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Table of Contents

Introduction --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 o Abstract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 o Narrowing the Scope: The Rafflesian Community ----------------------------------- 3

Methodology --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 o Mini Poetry Competition ------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 o Origami Folding Session ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 o Action Week ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5

Day 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5 Day 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 Day 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Day 4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Day 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 Day 6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 Day 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

Results -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 o Mini Poetry Competition ------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 o Origami Folding Session ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9

Discussion --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 o Possible Improvements ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 o Future Expansion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

Appendix ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

Acknowledgements and Bibliography ----------------------------------------------------------------- 29

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1. Introduction

1.1 Abstract

A survey recently conducted on about a thousand Singaporean respondents showed that Singaporeans rate themselves highly on their own graciousness but rated that of others negatively. According to it, 43% of those asked said they were gracious and only a mere 15% rated others the same way. In the same vein, 88% felt they had done a good deed in the past six months, and only 55% claimed to have received one. The Singapore Graciousness Index went down again to 60 this year after rising from 58 to 61 last year.

Quite evidently, the level of kindness in our society has been decreasing. What these results show is that people often have lower expectations of their own kindness, causing them to show less of it than commonly expected, or that they are simply unable to appreciate the attempts of others to be kind, both of which show an unhealthily high level of self-centeredness in Singaporeans and reflect badly on the kindness of Singaporeans. Whatever the cause of these results may be, one thing is clear: something must be done to improve the kindness in Singaporeans today.

Dr William Wan, the general manager of the Singapore Kindness Movement, commented that this was a result of the hectic and stressed lifestyle many Singaporeans live today, to the agreement of 62% of the respondents. Truly enough, it is usually harder for people who are drained of their energy and constantly have their own tasks and deadlines to think and worry about to show kindness to others, since many may be in an equally helpless position themselves and have their own selves to fend and fight for. Unfortunately, their perpetual need to protect themselves creates an atmosphere of self-centeredness amongst us, one of the largest problems the SKM has to tackle.

The Design for Change competition requires its participants to identify a problem in society or the community that particularly bothers them, and then implement a proposed campaign or solution to tackle it over a course of seven days. During these seven days, which can be spread out across the year, participants are to go out and take solid action to support their cause, through means such as accumulating funds, raising awareness and the like. Projects are judged based on how pertinent their problem is to society as well as the effectiveness and impact of their solution. For this competition, our group has chosen this lack of kindness as our problem, and our objective is to raise the level of kindness in Singapore to the best of our ability, in so doing creating a happier home for all Singaporeans to live and work in.

1.2 Narrowing the Scope: The Rafflesian Community

As students with examinations and project deadlines to meet, alongside our CCAs and other commitments, we had too many time constraints to be able to try to improve the state of kindness throughout the nation within the short time span of just a few months, especially with a severe shortage of manpower, there being just three of us. To still fulfill our objective, we decided to zoom in on our school, Raffles Institution, effectively a microcosm of society on which we could work more easily before any further expansion to a national scale.

In our project, we held our campaign in conjunction with and with the help of Friendship Week, a week of fun events organized by the Raffles Institution Prefectorial Board in an effort to commemorate the International Friendship Day and also to promote friendship at the same time. The purpose of this was to give our project a much needed boost in manpower, allowing us more freedom in our methodologies, and also to increase the significance and weight of our project by getting the backing of the school. We enlisted the RIPB’s aid as it was our common aim to improve the quality of inter-personal interactions and relationships within the Rafflesian community.

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2. Methodology

In order to maximize the impact of our campaign, our group held two different activities across the seven days of our Action Week, a mini poetry competition on the theme of inspiring kindness and an origami folding session in which students write messages in origami to their peers. The following section will detail the two activities carefully and give a systematic presentation of what we did for our project throughout the time frame.

2.1 Mini Poetry Competition

Many of us have at some point in our lives experienced first-hand how receiving a single act of kindness can go a long way in inspiring us to be kind to others ourselves, and even more of us must have read of motivational stories in which people who receive kindness are encouraged to pass on the act and share their happiness with yet more people. In fact, this trend of passing on kindness is no longer uncommon and the idea has been adopted by many, if not most kindness groups, from all over the world. Clearly, one of the best ways to inspire kindness in people is to simply show them what kindness truly is all about in the first place.

