14th September 2008, Sunday morning. Several Exco members and helpers crawled out of bed around 4.30am to start preparing for the WALK.  Goodie bags, drinking water, etc were loaded into cars and brought to Thong Nhat Park to be set up for the event. Thinking that arriving at 5.15am, there would not be many people around to jostle for space, we were surprised to find that scores of Vietnamese were already up and about with some playing badminton and others into their synchronized aerobic exercises.

Weeks prior to the event, the EXCO members got together to form the organizing committee and immediately set to start sourcing for sponsors for goodie bag items, donations as well as organizing the set up and line up of programs. The weekend leading to the event, the committee members and several kind volunteers gathered at Raffles International College to pack 800 goodie bags. Starting in the morning about 11am, a production line was formed and the bags were swiftly filled up. It took all of 3 hours, a lot of teamwork and the leadership of our SBAV president, Mr. Patrick Choy to get everything sorted out so quickly. We then organized to move the bags to his apartment for storage. At the end of the day, everyone was almost screaming in pain from the body aches after packing and moving the bags but it was a day well spent.

Participants for the WALK started trickling in way before the publicised starting time of 6.30am. The weather was good, turnout was fantastic and spirits were high.

Just after 7.00am, the event kicked off with 15 very enthusiastic pom-pom waving Sunny Lions (and Lionesses) giving the participants a high spirited and energetic aerobic demonstration. The team was made up of Great Eastern Life Vietnam’s staff who had volunteered for the demonstration. They hired a professional coach and put in hours of practice to deliver this high energy performance which further helped to elevate the already charged atmosphere at the park.

After the warm up exercises led by the team from Great Eastern, short speeches were delivered by the President of SBAV and Mr. Andrew Yeo, CEO of Great Eastern Life Vietnam (on behalf of all sponsors). 

By then, the participants were fully awake and all raring to go.  Ambassador T K Lim fired a confetti banger to kick start the WALK. One person who seemed to enjoy the event tremendously was Mr. Tan Boon Kheng of VSIP. He was appointed the "Dragon Head" and played the role to perfection. He led the participants throughout the 2.2km route at an appropriate leisurely pace and surprisingly, without getting lost.  He waved the SBAV flag like a pro and got the WALKers, especially the girls screaming in very high spirit.

While the WALK was in progress, Jason Phua and his band "The Addiction" got busy tuning their instruments in preparation to give the WALKers a rocking welcome as they completed the walk. The band took in 2 new ad hoc members especially for this event, Kelvin Gan the crooner from Raffles International College and Yeong Kiat the g-man from Great Eastern Life Vietnam.

Before long, our Dragon Head was sighted and the band banged straight into their opening number to celebrate the successful completion of the 2.2km WALK. Ample drinking water and free flow of iced coffee (sponsored by Nestle Vietnam) were provided for WALKers who stayed on to enjoy post WALK programs like quiz with attractive prizes from Great Eastern and great entertainment by “The Addiction”. Jason and Kelvin really got the audience going who, by the end of the day ended up joining the band on stage and dancing to the music and kept begging the band for more.

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the event, including the party who got zero business that day, the medical and emergency team from International SOS. 

Finally, a special note of thanks to Mr. Roger Lee from Raffles International College who designed the banners and backdrop and also volunteered as our photographer for the entire event.  

SBAV is glad that the Singapore community in Hanoi strongly supported this event.  A surplus of around US$14,000 is expected and this will enable the SBAV to embark on more social and charity programs in our host country.

Sponsor List
Ambassador and Mrs. T K Lim	- US$500
Great Eastern Life	- US$10,000
ST Telemedia	- US$1,000
Mr. Koo Chin Kit	- US$100
Jesskie, Rascal and Sweetie	- US$100
David and Nancy Arnsdorff	- US$100
Mr. Francis Tan	- VND2, 000,000
Mr. Ricky Cheong	- US$100
Mr. Lim Kok Hwa (GE Life)	- VND5, 000,000
Mr. Wong Seong Wei	- US$100
Mr. Wong Yew Siong	- US$100
Mr. Gary Chan	- US$200
Fortuna Hotel	- US$300
Hanoi Club	- US$200
VSIP JSC	- US$1,000
Jason Phua	- US$200 (band and sound systems)
Somerset Serviced Residence	- US$500
Mr. & Mrs. Isahak Mohd Ali	- US$100
Mr. Lim Choon Seng	- VND2, 000,000
Mr. Frankie Ang	- US$200
Mr. C S Ong	- US$100

Goodie Bag Sponsorship:
Raffles Int’l College	- 800 T-shirts
Hanoi May 19 Textile Group	- 800 cloth bags
DBS Vietnam	- 800 raincoats
Hatay Brewery	- 800 Tiger Beer baseball caps
Great Eastern Life	- 800 Sunny Lion soft toys
Genetic Computer School	- 800 hand folding fans
BSMart	- 800 bottles of drinking water
Halia Restaurant	- 800 packets of biscuits
Pan Horizon	- 800 face towels
International SOS	- On-site Medical and Emergency cover
Nestle Vietnam	- Iced coffee

In addition, RV! Centre Hanoi has donated a washing machine for the
orphans at Centre 3 and Mr. Kelvin Low of IAV has donated a high
resolution LCD projector for the residents of Hoa Binh Rehabilitation Centre

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