(Photo by Donn Tan)
Tzu Chi Merit (Singapore) held its annual Tzu Chi Festive Charity Fair for 2024 on 27 & 28 January. This year, the theme of environmental protection remained, advocating the use of reusable cutlery, carrying one's reusable shopping bags, and not using plastics. Different from the past years, there was a new 'Best Green Booth' competition to encourage booth owners in the CNY goodies zone to tap into their creativity to protect the environment.
The ‘Best Green Booth’ award winner was announced at 4pm on 28 January 2024. The Gold Award was presented to the brown rice booth in the New Year goodies zone. Instead of using the common small paper cups, the booth leader, Heng Guan Hou, creatively served the cooked lemongrass brown rice using cylindrical holders made of banana leaves for the public to sample the food.
(Photo by Pua Poo Toong)
Heng Guan Hou shared that "banana leaves are often used in Malaysian and Indonesian cuisines. They are biodegradable and environmentally friendly and emit a unique fragrance, so we are killing two birds with one stone."
After learning about Tzu Chi in 2011, Heng Guan Hou started actively participating in Tzu Chi Festive Charity Fair and worked with Tzu Chi to sell healthy brown rice after the pandemic. He commended Tzu Chi's efforts in promoting vegetarianism and environmental protection. The years of experience participating in the fairs have increased his awareness of Tzu Chi's commitment towards conserving the environment.
A total of 36 merchandise booths took part in the competition. The other award winners included booth owner Singlong and Jing Si products.
Heng Guan Hou (second from left), person in charge of the brown rice booth that won the ‘Best Green Booth’ Gold Award, has been supporting Tzu Chi for many years. (Photo by Pua Poo Toong)
The 'Green Booth' Competition has fostered better communication between volunteers and merchants, raising awareness among business owners about the details of environmental protection. The judging criteria for the 'Best Green Booth' included ‘Recycling Enthusiasm’, ‘Order and Safety’, ‘Classification Accuracy’ and ‘Avoidance of Single-Use Packaging/Containers’, and the booth with the highest score was named the winner.
Results of the ‘Best Green Booth’ competition were announced and leaders of the three winning booths took a photo together. (Photo by Pua Poo Toong)
Drawing on past years’ experience, the environmental protection team made a change this year – instead of providing the vegetarian food stalls with three large plastic bags for general waste, recyclables and washed recyclables, the team replaced plastic bags with three large barrels with lids to reduce the use of plastic bags.
(Photo by Boey Cherk How)
At the fair, members of the public were also invited to join the environmental volunteers at the recyclables classification zone. Under the guidance of the volunteers, everyone learned and worked together to segregate the waste and recyclables.
(Photo by Boey Cherk How)
Two persons stood out in the large crowd in their Muslim clothing. It was the first time the two of them had taken part in the Tzu Chi Festive Charity Fair and they were very impressed by Tzu Chi's environmental practices.
(Photo by Pua Poo Toong)
Adam Foo, a Chinese Muslim, shared, "People are not quite motivated to promote environmental protection because they often think that Singapore is so small that it can create relatively little impact, but watching how Tzu Chi practises it in its activities has been inspiring." Adam Foo, who is also the President of the Muslim Converts' Association of Singapore (MCAS), commented that "religious education in Singapore regardless of faith is excellent, but it is more important to educate how it can be applied in life."
Jamilah Josephine, a Chinese Muslim, said that only plant-based food was served at the fair, so Muslims like them could consume the food too. She was shocked when she saw Tzu Chi's special dishwashing team. She said, "Tzu Chi is truly a role model when it comes to environmental protection. In Singapore, disposable cutlery is still used at many activities because the organisers find it most time-saving and convenient. Still, they forget that disposable cutlery is also the most harmful to the planet."
(Photo by Wong Eng Kiat)
This was the first time that environmental volunteer Gong Jian participated in the Tzu Chi Festive Charity Fair. Having moved to Punggol over a year ago, Gong Jian came across Tzu Chi's recycling points in the community. She agreed with Tzu Chi's environmental protection philosophy and decided to become a volunteer.
Gong Jian was thrilled to observe Tzu Chi's emphasis on environmental consciousness, particularly noting the reminder on the coupons to bring one’s lunch boxes and reusable bags for shopping and food packing, and felt that Tzu Chi has truly adopted the concept of environmental protection. So, on the day of the fair, she came to shop at the fair with her son and helper, bringing along their lunch boxes and cutlery.
Gong Jian said, "Not everyone has the habit of bringing their cutlery because we are all so used to others providing them. It is not difficult to develop the habit of bringing our utensils. You will not find it troublesome once you get used to it, and it can also help protect the earth. We will come here every year in future."
Lee Chin Wei, who resides in Ang Mo Kio, buys the charity fair coupons from his aunt every year to support Tzu Chi because his aunt is a Tzu Chi volunteer. Lee Chin Wei shared, “Listening to the songs, looking at the posters and the Bamboo Bank Eras at the fair can inspire our compassion and kindness. We rush about in daily life and tend to forget simple acts of kindness. This ambience serves as a good reminder for me.”
At the environmental protection booth, a group of youthful Tzu Chi Youths promoted the eco concept of 5R through their ingenious ‘fun fishing game’ and prizes. They encouraged visitors of all ages to participate in the activities to instil in them the urgency of implementing green practices.
Person-in-charge Tzu Chi Youth Christine Yeo explained, “There may be many people who are environmentally conscious but lack the ability to act. Through these simple games, we hope to motivate the participants to turn their knowledge into action.”
(Photo by Fong Kwai Kin)
On the stage, alongside the musical performances and singing of Tzu Chi songs, an enthralling play unfolded. This time, the play centered around the tale of the 'Dragon King' passing judgment on 'Ah Ren' (human beings) who has unconsciously harmed the earth and animals and committed various crimes.
(Photo by Alice Toh)
Roger Seen, the volunteer who conceived the stage play, said, “I hope to bring out the concept of environmental protection and vegetarianism through a light-hearted and interesting play.” To align with the theme of environmental protection, the costumes of all the actors were created from environmentally friendly recyclable materials.
(Photo by Tew Yu Rui)
Tzu Chi Festive Charity Fair is like an annual event where members of the public, merchants and volunteers gather to perform kind deeds and do their part for the earth through environmental protection and adopting vegetarianism to take care of their wellness.
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