We decided that poetry was the way forward in our project as we felt that literature, utilizing the power of expressive words and having the ability to evoke strong emotions in readers, was ideal in inspiring intangible emotions and feelings such as graciousness and kindness. Poetry, taking the shortest time to both read and write, was perfect for us as it can convey emotions the most succinctly and takes little enough time for writers to submit their masterpieces on top of all their other commitments and workload.

In this mini poetry competition, we had students from our school submit inspirational poetry capable of encouraging kindness in people and put the winning poems up around the school grounds. The poems were judged based on how inspirational they were so that the best could serve to introduce the feeling of kindness to students and hence bring them to become kinder to each other, rousing an aura of kindness and happiness around the school with the very own poetry of Rafflesians.

2.2 Origami Folding Session

Origami has always been a well-liked way of showing appreciation, dedication and support, largely because of the great amount of effort put into creating each individual piece of origami art. For this second activity, we will be making use of this popular pastime to instill kindness in students, working towards our mission of raising the level of kindness within RI.

In this activity, students were to be allocated about half an hour of curriculum time, when they were to choose from a variety of origami recipes to write a personal message in and then fold to one of their peers. The recipient could be anyone ranging from a good friend the student would like to show appreciation to; to a complete stranger the student would like to make new friends with. The purpose of this was to teach students to show their appreciation and be more sensitive towards the feelings of others, upholding the spirit of graciousness and kindness. By opening up the gift to anyone in school, the activity also aimed to bring Rafflesians closer and more united as a school, and hence kinder to each other as well. Another main idea behind this activity was to get students to open up with their thoughts and feelings. When people are more open with others, they tend to feel more comfortable and become much kinder than they normally would be. Encouraging the making of new friends also acquaints students with opening up to new people, such that the greatest introverts would not hesitate in displaying kindness to needy strangers in public.

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2.3 Action Week

Day 1: Creation of Mini Poetry Competition poster --------------------------------------- 29th of July

Day 2: Gathering of the origami recipes ----------------------------------------------------- 30th of July

Day 3: Publicity of Mini Poetry Competition ------------------------------------------------ 31st of July

Day 4: Judging of collected poems -------------------------------------------------------- 19th of August

Day 5: Correspondence with Friendship Week Organisational Committee ----- 20th of August

Day 6: Holding of origami folding session ----------------------------------------------- 26th of August

Day 7: Putting up of winning poems ------------------------------------------------------ 31st of August

2.3.1 Day 1: Creation of Mini Poetry Competition poster (29th of July)

On the first day, we finalized the logistics of the Mini Poetry Competition and compiled them into a publicity poster intended for the notice boards around the school, which we printed and got stamped and approved by the general office. We chose the school colours green, black and white for our background template to signify it being a school activity, though the colours later proved too dull and plain and not eye-catching enough when put up. The poems were to be on the theme of inspiring kindness and all entries had to reach friendshipweekpoem@gmail.com with the poets’ name and class before midnight on the 4th of August (Thursday). The winning poems would be put up around the school to encourage Rafflesians to constantly show kindness to one another, and could even earn their poets a chance to read their works out before everyone at morning assemblies.

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2.3.2 Day 2: Gathering of the origami recipes (30th of July)

Our intention for the origami folding session was to maximise the variety of origami recipes within the boundaries of feasibility so as to appeal to as large a group of students as possible and give them greater interest in the activity by allowing them maximal personalisation and freedom of choice in deciding how they wanted to package and represent their friendships with their peers. Trying to achieve this, our group gathered as many recipes as we could find from the Net or from magazines on our second day so that the session would be as successful as possible. The recipes we managed to find were that of the Origami Box, Christmas Tree, Cup, Windmill, Crane, Fish and Frog. The pictures of our first four recipes are displayed below and a full list of all the recipes and their details can be found attached in our Appendix section.

