AMAZING RACE turned into AMAZING GRACE!

Easter is a long weekend in Singapore and a time for the family to enjoy a bonding time together. 80 participants in 17 cars complete with maps, drinking water, running shoes and food set off from East Coast Park. They were reminded to keep safe and not drive beyond the speed limit! All participants were in high spirits and competitive moods. Children were excited and their doting parents tried to calm them down. Each car had to read a set of instructions containing only clues and fathom which order to visit each pit stop of the journey. There were 6 different stops taking them all over Singapore! From assembling a kite and flying it in the sky for at least one minute to setting up a fish rod to fish for a big catch! Those that were experienced at catching fish definitely had an advantage. Almost every team got delayed at the fishing pond.

There was also a treacherous challenging outward bound course and a mind bender Sudoku. But first you had to identify the location under a bridge. This was something for all ages. One of the participants said it was exhausting, inspiring and heaps of fun. A couple of other pit stops involved packing a gift box for a needy child and visiting a grumpy chef in his restaurant to find out the next clue.

At $100 a car load, this was money well spent. The proceeds all went to a Mercy Teams project for Burmese refugee children.

At the conclusion of the day prizes were awarded to the winners. Surprisingly a family with young children won and prizes were awarded to a few other cars too. Generous corporate donors had given these gifts as their contribution. Afternoon tea and a presentation DVD of the work amongst children and families in need was viewed by those assembled.

An opportunity to choose a Cambodian preschool child and sponsor that child through kindergarten was met with great enthusiasm. In all, only one third of the people we originally hoped for participated but MTI collected over $12,000, a sum that doubled the expected target. This money will directly benefit the poorest of children. That’s AMAZING GRACE!