Back to the present - a night of dance and folklore

We have a friend from Singapore who is visiting us in Peru at the moment. In the afternoon, we took her to visit Jockey Plaza, the biggest shopping mall in Lima, and we had a nice meal of "pollo a la brasa", chicken grilled in the traditional Peruvian style. After that, we brought Joan to an evening of dance and folkloric performance at the school that Aili and Delia are working in. It is one of the biggest bilingual schools in Lima, and the cultural evening was held to commemorate the change of season from winter to spring. We were all enchanted by a wonderful evening of dazzling dances that were put up by the students and teachers, capped with a heartwarming rendition of "We are the world" that was led by the principal himself.

When I was in Singapore, I never attended a play or cultural performance for much of my life. Even when my parents took me to a cultural play when I was younger, I was always screaming for them to bring me out of the concert hall, because I felt that all these art performances were a waste of time, a distraction from the more worthy pursuits in life. My time in Peru has changed my perspective on this matter completely. In fact, just last month, I watched three cultural performances. As I watch the Peruvians manage their songs and dances with grace, passion and patriotism, the atmosphere always cut through my skin like a stirring stream of electric current. I am beginning to appreciate much more how art, music and culture is able to forge a sense of unity and identity among communities of people. They are certainly not trivial distractions away from the economic pursuits of life, but art, music and culture are indispensable tools towards forging a sense of belonging within a community. After four years here in Peru, I am only just beginning to fall in love with the cultural dances and music of the local community, even though my stoic Singaporean roots have somewhat persisted in reining in my dancing feet and spontaneity of expression.

While we can certainly boast of our technological and economic achievements, as well as the machine-like efficiency of our systems and infrastructure in Singapore, I believe that we would need to bring up the level of our artistic and cultural consciousness to the same optimum levels as our economic and social achievements, if we want to forge a strong sense of identity as Singaporeans. We have spent a few decades perfecting our hardware in Singapore, and the time has now come for us to work on our heartware.

Looking at the same issue from a different angle, it would be fair to say that material pursuits and success alone cannot forge together a sense of identity, whether at the personal level or at the communal level. Even businesses are beginning to realise that profits cannot be the only bottomline if the sustainability of the business model is to be maintained. Intangibles such as the development of core values within the organization and the overall enhancement of the emotional quotient of the community would also be important foundations for the sustainability of the businesses. In other words, we are talking about heartware here.

Whether we are dealing with the success of an individual, the stability of a community, or the survival of a nation, heartware would be an essential element to take into consideration. How do we develop heartware? One aspect of heartware development is to involve ourselves in community work. It is through our interaction with other members of our community that we develop heartware. Heartware is one area that cannot be developed by isolating ourselves from community. It is through involving our lives in those around us who are less fortunate that we develop compassion. It is through engaging in relationships at a deeper and committed level, and passing through the furnace of forming, storming and norming in our relationships, that we learn to trust, to accept and to forgive, and to forge relationships that will last and perform. It is through giving of our times, treasures and talents to help the needy around us that we will discover true significance and meaning in our lives. This is why we have come to Peru to experience a different kind of culture here. This is why we have set up a channel for volunteers from Singapore and elsewhere to come down to Peru to experience community work and community living for a period of time, and to develop their heartware in a very practical way.