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2.3.3 Day 3: Publicity of Mini Poetry Competition (31st of July)

On our third day, we started publicising the Mini Poetry Competition by putting up a total of nine copies of the publicity poster around all the major blocks of our school, two in each of the three classroom blocks (the Junior, Senior and S Rajaratnam blocks) and three in the canteen. To maximise our outreach and give the posters a higher chance of reaching each student, we placed photocopies of the poster into the letter racks of each individual class with a note attached instructing the CEC to encourage as many students as possible to submit entries. Later on, we also sent an email to each student through the school’s e-learning portal Discovery@RI to tell them about the competition and encourage them to partake in it. The email further notified the students of the competition’s deadline extension to the midnight of 19th of August with the postponement of Friendship Week, made to collect poems of both a greater quality and quantity, and included an attachment of the updated poster with all necessary changes made.

2.3.4 Day 4: Judging of collected poems (19th of August)

By the 19th of August, we had received a total of 15 poems in our aforementioned address, 10 of them in free verse and the other 5 haikus. We looked through each poem carefully and examined first of all their relevance to our message of inspiring kindness. We then looked at the poet’s diction and how inspirational and convincing the poem was, awarding victory to that with the best combination of both. In the end, the winners were Bradley Yam and Sean Lo, both from class 3A, the former with his free verse Frailty of Stars and the latter with a haiku on Friendship and Kindness. A full list of all submitted poems can be found further on in the Appendix section.

2.3.5 Day 5: Correspondence with Friendship Week Organisational Committee (20th of August)

With the winning poems already identified, our group turned our attention to our other activity, the origami folding session. As we had neither the manpower nor the money to organise such a huge event involving the entire school, we had to rely largely on Friendship Week and the RIPB for help in administration and logistics. On our fifth day, we submitted a proposal to the RIPB and discussed our plans for the origami folding session, along with other logistical matters such as budget, cost of materials, date, procedure, time and venue. Many significant changes were made to the original plan in view of all the constraints the RIPB faced.

Firstly, the procedure, including the date, time and venue, was completely changed. Originally, the plan had been to hold the session during the half an hour of Protected Interaction Time on the 5th of August (Friday). However, due to clashes with other events held that week and on later weeks, such as Youth Week and the National Day Celebrations, it was repeatedly postponed. In the end, the RIPB did not have a whole week of free time to dedicate just for the cause and Friendship Week had to be reduced to Friendship Day which was to be held on the 26th of August.

The new plan also included changes to many logistical issues. The session was no longer to be held during the PIT of Friendship Day due to further clashes, and instead, the materials were to be given out on the day before for students to go home and fold and then bring back to school on Friendship Day for collection. The origami works would be put up for display before being returned the following week to students for them to write their messages and hand over to their recipient.

Finally, for the sake of logistical ease and convenience of collection, the RIPB decided to use only one recipe, the windmill. The windmill was the only origami recipe that required a straw in addition to the standard origami paper, and the RIPB could not be sure exactly how many students would require straws should they be allowed to choose their own recipes. To prevent any wastage of straws, the RIPB simply purchased straws for each student and kept everyone to the windmill recipe, thus allowing for optimal use of the straws. Having everyone use the recipe would also make the process of collecting and displaying the works much faster and easier.

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2.3.6 Day 6: Holding of origami folding session (26th of August)

On our sixth day came the actual fruition of our plans for the origami folding session. A piece of origami paper and a straw for each student, amounting to a total of $60.70, had been purchased out of the $250 budget set aside for Friendship Day, and the materials distributed the day before for the students to take home and work with. On the day itself, we facilitated the collection and sorting of the origami works with the RIPB’s help. The pictures below depict the main highlights of our day.

2.3.7 Day 7: Putting up of winning poems (31st of August)

With the passing of Friendship Day and the present returning of the origami works for the exchanges, it was finally time for us to put up the winning poems as a takeaway of Friendship Day. On the seventh and last day of our Action Week, we quickly designed eye-catching posters for our winning poems using Microsoft PowerPoint and printed three copies of each poem to be put up. Upon getting the stamp of approval from the office again, we put up each pair of posters at major gathering points of students, specifically the canteen, Senior Block and Junior Block, thus marking the completion and conclusion of our Mini Poetry Competition.

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3. Results 3.1 Mini Poetry Competition

The Mini Poetry Competition was a success for the most part, owing to the immense quality of our winning poems, especially that of Bradley Yam, Frailty of Stars. These poems have great ability to inspire kindness in others and we believe that by putting them up, we can go a long way in attaining our objective of encouraging Rafflesians to be kinder to one another and making the Raffles community a much more pleasant home to live and study in.

