Julia Tan (Chen Ruijun), 15

School: St. Margaret's School (Secondary)

Topic: An email on a VIA project to honour deceased donors

Award: Distinction, Senior Category, 2024

Dear Sir,

I am writing on behalf of the Student Council Executive to propose a Values-in-Action (VIA) project to honor deceased organ donors. I believe this initiative will benefit the school population and spread awareness on the importance of this topic.

During a family gathering at my relatives’ place, I learnt from my aunt about the legacy my grandmother left behind through an act of organ donation. She showed me a jar of paper stars folded by students to honour deceased organ donors. I was deeply touched by this and saw how much the jar meant to my aunt as it reminded her of how my grandmother was able to change someone else's life for the better. Thus, I believe that more awareness should be raised about this topic. It also doubles as an opportunity to show our support to deceased organ donors and their families.

I would like to propose a tribute initiative for the VIA project, in the form of a picture book competition and storytelling sessions. Students can enter in groups of three to six and work together to write and illustrate a picture book that relates to the topic of organ donation. The book can portray the struggles faced by the people in need of certain organs, as well as the sacrifice made by organ donors in order to help these patients. It can even show a glimpse of the jar of stars initiative that honours organ donors. The story can be written in the form of a narrative that highlights the impact the act of organ donation has made on people such as the patient, the organ donor, and even the families. The top five best written and illustrated books can go on to be refined and edited by the English teachers. These books can be featured in the school library or available digitally on the student website. I believe these books will be able to help students understand more about organ transplant and organ donors. As this topic may be complex, the idea of using pictures to tell a story will simplify the concept and make it engaging to the audience.

Aside from sharing the books with the student population, the books can be part of a project to give back to the community. Classes can be sent for VIA projects. After deciding on one book out of the five, each class will prepare to tell the story to primary school students after the planning stage. The class can go to the National Library to conduct storytelling sessions for the children. The story can be told in different forms, through acting out the story, asking the children questions and even utilising props when narrating. Alongside the storytelling, the students can also teach the primary school children to fold the paper stars that act as a tribute to honour deceased organ donors. This project teaches younger audiences on this topic and allows children to better understand and appreciate organ donors. It may convince children to also donate their organs in the future after seeing the changes that it can have on others’ lives. For parents, who may be heavily against their children donating their organs to strangers, they will get to experience the wonderful impact it has on patients, and may even change their way of thinking. These activities could cause them to look past their opinions towards it, and they may even encourage their children and other family members to contribute to this cause. The activity of folding stars allows children to contribute to the legacy left by deceased organ donors as these can be given to the family members of those deceased organ donors. This lets children know that they can help make an impact, even through small actions. Furthermore, this project will benefit the student population as the students will have to research on organ transplant to be adequately prepared to educate and engage others. Through this, they will come to better appreciate these individuals and may be influenced to donate their organs as well in the future. They also get a chance to give back to the community telling stories at the library. It would be a beneficial and eye-opening experience for students, children and parents alike.

I believe deceased organ donation is extremely important and there should be more appreciation for the selflessness of these people as patients go through many struggles in their everyday life due to organ failure. Giving them a chance of living a normal healthy life is very generous of donors and their families. Organ donation is not a trivial matter and comes with great sacrifices and risks, hence appreciating donors is a gesture of gratitude and respect. Additionally, it provides support to the families of deceased organ donors as they are able to see the significant impact of the donation and may feel comforted by the fact that the sacrifice of their loved one was able to save someone else. Lastly, honouring donors celebrates this act of kindness and shows the impact that has been made beyond just the patient and their family members. This creates a legacy and encourages others to follow in the footsteps of these altruistic members of the community.

I hope you consider the impacts this project would have and its beneficiaries beyond the students and deceased organ donors. I feel this topic is not commonly shared and should be brought to individuals’ attention. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Julia Tan
Secondary 3 Gentleness
St. Margaret's School (Secondary)

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2024 are those of the participants and are not endorsed by the National Organ Transplant Unit (Ministry of Health).

To learn more about organ donation and organ transplantation in Singapore, please visit www.liveon.gov.sg