Thanks Ting from the List This is the article from "SALT" magazine which I felt rather meaningful and would like to share with you guys by typing it out. *Thanks to Airene for the scanned article.* ------------------------------------------------------------- Kit Chan's Worldly Vision Away from the bright stage lights, the glitzy costumes and showbiz glamour, Kit Chan makes her fame work for another passion - "heart work". DAVEN WU speaks to Singapore's famous songbird and uncovers her life ambition. During her secondary school days, Kit Chan and her friends would visit old folks' homes and sing a few Cantonese songs for the residents. "I think music always makes people happy," she says, simply. Ever since she can remember, Kit has felt a need to give from what seemed like abundance in her own life. Chatting with her, you get a very real sense of the determined drive and spirit that she brings to all her projects. Today, the vivacious 31 year-old top selling recording star continues to astonish with the spread and depth of her work. With more strings in her bow then your average Stradivarius, she moves fluidly from stage to the recording studio to composing poetry. And though she's perhaps best known as a singer (she played Empress Tzu Tsi in the Forbidden City musical), it's been her work with World Vision that has brought her a wider audience. Her involvement with World Vision was "quite serendipitous". A keen supporter of World Vision's activities in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Kit never knew there was a Singapore chapter until she heard that World Vision was looking to work with a local Singaporean artiste to promote awareness of its activities in Singapore. "I didn't even know they were in Singapore and I said, right, they needed to do something about their publicity!" Though Kit was only originally supposed to sing the theme song for the media campaign, she quickly impressed upon World Vision that she wanted to be more than just a 'face' for them. "One of my ambitions growing up was to be a humanitarian worker. When World Vision came along, I jumped at the opportunity. I told them I was interested, but interested in a major way." And that was ow she found herself filming in famine stricken Ethiopia in 2000. The promotional documentary was to help raise awareness of the hardships in the country. Kit also spent time on a community service project in Cambodia, working with the 21 Singaporean youths to build playgrounds and toilets for the local primary school. Cliche or not, she found her experience "very inspiring". "Working with the World Vision touched me as a human being because it was hands-on. When you're involved hands-on, it's a win-win situation," she says, brightly. "The giver always wins as well. Cambodia, especially, was an amazing experience." Since then, Kit has continued to lend her name to charity and fundraising events even as she laments the restrictions of her already frantically busy schedule. When we spoke to Kit, she was right smack in a concert engagement in Taipei. "I wish I had more time to do more volunteer work," she says. "Sometimes you suppress the urge to volunteer. Sometimes, you forget it's there. I look forward to the day when I can be a 'normal' volunteer minus the celebrity status because I believe it will be a most enriching and fulfilling experience." Obviously, Kit is very much in demand as a 'face' to front an event or to raise exposure , but she has become more discerning, often relying on her instinct to decide which event might hold more meaning for her. "There were occasions in my early working life when I worked with charities and did not know what I was working, or what cause I was doing it for. You just showed up and I hate that. But now that I have more control of my career, I require a lot more information beforehand." "I want to know more about the objectives of the event, what it's about. Because this affects my motivation - I need to be able to say something meaningful to help the cause. Is my presence going to assist?" In that sense, it's not always necessarily about giving money, rather it's the process of spreading a particular message even if it is, say, a magazine interview such as this. And in a world that has become so complicated and frenetic that we needed to coin the notion of 24/7 to deal with it, it also comes down to prioritising. Amid office deadlines and family demands, exactly where, when and how does one indulge any nascent giving leanings? Formany people, it involves writing a monthly cheque and hoping that when things calm down, they can do a little more. "I think that's fair," Kit points out. Her position is you donate what you feel comfortable with, be it your time or money. And every little bit counts. Although many of us may feel that we can't do much, Kit isn't buying any of it. "It is a lot of use. You think you can't help, but think again. Even a donation of a dollar is significant in a country like Ethiopia where a father with a family earns US$1 a month." Think what a $10 donation can achieve, she challenges. If this strikes some as Kit Chan wearing her heart on her sleeve, then so be it. You get the distinct impression that she doesn't care, that she came to the realisation a long time ago that it's not about what other people think, but about doing right on her own terms. And in doing the right thing, positive harmonies are generated - for the individual, for the recipient and for society as a whole. "I do think that people are discontended," she says. "But when you volunteer, you see people who have so much less than you are, who are needy financially or physically. Then you realise how blessed you are. Sometimes you need to be reminded." "To me, the sign of a civilised society is not just the GDP. There are many ways to measure civilisation. Charity work is one of them and in many ways, we're not civilised!" Kit Chan is under no illusions that charity work is easy. She's met her fair share of workers in the filed who have felt like giving up, but somehow, manage to regain their hope, often as a result of meeting one of the beneficiaries of their work. "Everyone needs encouragement and affirmation of their work. But sometimes it's difficult to help people. You actually feel shy because often you're an outsider. You just force yourself. It takes a little courage to cross that barrier," she says. And if the past is any indicator, courage seems to be just another by-product of Kit Chan's passion for volunteer work. --

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