Initially, we were faced with a number of problems in executing this competition. Friendship Week was originally to be held from the 1st to 5th of August, the week immediately after our release of the competition’s publicity posters, putting us under pressure to get the poems out and put up by the beginning of the following week. As a result, we had to keep the competition to a very strict deadline by which all entries had to be in before midnight on the 4th of August, essentially giving aspiring participants only four days to complete their submissions. That week also happened to be the final week of our school’s Dramafeste preparations, keeping busy the good literature students and poets whom might otherwise have had the time to write good poems for the competition. Consequentially, the poems we received were of insufficient quality and 5 of the 6 poems we received that week turned out to be haikus, most of which were too short and hence uninspiring.

Fortunately, the timely postponement of Friendship Week gave us more freedom of time to work with for this competition. Upon hearing the news, we quickly extended the deadline of the competition to the 19th of August, the Friday before Friendship Day, notifying all students through email using the Discovery@RI e-learning portal. This gave many aspiring poets much more time to write poems of better quality and submit their masterpieces, bringing a sharp increase in the quality of received poems afterward and collecting us the inspirational poems so important to our success.

3.2 Origami Folding Session

The origami folding activity, however, was not as successful as we had hoped it to be and turned out to be largely a failure. As we were unable to set aside Protected Interaction Time or any other form of curriculum time for the activity, many of the students who brought the materials home to fold the origami either forgot to do it, did not feel like doing it or simply had no time to. Eventually, we only managed to collect origami works from about half the entire school, a far cry from our original aim of getting everyone to write origami messages to each other. Another possible reason for this result could have been the lack of variety in the recipes, appealing to a much smaller group of students than the full set of recipes would have.

We believe that the original plan would have been more effective and impactful towards our aims of improving interpersonal relationships between Rafflesians and encouraging them to open up to others more and make new friends. A wider variety of origami recipes would certainly have appealed more to a larger group of students and brought about the added benefit of letting students personalise their own messages and choose their own means of packaging and representing their friendships. Simply allowing for different recipes would not incur any further costs, and should it be necessary for the RIPB to cut down on the straws, the recipes could have been released earlier to the students, allowing those interested windmill-folders to bring or borrow their own straws. Students could even be encouraged to find their own special recipe on their own, making their origami works and friendship yet more special.

In addition, it is also important that time be set aside in future for any such activities, as only by doing so can students be given ample time to fold their origami without having to worry about their other commitments like work and CCAs, thus guaranteeing a bigger turnout of origami works. Moreover, students might even be able to fold better with the help and guidance of their teachers.

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4. Discussion 4.1 Possible Improvements

As we were encouraging students to participate in the Mini Poetry Competition over the period of submission, a common question we received was if the competition was an official one, to which the answer was no, since it was completely self-organised and we had never discussed it with any reliable body. Rather evidently, not many people have all the time in the world to write poems for no good reason and many of them may have wanted to attain some recognition at least for their effort in participating before committing themselves to writing a good poem and then submitting it to us. One way our competition could have been improved would have been to discuss it with the English Department and organise it jointly with them. This would add much significance and weight to our competition, encouraging more students to participate, since students would feel more reassured of the competition’s credibility and could also gain recognition officially from teachers for their participation. With a larger pool of poetry submissions, we might be able to obtain even more inspiring poems to put up around the school, furthering our objective even more.

Similarly, using the same concept of recognition, it could be possible to encourage more students to take active part in the origami folding activity by turning it into a contest of sorts in which the best works all stand a chance of winning prizes. This gives students, especially creative and artistic students, an incentive to fold the origami instead of simply having them see it as just another ordinary activity, and in fact encourages more creativity amongst students, inspiring them to come up with all sorts of unique designs. With more participation and a greater variety of designs, the activity would certainly become much more successful. However, it is important that the message of friendship and kindness be emphasised over the mere folding of the origami so that the contest still moves in its intended direction and does not just turn into another handicraft competition.

