN ZEXUN

Tan Zexun’s passion for photography landed him second place in the youth category at Montage 2011.

“I am always on the lookout for ways to improve my skills. Photo competitions such as Montage help me raise the bar as a photographer,” says Tan Zexun, 19, a second-year science student at Saint Andrew’s Junior College, also a photography ministry volunteer at City Harvest Church.

Montage, started in 1999 by the Photographic Society of NUS, is an annual event that encompasses seminars, workshops and a competition. This year’s theme was “What If?”

“This year, there were more than 2,000 entries, and I came in second in the youth category,” explains Tan, whose passion for photography was sparked when his father gave him a DSLR camera for his 16th birthday. “My photograph shows an extreme close-up of my mom’s eye. Using some unconventional methods, I managed to photograph an area of less than 2-by-1 cm without cropping. Because of that, I was able to clearly see all the nitty gritty details of the eye: the fibrous iris muscles and blood capillaries.” Tan’s intepretation of “What If?” was inspired by his fear of losing his eyesight. “What if people didn’t need their eyes in the future? What better way to say all that than with a magnified view of God’s natural creation: the eye?”

Tan won a Canon S95 advanced compact camera for his second placing.  “My mom joked that she had a stake in my win because the photograph was of her eye. She promptly took ownership of the camera right after the prize presentation!”

Award-winning painter Jon Chan creates a literary work that is his comic book, An Assault On Affection.

Contributed By Theresa Tan

John Chan with his comic book. CN PHOTO: Teo Boon Hwee

Jon Chan, 29, is a man of few words, but those few create deep impact. The former Anglo-Chinese School boy and LASALLE College of the Arts Masters degree graduate is no newbie to the arts scene. He was the 2007 recipient of the JCCI Singapore Arts Foundation Award.

Chan, who teaches O-level art at City College and a comics course at LASALLE College of the Arts, recently released a comic book, An Assault On Affection, which tells the tale of a young couple with a doomed love life. City News talks to him about the art of telling a story with not so many words.

How did this comic book come about?

It came out of a project that I did for Tickleart, a display of art works at the underground mall, Citylink. The original idea I had for the comic had to do with mass media and mass hysteria. Eventually, I settled on something simpler, something that I felt could engage people and not distance them. I was inspired by what Anton Chekov once said: “Every story has two poles: he and she.” My work was a way of testing what he was saying.

Why use the medium of comics?

Comics are unlike any medium and comics can do things no other medium can do. It’s not like writing, because in comics, the visuals free up the words so that what is written can afford to be less descriptive. Comics as a medium just feels right for me. Like David in the Bible, all that clunky armor that was offered to him to fight Goliath just felt pretentious. The ideas behind comics also challenge the way I view my paintings, I don’t want to make a monumental statement with them anymore, but to incorporate ideas from comics into painting.

What inspired the story of this couple? They seem to fight a lot.

The story really has little to do with traditional notions of romance. It was an honest attempt to question what is true in a relationship. Seeing many of my friends out of broken relationships, and looking at young people hugging and kissing in the MRT, made me wonder how much of it was true love and how much of it was like a game. So you can see this comic as a search for authenticity.

The other thing I was interested in, is how people struggle with differences in their relationships and how these differences can be so trite, but rub on very personal beliefs. Couples fight about trivial things rather than big events; I wanted to see if I could create tension between two characters, and that that tension could have some kind of universal appeal.

What do you do as a teacher?

I teach O-level art and comics. I try to help my students to be more aware of what is going on around them. I want them to realize that there is a value in making art: it’s difficult when they live in an environment where people view art as a mere commodity, as something easily purchased, but difficult to make—when in truth all great things come with difficulty. All the best clothes, the best video games were made by dedicated artists.  If artists do not recognize their calling the world would suffer for it.

What is your life’s dream?

My dream is tied in to the cultural mandate that Pastor Kong [Hee of City Harvest Church] talks about. I want to make a difference in the lives of people and to do this through art. But for me, art is not another piece of decoration that should sit comfortably next to someone’s sofa. It’s meant to change lives, to wake them from an illusion of a false life into a life where God is the only possibility. The Czech writer Franz Kafka said something that reflects my intentions: “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us.” And I’m reminded of this everyday as I take the MRT and look at depressed faces, and I’m constantly reminded how important it is for me to make my art.

How has your pursuit of art changed since you came to know God?

I was raised as a Christian, so my faith was something that came to me gradually, but I have to say that coming to CHC really renewed my Christian faith. I feel that God has always been my best encourager. He’s always silently cheering me on, and the times when I am closest to Him are the times when I feel surer about my artwork, when my visions sharpen. I have to admit that a lot of times I have doubts about my work because of the difficult subject matter that I bring up, but He has shown me time and time again that the Bible itself dealt with these same issues. He’s also revealed to me great Christian artists and writers such as Dostoevsky and Caravaggio, and their revelations on difficult themes.

Through Pastor Kong, God has shown me that even Daniel did not shy away from reading the texts of the Babylonians and likewise I should not be fearful of reading books some Christians shy away from, as long as I constantly remind myself that God is my source. But more than any of this, He has often reminded me of His deep love for all people good or bad, and more and more I feel like I’m wanting to understand the world the way He sees it, to look at things objectively and subjectively at the same time.

An Assault On Affection (S$18) is available at Doinky Doodles, 33 Bali Lane (2nd floor) and Absolute Comics, 200 Victoria St, #03-13, Parco Bugis Junction.