Friends@YOG

It is a wonderful opportunity for athletes from all over the world to come together to have healthy competition while appreciating the diversities of other people in the world. YOG 2010 also presents an excellent platform for the younger generation in Singapore to know more about diversities in cultures and lifestyles of people from other countries. Hence, the IOC has endorsed a 'twinning programme' where younger generation of the world can come together to learn about the diversities of culture as well as building lasting friendships.

Under Friends@YOG, all Singapore schools will be paired up with two schools from each of the 205 National Olympic Committees’ (NOC) home country. The NOCs for St Patrick's School are Tuvalu and Ireland.

Tuvalu

Tuvalu is a polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Samoa and Fiji. Tuvalu consists of four reef islands and 5 true atolls. The stars represent the nine islands which comprise Tuvalu; the arrangement is geographically correct when the flag is rotated ninety degrees clockwise. The nine islands, from north to south, are: Nanumea, Niutao, Nanumaga, Nui, Vaitupu, Nukufetau, Funafuti, Nukulaelae, Niulakita. Like many former and present dependencies of Britain, Tuvalu's Flag is also based on the UK flag.

Tuvalu is one of the smallest country in the world with regards to population size and land area. Its population of about 12,000 makes Tuvalu the third-least populated country in the world. It is even smaller in terms of population as compared to Bedok, Jurong wWest, Tampines, Woodlands, Hougang, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio, Choa Chu Kang, Sengkang and Bukit Merah! With its land size of about 26 square kilometres, it is the fourth smallest country in the world! If you cannot imagine how small Tuvalu is, it is smaller than a neighbourhood town in our own Singapore!

Ireland

We should be very familiar with the country of Ireland. Our patron saint, St Patrick hails from Ireland. Famous Irish soccer players such as Robbie Keane and Damien Duff should not be of strangers to Patricians as well. Ireland derives her name from the name of a Celtic goddess Ériu (in modern Irish, Éire) with the addition of the German word land. The population size of Ireland is about six million and in terms of land size, it is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island in the world.

The national flag of Ireland as seen above is a vertical tricolour of green, white and orange. The flag has no official meaning to it but there has been suggestions that the flag symbolises a lasting harmonious relationships between two religions namely; Roman Catholism (green )and Protestantism (orange). The white in the centre suggests peace between the two religions.

Twinning Programme

Our school will be welcoming athletes from these two NOCs next year before the actual games. Some students has already been shortlisted as potential candidates to buddy friends from these two countries. St Patrick's School have initiated contact with the NOCs and the school has started planning for the arrival of our new friends. Students from our school will also be required to set up booths with these countries as our themes and man the booths throughout the duration of the games next year so as to expose more people to the distinct culture, language and lifestyles of our new friends. Patricians who are interested in signing up as volunteers for our twinning programme can do so by filling in the form here.

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