4.2 Further Expansion

With the project completed on the school level, the next step towards expansion would be to advance onto the national scale. The Mini Poetry Competition could be held much better nationwide since Singapore obviously has a larger pool of talented poets and the competition might even garner some world-class poems of the best quality. The poems can also be put up in public places all across Singapore, such as MRT stations, bus stops and shopping malls, thus allowing these inspirational poems to reach out to Singaporeans from all walks of life and inspire them to show more kindness to fellow Singaporeans. With this, the kindness level in Singapore is bound to increase.

While it might not be possible to conduct the origami folding activity across the entire nation, origami drives calling for voluntary submissions of origami messages and works could be held in which participants are to submit origami with messages written in it and the origami works are then resent to other participants. This allows the making of friendship through origami, encouraging strangers in Singapore to open up more to one another and make new friends. One drawback of such an activity is that it might only appeal to art and origami lovers and the rest of the public majority might not be interested in participating in such an activity.

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5. Appendix 1) Name: Zhao Shi Cong Class: 2J Poem: (Haiku) Glaring radiance A core stronger than cold steel A gem called friendship 2) Name: Anthony Wu Class: 2J Poem: (Haiku) No matter the time You would risk your life for me If we are true friends 3) Name: Desmond Cheong Class: 2L Poem: (Haiku) Though I have some friends, I do not know of kindness I shall ask my friends 4) Name: Yu Yuxiang Class: 2I Poem: (Haiku) Friendship and kindness A quality we should have Or aspire to get 5) Name: Sean Lo Class: 3L Poem: (Haiku) Friendship and kindness What fills my personal jar Of a joyous life

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6) Name: Girvan Tay Class: 2K Date of Submission: Poem: (Free verse) The Mirror of Friendship Standing, viewing, that Priceless silver, looking- Glass, peering curiously, Seeking an identical another. He peers back, hand reaching out, Touching yours, crossing dimensions, Running across smooth, unblemished image, Of the present, the current, but not the future. You smile, he smiles back, Wave, and he waves back, Laugh, and he laughs back, Happiness mirrored, instantly. You frown, he too. You cry, he follows, Silently standing there, facing you. Quietly sharing in your sorrow. But nothing can last, not forever, Countless tears soon creeping in. Age, neglect and tireless wear, Rust of gold, marring this dream.

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7) Name: Adrian Foo Class: 1H I took you for granted I’m sorry that as the clouds passed by, I took your consideration as nothing. I ‘m sorry that I failed to notice that Every time When the flower starts to droop You took your loving hands And nursed me back to health. I’m sorry that whenever I start to bloom, I faced the opposite direction Instead of you. Failing to realize the fact that It was you You who helped me achieve what I am today And yet I… Though rain or shine Though lose or win Though rough or smooth the road may be You stood by me all the way You cheered me on when I was on the end of the rope You turned away while I blossomed. And yet I… And yet I… I took you for granted.

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8) Name: Bradley Yam Class: 3A Frailty of Stars Kindness is just that, frailty of stars, pinpricks of insomnia in a sleeping firmament of night. Easily thwarted by a needle’s head, a pocketful of universe must need a billion needles. And so unless our eyes scurry to hide in our sockets, then kindness must reach us, like a light of a distant star. Kindness cannot be held, or grasped, a closed fist is useless to capture a star. Even the closest one, hands will only hide the eyes. All we can do is reflect it, and by it the world sees for themselves. Like the moist wind, it only lives by dancing over mountains. We cannot hang onto it, lest it dies, becoming little more than stale air. Best to give it away to find another mountain of hurt, than to keep it on only one face, and to leave the other for desert. The origin of which we do not know, the likes we cannot keep. Only the means we practise. Kindness is just that, frailty of stars, pinpricks of insomnia in a sleeping firmament of night. Hope, perhaps, for the awakening of a firmer, definite dawn.

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9) Name: Ong Chee Wui Class: 2D Kindness As the world turns grey, Cold, hard, rain, Beat against your pale skin. As the black, ominous thunderclouds, Dim your spirits dry. Everyone looks at you coldly, And you try, to look away. Hope - lost and forgotten. No one can understand, What your eyes are trying to say. You forget, That there is never a rainbow, Without the rain, And that there is never a beginning, Without its end. In the dark, he who is, Bright enough to illuminate your path, Dim enough to go unnoticed. Is he, who will let you understand, Is he, who will give you the strength. Smiling, He guides you, Through the unknown path. His heart brims with kindness, As who he is, your friend.

