{"id":12091,"date":"2026-02-02T11:37:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/?p=12091"},"modified":"2026-02-02T11:44:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:44:21","slug":"climbing-higher-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/communities-and-engagement\/climbing-higher-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Climbing Higher Together"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\u2190 Back to Story Listing<\/a><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Climbing Higher Together<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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CHAN Wing Kei, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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GEN2070 ComLink Befrienders is a service-learning course that partners with the nationwide ComLink+ initiative. The programme pairs students with lower-income families with children, where they build relationships through regular engagement and support the families in working towards greater stability, self-reliance, and long-term aspirations. I was prompted to take this course because I have always enjoyed working with children, as I find that we often have as much to learn from them as they do from us. Given my limited life experience as a university student, I also felt that this was the stage of life where I could make the most genuine impact by supporting and hopefully inspiring children during their formative years.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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As part of this program, I, along with four other NUS volunteers, engaged with and tutored children on a weekly basis over the course of a year. This experience has since become a meaningful part of our routines, a space where we could support, listen to, and grow alongside the children.<\/p>

Towards the end of our befriending journey, our group wanted to organise a special activity for the children \u2014 something meaningful, fun, and different from our usual sessions. We hoped to share an experience we ourselves had enjoyed before, that would challenge the children, allow them to learn something new, and create lasting memories together. We wanted it to be active and engaging, rather than purely educational, since our regular sessions already involved plenty of homework and tutoring. Above all, we wanted the children to have a relaxing, enjoyable day where they could play, bond, and simply be kids. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The challenge, however, was finding an activity that could accommodate our large and diverse group, as the children\u2019s ages spanned from 7 to 18 years old, with attendance ranging from 10 to 15 each week. It was therefore important to us that the activity could be enjoyed by everyone. After much brainstorming and discussion, our family coach suggested a nearby climbing gym. We immediately loved the idea. Climbing was safe, physically engaging, and something that could challenge the children in new ways while allowing them to support one another. Knowing how much the children enjoyed our weekly football games, we were confident this would appeal to their love of physical activity and teamwork.<\/p>

After we had gotten the approval from our tutors, we immediately threw ourselves into planning the activity. Coordinating the logistics turned out to be trickier than expected. Between the volunteers\u2019 and children\u2019s schedules, securing a time slot when everyone could attend was difficult. With multiple rounds of communication and adjustments, we managed to pull everything together. When the day of the outing finally arrived, the excitement was palpable. The children were buzzing with energy, especially since they knew this would be our final activity together. Many had never tried climbing or bouldering before, so this was an entirely new adventure.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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After the safety briefing, the children wasted no time getting started. The volunteers assisted wherever we could, helping the kids secure their harnesses, adjusting ropes, and offering words of encouragement. The first few attempts were challenging for most of them; many slipped off the wall or hesitated midway, but it was inspiring to watch them persevere. With each try, they climbed higher, learning to trust both their own strength and the supportive cheers from their friends and us volunteers. Some of the younger ones displayed remarkable courage. Despite their initial fear, they refused to give up. With steady encouragement, they were all able to complete their climbs and reach the top. Soon, the kids began inviting us volunteers to join in and what followed were friendly races up the climbing walls. The gym echoed with cheers and laughter as each child celebrated their own little victories. For an hour and a half, time seemed to fly by. By the time our session ended, many of the children were still asking if they could stay longer.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Children learning the ropes\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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After returning the gear, our family coaches surprised the children with ice-cream to round off the day. Sitting together over our treats, we chatted and reminisced about the past year as we bid our final farewells. Over the course of a year, we had the immense privilege of witnessing the children transform from shy and reserved, to confident, expressive, and curious individuals.
Just like on the climbing wall, the befriending journey was filled with moments of challenge, learning, and growth. In the beginning, many of the children were hesitant to open up, just as they had been nervous to take their first steps onto the wall. But with steady encouragement and consistent support, they grew more confident, learning to trust themselves and those around them. Each week, as they tackled academic and personal challenges, we saw the same perseverance and courage that they showed while climbing: pausing to take breaks when things got tough, but bouncing back stronger to try again until they reached the top. By the end of our year together, they were not only more comfortable expressing themselves, but also more willing to uplift each other, celebrating one another\u2019s small victories as they had done in the climbing gym.<\/p>

Personally, our weekly sessions showed me that small and steady acts can have a quiet but profound impact on someone else\u2019s life. By showing up consistently, listening actively, and offering small gestures of support, trust and connection naturally take root, allowing genuine relationships to grow over time. I am therefore immensely grateful that we were able to pull off the climbing activity, as it felt like a symbolic and meaningful way to conclude our journey with the children. Overall, GEN2070 has been a truly transformative and enriching experience, one that has broadened my perspective and strengthened my commitment to serving the community. Most importantly, I feel hopeful that through our time together, we have created a space where the children could challenge themselves, support one another, and recognise their own potential.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u2190 Back to Story Listing<\/a><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

XIE Jiarong recounts how his journeying with his befriendees through heartfelt engagement and creative workshops led to a deeper reflection on his own personal journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":12092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12091"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12178,"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12091\/revisions\/12178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nus.edu.sg\/nuscares\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}