A Comprehensible Affection: The REPORT!

Disclaimer: This is a report I wrote for my club so it’ll be long-ish and detail-ish. The details are not that accurate as I wasn’t at the hall at all times/wasn’t paying attention. So, skip the writings and to the pictures you may. =)

It’s that time of the year again where people gather together on the last Thursday of November for a memorable thanksgiving night. This year 2009, thanksgiving falls on the 26^th of November.

Less than 2 months ago, a newly formed club, American Eagle did not plan to just sit silently and witness this exciting day turn mundane. Collaborating with the Techno Science club, another club of the ADP department had made the organizing of an exhilarating thanksgiving dinner with Charity as the theme, an absolute success.

The clock on the wall showed 5 o’clock, when the preparations were almost done. A little bit more decorations to be put up and some band rehearsals would make it complete.

Half an hour later at 5.30pm, the invited children from the Nur Salam orphanage arrived at the entrance of the hall of HELP’s residence where the thanksgiving dinner was held. They eagerly formed a line before the reception counter to receive a goody bag each, which was kindly sponsored by UNICEF, before swarming into the hall adorned with colorful balloons and ribbons.

While the children were being seated at their respective tables, chattering and giggling away, the committee members were busy ushering guests and VIPs who arrived a little later.

At 6 o’clock sharp, hosts Shannon Goh and Michael Campton put a halt to the cacophony and cheered up the guests with their jokes before moving on to the welcoming speeches.

The thanksgiving dinner officially started after our very own Head of Department Mr. Ho; Ms Rani, the advisor of American Eagle Club; and Edwin Low the president gave their respective speeches on the stage. The long awaited dinner was then served after 3 lucky draw prizes were given out to the lucky ones.

While the children queued up for the food, bands and performers were getting prepared to give the large crowd a mind-blowing performance.

First up was a sexy modern jazz performance by 2 girls, donned in vests and fedoras, popping and locking to the beats of the music, which ended a few minutes later with a thundering applause.

Followed up was a singing and acoustic performance by Green Eggs and Ham. Despite being occupied relishing the wonderful dishes the buffet had offered, the audience sportingly took some time off the food and swayed to the rhythms of “Use Somebody”, a song by King Of Leon and “Chasing Cars”, a catchy song by Snow Patrol, which were performed.

Up next, there were interesting activities and amazing prizes up for grabs for the kids, now that their tummies were satisfied. Standing side by side, the kids were given deflated balloons each. In order to get the prize, they had to compete among themselves to be the first to inflate and pop the balloon. It was so much fun seeing how those little kids struggled to keep the balloons in place and pop them.

The next activity was even more exciting as it involved toilet tissue wrapping. After the kids were broken down into 3 groups and provided with toilet rolls, they embarked on a frantic search for a subject to wrap. Michael Campton, the host was held victim by the first group and was stuffed with toilet papers to look like a pregnant lady. Although the activity ended in massive mess, it was worthwhile to see how much creativity was brought into play by the children with just wrapping alone.

The last activity for the children was singing performance. Prizes were to be given to those who had courage to sing a song in front of the audience. Those who love singing started whispering ear to ear for an agreement of a suitable song before heading to the stage. Soon, melodious voices sounded across the hall as the kids swayed their body and sang to every word of their favourite song. The audience was utterly awed and mesmerized by the kids’ performances.

Finally, the last performance for the night was by the ministers of comedy. As they performed, Aunty May went from table to table, gesturing the audience to clap to the beat and kept the party going. When that could not make the night any merrier, she decided to invite people from tables to have a dance with her on the stage. Aunty May definitely made the audience choked with laughter.

Before the night was brought to an end, hampers were given out to the Nur Salam orphanage as charity, which was the theme of the dinner. Another session of lucky draw ensued, which brought the audience to attention. This time round, the lucky draw prizes were bigger, eventually bringing more joy to the lucky ones and greater disappointment to those whose numbers were not being called upon.

The night came to an official close right after the lucky draw.

OKAY! Pictures Time!