Hello, Friend.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” – CS Lewis

Often, we remember the hardest moments in life as times when we feel most alone. We glance towards the end goal somewhere far, far away and then look down at what we have in our hands. It probably doesn't look like we are ever going to achieve much.

When things don’t really go our way, or when we just had a rough day trying to convince others of what we see and believe in, sometimes we just need an encouraging tap on the shoulder or a knowing smile that goes: “Me too, my friend, me too.”

And yet, coming together is never easy. The initial stages of fostering a community look like the scaffolding of an incomplete building. It’s a work-in-progress, with metal poles, wooden planks and green nets towering everywhere. Huge ugly machines moving random things that are seemingly unimportant. It’s dusty, raw and chaotic.

You can’t see the complete picture just yet, but this is a necessary stage for us to finish strong and build a foundation firm enough for social enterprises to leave their own legacy as one eventual, big kampong.

The recent gathering from raiSE is one such example.

Walking the talk, participants question and leverage on what they know and have to bridge gaps. It is not just about solving the problem, but also exploring what we can join hands to paint the bigger picture. An example would be collaborating together to enter the overseas market (say, ASEAN?) as a whole. With sustainable social impact as a common goal, we can cut off unnecessary administrative costs and overlapping projects.

Big dreams start small, and every hand matters.