Singapore

On July 8, Golden Year 3 (2006), Singapore Center organized an Alternative Living road show at the HDB Hub, the headquarters of the Housing and Development Board of Singapore (HDB) located at the Toa Payoh New Town. The HDB Hub is a central location of Toa Payoh and frequented by many inhabitants and shoppers, an ideal venue to share our beloved Master’s Alternative Living message.

The road show lasted the entire day: from 10 am to 10 pm. The rented area was simply yet beautifully decorated with Master’s photos, lamps, paintings, and some potted plants. We set up three television sets to play the video “Seeds For a Better World,” previously made available to us by the Vegetarian Society of Singapore (VSS). We also set up a computer to play a slide show featuring famous vegetarians. Furthermore, we not only shared the good aspects and nutritious value of the vegetarian diet with the public but also directed them to interesting vegetarian caterers.

Meanwhile, the VSS was organizing and getting ready to kickoff the 10-day “Singapore Meat Out” (SMO) campaign due to take place from July 22-30. This was the second year that they were organizing this event. There would be a SMO Gala Dinner - Art of Healthful Cuisine - to start off with and various other activities were being planned to encourage more people to switch to a plant-based diet (www.singaporemeatout.org). In support of the VSS’ good deeds, we happily helped them sell their SMO Gala Dinner tickets.

For the road show, our booth was located at the atrium, the central area of the HDB Hub. The atrium space was rented out to vendors selling various goods; there were many shops and kiosks flanking on both sides of the atrium. Throughout the day, there was a constant crowd streaming into the area to browse and shop around.

One gentleman visited our booth before the actual opening time. He browsed through the materials, Master’s photos and paintings, and picked up a couple of articles. Afterward, he was much engrossed in watching the video, later he returned to watch it for the second time.

We also noticed that a stall owner selling clothing and hair accessories opposite our booth was more interested in watching the video than entertaining his customers. Among the many visitors, there were two friendly and kind middle-aged vegetarian women who were rather glad to realize that we were promoting vegetarianism. One of them was actually a vegetarian food-stall owner; they took more flyers to distribute among their friends. They thanked and encouraged us to carry on with our mission in Singapore.

As the bus interchange was nearby, quite a few bus drivers visited our booth to watch the video during their break. One Indian bus driver watched the video for the entire period of his break; he told a sister that he wished to become a vegetarian but was still eating chicken. So, we encouraged him to switch to the vegetarian diet by increasing the number of vegetarian meals day by day. We also gave him more information on why one should be vegetarian.

Another lady told us that she had watched the video before; she felt despaired and cried a lot for the unnecessary suffering inflicted upon animals, so she has stopped eating meat since then. An initiate gave her a sticker, with cute animals and the tag line: “Love Us, Not Eat Us! All Lives Are Precious,” printed on it, which could serve as a reminder for her not to go back to her meat-eating habits.

Later in the afternoon, one of our initiates noticed a little girl whose eyes were filled with tears while watching the video. She was holding onto her father’s hand, whilst her mother was standing nearby. At the end of the video clip, our initiate approached them and tried to comfort the little girl. The father mentioned that he and his wife were wondering whether or not to allow their daughter to see how animals suffer, but they did. The video definitely moved the innate compassion of the innocent child. Seeing their daughter being so moved by the video, the parents’ eyes were somewhat teary and reddish as well. The father further explained that in fact, recently they have started paying more attention to what they were eating. To help them ease into a healthy vegetarian diet, we gave them a set of all the materials on display, comprising of the flyer, recommended booklist and articles from Master’s magazine, which contain information regarding the multiple benefits of being vegetarian, and also refers to various informative and educational websites to learn more about the positive impact of the vegetarian lifestyle.

During the early evening, an Indian lady came by, intrigued by the Alternative Living and famous vegetarian banners on display. She was interested to learn more about our campaign and our Master. Our fellow initiate thus shared more information about the Quan Yin Method of meditation and Master with her. We also gave her a sample booklet and various articles and flyers. Before she left, she said, “I knew there was a purpose of me coming down here!” She actually owned a shop upstairs in the mall.

Throughout the entire day and evening, fellow initiates distributed flyers at the HDB Hub complex. Almost all the members of the public were clutching a flyer in their hands. We felt great since the entire atmosphere was filled with love and blessing power from our beloved Master!

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