ICE

I know ice is probably the last thing on your mind, especially in this cold season. But to put your mind to rest, we will not talk about ice. Rather, we will hear from Mr. A (catch up on my conversation with him here) about his community-based organisation ICE: Initiative for Community Empowerment. I had been meaning to prompt him to touch on it, but I guess I didn't have to as you will soon find out.

The rest of this article is purely Mr. A's words. Sid and I did not change or add anything apart from embedding links we thought applicable.

Dear readers,

Sid mentioned to me that you wanted to know what inspires my writings. My only worry is that I might fail to say something you want to hear. I guess people write for very different reasons, but maybe not to improve the language skills of one's students. So if it is not plain enough to you yet, maybe this background might help.

Given that children enrolled in ICE hail from families whose language is not as refined as that of their peers from elite backgrounds, I thought I could make a difference. This was a couple of months after starting the organisation, therefore it was not a priority from the beginning. Just like Sid publishes articles every Monday and Thursday, I too did the same. Only that I printed mine and distributed them as hard copies. I found writing fiction based on their everyday life effective at enabling them to see their lives from a positive light. Accordingly, I also imagined that I nurtured their language.

Although I may not be the best out there, I like to think my cause is a noble one. Many who have never been in a slum before may think us brutes at worst and objects of pity at best. And despite the latter being well-meaning, it is in fact counterintuitive. Its unintended consequence is that it lowers us to solicitors of sympathy. This has an adverse effect of making most children from slums, and to a large extent children from poor and broken families, fail to realise their potential. The result is them turning to the streets where they inadvertently become criminals. I know because I could have been one. Moreover, I have lost friends to this beast and I cannot bear to see more perish. This is why a group of close friends and I founded ICE.

In order to make this open letter short, I had to split it into two. Sid likes to have these articles to be an average of three-minute read. If you therefore allow me, I promise to upload the rest as soon as next week.

Thank you for reading.
Editor

From Sid and I, happy living!

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