William Koh

Project luminaire 13 is definitely the most transformative experience I had in Y1. This trip with my best friends helping the community is something I doubt I will be able to experience ever again.

As Project Director, the planning was not easy. My nights were spent writing our proposal, tracking the finances and communicating with the countless stakeholders. However, at the end of the project, I look back at the work and effort put in and I can safely say that it was 100% worth it.

The best moment as a group was when we went to a small restaurant to eat which happened to have a Karaoke machine. Together we sang our favourite songs such as “Dancing Queen” and definitely made everyone more bonded.

With the community, I loved when we installed various lights to the community. One funny moment was when I placed the solar panel on the roof of the house but forgot to plug the wire to the light bulb. As a result, we spent an hour finding out why it wasn’t working only to realise it wasn’t connected. The community joked that I thought the solar panel was Bluetooth.

The days where we taught, cooked and played with the children still lingers in my mind till this day. On our culture day, which was the last day with the children, I loved playing country erasers with them and sharing about Singapore culture. When the students went home on our final day together, I felt proud knowing that we have made such a strong impact on their lives despite only being in the Philippines for 15 days.

Project Luminaire taught me so much about leadership as well. Before this project, I was quite shy and did not believe I had the ability to lead and communicate with others with clarity. During this project, I built these skills and now, I believe I have grown to become someone who is comfortable taking charge and leading others in projects.