World Habitat Day is on the first Monday of October. There are many countries in the world whose citizens live in poor conditions. Due to the high cost of living in some areas, the poor and needy end up living in slums and squatters, making these places overcrowded. As a result, many people are homeless.

Hence this year’s World Habitat Day on 5 October will be on “Planning Our Urban Future”. So how can we do to help?

1. Advocate – Submit a photo of yourself holding a sign that says “It all starts from home”.

2. Educate – Spread the word!

3. Donate – Help support and make the world a better place!

For more information, please refer to World Habitat Day news for the full range of photos, how you can help and videos.

Please help out the poor and needy and spread the word to reach out to more people!

On Saturday Mr D'Cruz and I went to Crocs warehouse somewhere around Changi Industrial Park to participate in a shoe project under Habitat for Humanity. We have to sort out used (and new) Crocs by matching them with the exact size, design and colour, stringing them, cleaning, as well as sorting out the "lone rangers".

It was a pretty fruitful day being involved with all those Crocs. There were even non-Crocs and other brands of shoes. All the shoes that could not be matched were put aside, and sorted according to colour and design. The organiser told us that if we could find one of the same design and colour for both feet, with just a bit of a size difference, would also be matched up.

Next step was to match by designs. So if we found a shoe that was blue, and another shoe for the other foot that was red of the same size, all we needed to do was to exchange the straps so they too became a pair. Pretty innovative! Seeing all those shoes without a match and how the shoes were matched, somehow I had an epiphany :

1. Not everything has a perfect match.
2. At times, when you were searching hard for a match, the perfect match could be just in front of you.
3. Some are lucky to be matched from the beginning, others take a while longer.
4. Sometimes it needs some tweaking and mixing before a pair can be matched.
5. If there is no perfect match, the next best is one that is most similar.
6. Some remain single until the end.

Amazing what one learns just from sorting out shoes! This shows that anything can be a lesson, no matter how trivial. I am glad I went for that activity, got to help others and learn about life at the same time!

In life, one should adhere to the motto, "Live simply but give generously". So when natural disasters are abundant, one should help as much as one can. So why show favouritism? Are the people of one country more worthy to save and help as compared to another country? In the situation between Sichuan and Myanmar, both places suffered casualties. Yet from what I know, more are willing to help the former than the latter. If one is really willing to help, why not help both? Why choose one? Imagine if we are in the shoes of the victims. How would we feel if we realise that people are not willing to help us yet turn around and help someone from another country instead?

It has been a few weeks of heavy rainstorms off and on. Apparently, this is the wettest and coolest March in seventy-four years. The climate is getting crazy indeed, with the seasons being pretty messed up in the temperate areas. Thus, please lend support to the environment and the children at the same time from 1st April onwards, at all Jollibean outlets except, CK Tang, Lot 1, Harbour Front Centre, People's Park and Tanjong Pagar MRT!