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10) Name: Arivarun Anbualagan Class: 1G Kindness Man craves for happiness, Yet he never knows where to look for it. He believes that money can make him happy. But in truth, it is kindness that can. Kindness- intangible, abstract, yet real. That which distinguishes man from animal. The root and core of benevolence. It can rid this world of misery, imbalance and violence Helping a friend strengthens friendship. Showing kindness to a stranger will create friendship. Emotions are limited to bonds that have been forged- Kindness goes beyond, to paths yet to be forged Words of praise are mortal, But an act of kindness is immortal. Showing pity and having compassion are different; Kindness is the fine line between them. Where pity may shatter hope, Kindness will create it. Driven by compassion, It surpasses emotion. When you give light To one in the dark, You leave on him, a mark- It is kindness, that's right! Receiving kindness is every man's right Stopping anyone from showing kindness to others is no man's right. When you go the extra mile, People will definitely smile Showing kindness without expecting any gain Will surely ease pain In a compassionate rain Along a brightly lit lane. Many lanes in life are dark But kindness will give it a powerful brightness And make it a walk in the park. That is the power of kindness.

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Inspiration comes in many ways- Kindness is no exception to Nature's Law. It can be inspired by sight, hearing or even touch; taste and thought. For kindness is like a bullet in a gun Every man has kindness within him. But he lets it out when triggered by his senses. Like a gunman pulling the trigger. When that happens, kindness gushes out of him like a river Kindness is like a bullet. Its outcomes are like bullet scars- Everlasting and impactful. It is something that will never be forgotten. Kindness and salt may seem very distant. But they have one similarity. Much like how salt preserves food, Kindness preserves human values in the world. Teaching a child good values is kindness. Speaking words of encouragement to those in despair is kindness. Kindness cannot be measured. As every act of kindness is a display of abundant Kindness. Every action triggers a chain reaction. Playing a part, however small, is still kindness. Play your part. Ensure that kindness remains in this world- the one true immortal power

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11) Name: Alvin Soh Wei Jie Class: 4G someone else's thank you in a factory with shadows spilling out of the brightly lit windows a tint of red clasped over the cleverly misplaced hands lining the groping dank of the corridor in the dark, they never find a switch to light nor satisfaction, enough my maiden visit paid, albeit well spent not to seek, but to find. who'd think pistons would perfunctorily pump in reverse, for all that i have paid? unlike poles unnaturally attract, not repel. a missing gaze from where her eyes belonged when she wore her smile over her lipstick the awkward fumbling of misused buttons was enough to crumple her trembling fingers around my waist and her waste first time? i mumbled. yes. and so i put my lips close to hers, letting her steal my tongue and the language of friendship i'll buy you out, then we part by your call or stay by your heart as if we never had this start, as if---- then she pressed into my chest a murmur you are one of a kind but that alone is enough for someone you never knew will things change?

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Mini Poetry Competition Poster

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Origami Folding Activity Origami Recipes

What is it about?

As the name suggests,

students will be folding

origami and giving their

products away to people

whom they want to make

friends with.

Raffles Institution Friendship

Week 2011

Proposal for ‘Friendship

Origami’

How does it work?

Basically, each student is given

one or two pieces of origami

to fold into a product of their

choice during PIT on 3rd

August. Before folding the

origami, they would pen down

a message to the person

whom he is giving the product

to. That message should be

used to break the ice with

someone who the student

does not really get into

contact with. What this

origami product does is that it

has the ability to show the

sincerity of the person giving it

and thus the person on the

receiving end would be more

likely to accept it and

friendship may bloom after

that. After all, we are

promoting friendship in the

process of this origami

exchange. In addition to

giving, that same student can

receive another product from

another student.

