Report on Racial Harmony Day 2009

Racial Harmony Day was held in RI on 21 July 2009. The theme for this year was 'Know Your Neighbours Better'. With that theme in mind, RPA set up 3 food stalls in 3 different cuisines, namely, Thai, Indonesian and Peranakan, for students to try.

Dishes like the popular pineapple rice, mango salad and green chicken curry, served together with tropical fruits from Thailand, were featured in the Thai food stall. The Indonesian stall served favourites like ayam penyet (fried chicken dish), sayor lodeh (mixed vegetables in curry) and lemak rice. For dessert, salak fruit (fruit with snake-like skin) and cakes were served. The Peranakan stall offered the ever-tantalising ayam buah keluak (chicken with nut paste), prawn kerabu (a salad with herbs), nonya chap chye (mixed vegetables) and Satay Bohong (a pork dish). The dessert was pulot hitam (black rice).

Reported by: Goh Swee Hong

Edited by: Serene Khoo

Report on 2009 RI Open House

RI Open House, conducted on 23 May 2009, was to give future Rafflesians and parents an opportunity to visit the school and get to know the school better.

RPA was actively involved in the RI Open House. We pooled together a total of 30 parent volunteers to help the school in meeting with the visiting parents. We set up a cosy corner outside of the hall where drinks and light refreshment were served, and we called this our RPA Kopitiam. The RPA Kopitiam became a gathering point for visiting parents to chat with the parent volunteers.

The visiting parents were most concerned with issues such as stress and pressure, school activities, DSA and the school environment. The parent volunteers tried their best to address their concerns and also shared their own experience as parents of Rafflesians.

We received positive feedback from the parents. Most of them were happy with the chat session with RPA parent volunteers at the Kopitiam. Majority indicated interest in sending their children to study in RI and many indicated that they would join RPA if their children study in RI.

One area we could improve was to make sure there were sufficient drinks at all time. Our drinks ran out when a big crowd gathered at the Kopitiam after the Principal’s talk.

There is however one comments regarding booths setup. The parent felt that there should be other types of booths such as Subject booth, Academic programs (e.g. RA), besides the CCA booths.

Reported by : Gabriel Ng

Edited by : Julie Chew

Report on 2009 ORA Family Day

This year the ORA Family Day was held on April 18. RPA set up a food staff to help raise fund for the school. We sold delicacies prepared by our very own RPA members. The main offering from our stall was Japanese cuisine - California Handroll and Katsudon; authentic Indian food was also served, along with muffins, brownies and bread.

The main coordinator for our food stall was none other than our famous in-house chef – Goh Swee Hong. She planned the menu, bought the ingredients and taught all the helpers how to prepare the Japanese dishes. The Japanese food proved to be a hit and was sold out. VP Kenneth Kwok patronised our stall more than once to savour the yummy food.

Special thanks to Mrs Kusuma Verma who got up as early as 5am to whip up two authentic Indian dishes - Chole and Puri. Both Mr and Mrs Verma were helping at the stall with us the whole morning. Those who tasted the home-cooked Chole and Puri fedback that they were very delicious. Thanks for the great spirit - the Vermas!

RPA would like to express a big thank you to all members who volunteered their time to help out at our stall as well as those who contributed food items and/or cash.

We sure had a lot fun and satisfaction that day! Hope you could join us in our next event.