DO women make better neighbours than men? Maybe they do, if this year's awards are any indication.
At the Good Neighbour Award ceremony on Friday night, they clearly took centrestage - nine of the 11 national recipients were female.
Organised for the second year by the Housing Board (HDB) and the People's Association, the awards received more than 2,500 entries, with roughly equal numbers for the open and the student categories. The latter was started this year to promote neighbourliness among youth.
The youngest winner, from the student category, was primary school pupil Nur Darwisyah Durrani Mohamad Yusof, 9.
She helps to keep her neighbours' shoes in the shoe-rack when common corridors are being washed, among other things.
'When my sisters are unhappy, she would bring her pet rabbit to let them play with it,' said neighbour Sumaiya Parween Mohd Sadiq, 11.
6 youths receive Good Neighbour Award
By Mustafa Shafawi / Dylan Loh | Posted: 26 November 2010 2239 hrs
SINGAPORE: Six
youths from primary and secondary schools were among 11 people
recognised on Friday as "good neighbours" for going the extra mile to
care for their community.
They won the award under the Student
category, introduced for the first time this year by the National
Development Ministry.
13-year-old Cheyenne Chong impressed the
panel in the way she mobilised her community to search for her
neighbour's missing dog.
Although they were unable to find the
dog, what she did touched the hearts of many in her block and pulled
them closer together as a community.
Another young recipient,
11-year-old Tan Yu Yun, keeps a blog of her experiences in helping her
neighbours, in order to inspire her friends to do the same.
Senior
Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu, who presented them
with the awards, said while these may be simple acts, what these young
award recipients did make an impact on their community.
She said
they brought the community closer together and inspired others to be
good neighbours.
She added that in high density housing estates,
consideration for others is more critical than ever.
Citing a
recent example, Ms Fu related how a ceiling leak that originated from
the upper floor couldn't be fixed as the upper floor neighbour refused
to allow the repair works to proceed.
-CNA/ac