Cost

-$1.85 for 110 small sized origami sheets

-Alternatively, use recycled paper (saves the world

too), fold a triangle then rip out the bottom

rectangular segment (F.O.C)

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1) Origami box http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14G4qJ4yaS8 Text: Step 1: Place paper sideways Place the paper on the flat surface with the long edges at the top and bottom. Step 2: Fold long edge to opposite edge and unfold Fold one long edge to the opposite long edge, crease, then unfold. Step 3: Fold longs edge to center and unfold Fold one long edge to meet the center crease you just made. Now do the same with the other long edge, so they both meet in the center. Unfold completely. Step 4: Fold short edge to opposite edge and unfold Rotate your paper and fold one short edge to the opposite short edge. Unfold. Step 5: Fold short edge to center Fold each short edge to meet the center crease similar to Steps 1 and 2. Do not unfold. Step 6: Fold corner nearest bottom right-hand crease Orient the paper so that one of the long folded edges is closest to you. There should be three vertical creases in your paper. Starting at the bottom of the right hand crease, fold the nearest corner so that the folded edge lines up along the nearest vertical crease. Crease hard through all the layers. Step 7: Repeat creasing. Repeat this creasing on the three remaining corners. Tip: You should now have a football shape with four triangular corners, two short edges, and two long, loose edges in the center of the model. Step 8: Fold loose edge away from center Fold one of the loose edges as far as it will go away from the center (over two of the triangles), bending the two small end tabs over to "lock" the edge in place. Repeat with the other edge. Step 9: Lift up box Place your thumbs inside and under the hemmed edge, and gently lift upwards to open up the box. Step 10: Pinch corners Pinch each corner and you're done.

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2) Origami crane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd3CrLw9GgI&feature=relmfu Text: Step 1: Make a diagonal crease and unfold Start with the paper colored side up. Make a diagonal crease by folding one corner to the opposite corner. Unfold. Step 2: Repeat with the other corners Repeat with the other two opposing corners. You should now have two diagonal creases on the colored side of the paper. Step 3: Flip the paper, fold an edge and unfold Turn the paper over to the white side, fold one edge of the paper to the opposite edge, then unfold. Step 4: Repeat but don't unfold Repeat with the other two opposing edges, but this time do not unfold. Step 5: Bring the four corners together Position the paper so that its folded edge is along the bottom. There should be creases on the paper that form a "V." Hold the paper with each hand on either side of the "V." Slowly bring your hands together, allowing the four corners to meet at the top. Step 6: Place the model on the table Place the model flat onto the table in a diamond shape, making sure there are two flaps to the right and two flaps to the left of the vertical crease running down the center. Tip: You've just made a Preliminary Base, which can be used to make a wide variety of models. Step 7: Push the top front corner inside Unfold the base slightly and push the top front corner inside to the very center of the model. Step 8: Turn over and repeat Turn over and repeat on the other side, and then return the model to the Preliminary Base shape. You should end up with an overall diamond shape, with two separate white triangles on top and a larger, colored triangle on the bottom. Tip: The white triangles will become the boat's sails and the colored triangle will be its hull. Step 9: Fold the sails Fold one of the white sail triangles down over the "hull" as far as it will go. Now fold the white triangle back up at a point slightly below the level of the hull; this "sail" should now be smaller than the other "sail." Tuck the pleat at the bottom of the sail between the layers of the hull. Step 10: Fold the base If you want your boat to stand up on its own, fold the bottom corner of the hull up to the edge of the hull, where the two sails meet, then unfold it slightly. There you go, you've made a sailboat!

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3) Origami Fish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwgURT5ocaM&feature=relmfu Text: Step 1: Fold corner to opposite corner and unfold Begin with the white side of the paper facing up. Fold one corner to the opposite corner creating a diagonal fold. Unfold. Step 2: Fold edges to center line and unfold Fold one edge to line up on the center diagonal line. Fold an adjacent edge to meet on the center line, creating an ice cream cone shape. Unfold completely. Step 3: Repeat on other end of paper Repeat Step 2 on the opposite end of the paper. Unfold completely. Step 4: Rotate paper Rotate your paper so that the center diagonal crease is horizontal. Step 5: Pinch triangular tab closed & fold it to one side Working on the bottom right and left edges at the same time, refold the ice cream cone folds. As you do this, the two sides should line up on the center diagonal and create a triangular tab that sticks up. Pinch the tab closed at its center and fold it to one side. Step 6: Repeat, creating a second tab Repeat Step 5 on the remaining white edges, creating a second tab directly opposite the first. Fold it down in the same direction as the first. Tip: This is a Fish Base, and you can use it to create whales, dolphins, sharks, and other sea creatures. Step 7: Flip the paper over Turn the paper over to the smooth side. Step 8: Fold a long point to the center Fold one of the long points to the middle of the model, lining it up on the center diagonal. Tip: To make a swordfish, fold the long point back out, shortening it by creating a small pleat in the paper. The long point will be the "sword." Step 9: Fold the model in half Fold the model in half along the center diagonal so the tabs end up on the outside. Step 10: Arrange so blunted end is the head You should have a blunted end (the head) and a long pointed end (the tail). The triangular tabs formed in Steps 5 and 6 are the fins. Step 11: Fold the tail and fins Fold up the long end to form a tail to your liking. You can also reverse this fold in on itself to keep it in place. Adjust the fins to your liking, and don't be coy — enjoy your paper koi.

