Organised by five different unions – Young Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees’ Union (BATU), Young Chemical Industries Employees’ Union (CIEU), Young United Workers of Electronics and Electrical Industries (UWEEI), Young United Workers of Petroleum Industry (UWPI) and Young Singapore Refining Company Employees’ Union (SRCEU) members, representing the Industrial sector engaged youth members and saw them complete the Sisters’ Island Survivor Challenge!

Participants bonded over a series of witty games from gathering sticks and starting a fire, meals and simply time spent together! Initially planned for a simple bonding session involving the committee blossomed into one involving some 50 participants and strong bonds forged thereafter.

“Hands down the best camp experience I have had in a long time. The camp was very different from the usual ones. There was no power socket around, we have to set up our very own camp fire and cook our food with it,” shares Peiling, one of the participants at the camp from Young BATU.  She shares that she finds the experience similar to that being on ‘Survivor!’ the reality TV programme.

Peiling also opined that she hopes there will be more of such events organised as she found it a great opportunity to know more like-minded individuals. Through the camp, Peiling found new friends and had even planned to trek Mount Fuji together next year!   

“The opportunity to come together, to participate and bond doesn’t come easy for us in the industrial sector due to the nature of our work and commitments,” shared Ansari from Young UWEEI who was also part of the organising committee for the event.  The greatest takeaway that he has completing this event is being able to deepen relations with the committee within the sector on top of identifying potential youth leaders amongst the members.

Like all other events, this is not one without its challenges.

“The biggest challenge we faced in organising is getting the members to participate and get together for the event. Most of our youth members are on a shift schedule and therefore unable to commit to the timing, however working with the various young union leaders helped me persevere and I am proud to say that the event we put together was quite a success!” commented Ansari when he shared the challenges faced in putting the event together - overcoming the challenges as a team made the event more meaningful and significant.

The event also saw a video tribute to Sis Irda, as she is affectionately called, the Vice Chairperson of the committee who organised the Survivor Sisters’ Island Challenge. Termed the heartbeat of the Industrial Sector, Sis Irda was not an unfamiliar name amongst the participants.

When asked whether there were any plans in the pipeline for upcoming events, Ansari assures that there definitely is and to stay tuned!