Ex-offenders celebrate start of new life with Yellow Ribbon Concert

SINGAPORE: It was a thanksgiving of sorts, as ex-offenders and
inmates, wishing to turn over a new leaf, staged a concert on Friday evening to celebrate the beginning of a new life.
The Yellow Ribbon Concert at the Singapore Expo celebrated "New Hope, New Dreams".
Hope, forgiveness and second chances were the recurring themes at the concert, and giving the performers their full support and motivation were local celebrities like Koh Chieng Mun, Mark Lee, Jai and Project Superstar winners.
This concert is part of the Yellow Ribbon Project.
This year's campaign, spread over the month of September, encourages the community to give ex-offenders a chance to re-start their lives. - CNA /dt

The expo was out of the way from my school which was the far west of Singapore and my home , in the north of Singapore. I believe it was also out of the way for most of the thousands who turned up for the event last Friday. And yet the hall was almost filled with ex offenders, their family and friends. I was there with an ex offender, and he seemed hopeful and grateful to the masses who had turned up and the organisers of the event.The highlight of the event for me was when I witnessed a performance; a song item dedicated to his daughter, by an ex offender. The man is immensely talented, to the amusement of a friend who exclaimed, " they all seem to be so musically inclined" Obviously,this wasnt the first time we had wtnessed such talent in offenders.

Not all offenders are 'bad people'. Circumstances shape the events in all our lives, I suppose the circumstances in their lives were just not favourable.I serve at the Kaki Bukit prison school and what I see there every Saturday is very different from what one would expect to see in a prison. In terms of contributing to the economy and the society as a whole, I should elucidate at this point that many of are talented and capable of cognitive operation.I suggested to my school mates that working with a prison for our social service project would be an eye opener, but I was met with a number of unconvinced faces. These guys are not as evil or crazy as you think they are. The unknown breeds 2 things ; curiosity and fear. Dont be the fearful one; come and see for yourself. Be curious..and thy curiosity shall be duly rewarded..