The zoo outing came about last year when my company, CSIT, wanted to identify beneficiaries for the funds raised from its charity fair. I happened to be in the organizing committee and the rest, as they said, is history.

In my six years of volunteering in MYG, I have not come across an outing organized at the MYG level as they are usually planned at the project level. Therefore, I was very keen to take on this and thus the outing was proposed to CSIT and Xiaoqi, who is the IC of MYG Family Day. I am thankful that they were very supportive. Acting as a liaison between the two organizations, I settled the administrative matters easily and the planning of the day's programs was tasked to the committee.

Besides providing sponsorship, one of CSIT's objectives in co-organizing the event is for staff exposure to volunteering work. As such, it recruited 30 staff who were attached to the different projects to help out. I conducted a preparation briefing to set their expectations and inform the dos and don'ts. Thankfully, throughout the outing, our fellow MYG volunteers were very helpful in guiding them. My colleagues commended on the great work MYG volunteers have done for the trainees and the time and effort they put in to integrate the trainees into the society. The outing was definitely an eye-opening experience for them.

As we anticipated 350+ turn up for the event, to minimize confusion, we decided to stay to project grouping during the zoo tour. It was only during lunch and prior to the animal show that games were organized to encourage interaction between the participants. It was a good arrangement as things were pretty well run although we could have likened a greater level of interaction.

I hope that this outing has been fun and memorable for MYGians and in addition, has created greater public awareness of people with intellectual disabilities. I myself was in turn, impressed by the helpfulness and excellent service of the zoo staff. Lastly, I hope that this outing is a good start in incorporating corporate sponsorship at MYG level where more trainees will benefit.