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4) Origami Frog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luG7_nzBHjI&feature=relmfu Text: Step 1: Position the card Position the card in front of you with the lined side facing up, and one of the short sides closest to you. Tip: The stiffer the paper you use, the farther your frog will jump. Step 2: Fold the top corner to the opposite edge & unfold Fold the top left corner over to the right edge, forming a triangle. Unfold. Step 3: Repeat on the other side Now do the same with the top right corner. Unfold. You should now have a large "X" on the top half of your card. Step 4: Flip the card over Turn the card over to the plain side. Step 5: Fold the short edge to the X and unfold Fold the top of the X (short edge) to the bottom of the X. Unfold. Step 6: Flip the card and poke the X Turn the card back over to the lined side. With your finger, gently poke in the middle of the X, forming a slight scoop shape. Step 7: Bring the sides together and flatten the top With each of your forefingers, bring the sides of the scoop together. Flatten down the top into a triangular shape. Step 8: Fold the frog's arms Working only on this triangular shape, fold the bottom corners up to the top, forming the frog's arms. Step 9: Fold the sides to the center The overall shape of the card should now be like a house. Fold the sides of the "house" in, to meet in the center. Step 10: Fold the bottom to the top Fold the bottom of this narrow "house" all the way to the top. Crease gently. Step 11: Double the edge back on itself Fold this same edge back to the new bottom, again creasing gently. This forms the back legs of the frog. Step 12: Arrange the legs Looking at the model from the side, arrange the back legs of the frog to form a "Z" shape. Step 13: Jump Place your frog on the table and give its back a gentle and quick tap. Now jump to it!

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Friendship Origami Instructions

Origami Cup

1. Put coloured side faced down. Fold

along the diagonal to get a triangle.

5. Flip the piece over again and fold the

other top corner down on the backside.

2. Fold one corner of the triangle

upwards to meet the opposite side.

3. Fold one of the top corners

downwards.

6. Now just use your fingers to open up

your origami cup.

4. Flip the piece over and fold the

corner labelled A up as shown.

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Friendship Origami Instructions

Origami Box

1. Flip the origami so that coloured side is

faced down. Make two folds as shown.

5. Tuck in flap as shown.

2. Using folds as guides fold 4 corners of

paper into its centre then fold the right

edge and left edge to centreline.

6. Turn box around and

repeat steps 4 and 5.

3. Fold the top edge down and bottom

edge up as shown below, and then

undo to get origami as shown below.

7. Congratulations, you are

finished with the origami box.

4. Unfold paper. It should look like this. Put

thumb on A and do reverse fold as shown

in next 3 photos. Do the same for B too.

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Friendship Origami Instructions

Windmill

28

Friendship Origami Instructions

Origami Christmas Tree

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6. Acknowledgements and Bibliography

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our teacher-mentor, Mr. Eugene Lee, for his help and guidance throughout the time he has been with us in both our projects. We would also like to thank the RIPB and the Friendship Week Organisational Committee for their support in the organization of the Origami Folding Activity, which was a major part of our Design for Change project. Certainly, we owe all the participants of the mini poetry competition who submitted their great inspirational entries and helped to make our competition a success. Finally, we would like to thank our parents for their continued encouragement and help throughout the course of our project.

Bibliography

http://www.onekindact.com/2007/01/19/random-acts-of-kindness-pass-it-on/

http://www.kindness.sg/explore/kindness-stories/kindness-made-my-day

http://kindness.sg/news-media/pr/singaporeans-im-kind-you-are-not