It’s 27th December. A bit too late for a Boxing Day post, but just in case, you have not thrown out your unwanted Christmas gifts, Abang wanted to just alert you of the different places or people that you might want to pass your gifts to.
But first, let Abang share with you a little bit of history on Boxing Day. The word Boxing in “Boxing Day” literally refers to the act of putting something into a box. Traditionally, it comes a day after Christmas, with the tradition of having Christmas gifts exchange on the 25th itself. Of course, when you exchange gifts with friends and relatives, there is a high chance that you may not get what you wanted. You may just end up boxing these unwanted gifts up before throwing them away the next day. In the olden times, the rich will end up gifting these boxes of unwanted gifts to their servants who will then pass these boxes of gifts to their own family members as Christmas gifts. As such, 26th December, a day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day.
Another thing to note about 26th December, apart from it being a boxing day, is that 17 years ago, the world witnessed the worst, most disastrous and tragic tsunami ever to hit Asia. It was caused by an undersea megathrust earthquake that registered a magnitude of 9.1-9.3 on the righter scale. Waves as high as 30 metres were said to have swept in parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and islands such as Phuket and the Maldives. Close to half a million people died, with another 1.7 million displaced. Humanitarian’s aid arrived in boxes and even containers almost immediately after the disaster. There were a lot of controversies surrounding the handling of food, medications and basic needs that arrived in the affected countries. There were reports that revealed that many of these items ended up not reaching the intended recipients who actually needed the basic necessities like food. Companies that offered help also exploited the tragedy by using it as a platform to promote their products. Abang remembers that there were a lot of companies that will advertise things like “OH… if you buy 6 cans of drinks, we will donate part of the proceeds to the victims of the flood”. Abang remember how disgusted Abang felt at that point of time- “Like how could you profit from people who have lost their lives, livelihood and also their family members?” To all those who have been affected by the tsunami, Abang offers Abang’s condolences and sympathy.
Now, this is the reason why abang writes the article. Abang hopes that as a society, we can be better and do better for the future generation. And with all these talks about going green and ensuring sustainability, Abang just hope that this particular post will provide more information of where you can pass your boxes of the so-called unwanted gifts to. Like what they say – a person’s trash may be someone else’s treasure. If you are in Singapore, the usual places that most people will drop their boxes at will be the Salvation army and the local churches. IF you feel that you want to look at elsewhere to drop your boxes, here are some possible places (where you can also ultimately help struggling artists like Abang);
One Bag, One Book.
This is an initiative started by an award-winning poet and a migrant worker, Zakir Hossain Khokan. Under this initiative you can drop off your unwanted books with Zakir, by making an appointment with him through the Official Facebook Page or email address: onebagonebook@gmail.com. These books are then distributed to the migrant workers, with the hope of improving literacy among our migrant workers and who knows, we may just help to produce the next award-winning poet or writer.
Singapore Really Really Free Market
This initiative aim to reduce waste in Singapore through upcycling and re-using. Their last programme involve collecting fashion waste, i.e. clothes and accessories. They had a fashion jamming, in which they got a bunch of crafters and individuals who sew to come together to collectively create an art work suing the fashion waste. To join in their events or drop off your unwanted fashion gifts, you may get in touch with them through their email- admin@post-museum.org
Arts Don’t Throw
This is Abang’s personal favourite Facebook group because personally, Abang have met very nice and kind-hearted people who have contributed to Abang theatre projects. From encyclopaedias to display projectors. The group have helped Abang to keep within the budget, and once Abang was done with the different theatre programme/ productions, Abang will pay it forward to another artists. So, if you have anything that is still looking good and you feel that those items that you got for Christmas are of no usage to you, you might want to consider giving the artists here your items. It would really help them a lot! All you need to do is to join the Facebook page and put up the photos of the items you are planning to give away.
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