Not all family is very lucky to born with an instant wealth. Some are born with a financially struggling household. However, we cannot argue that there are still many families who are not that lucky enough to send their children to school due to lack of income source. The video presents a heartbreaking situation of a young school girl, who is hard working and very obedient to her family. Basing from the audio presentation, the short film is narrated by the girl's father.
This is a sad case of a family who is always making ends meet. No matter how hard life is, you will always have a member in the family who is taking full responsibility for the actions that could ensure that you can eat three times a day. However, the struggle in your family if you live below the poverty line is about the security. In this case, you need to sacrifice your time and effort so that the value of reaching your goals becomes positive and can have the possibility to reach success. This girl proves that anything is possible because as a school girl, she is always looking towards the future of her family, which is touching enough to potentially change their lifestyle in the future.
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| This girl is now facing the biggest challege of her life for choosing if career or family (Screenshot from the video) |
As a summary, every young individual deserves the right to be given a bright future that they deserve as part of their legal rights. As based from the short film, a hard working teenage school girl who has a promising future is now challenged with a heavier responsibilities. She is the only person to help with her father and siblings with the absence of their late mother. She is now ambivalent to choose between her future career and her loving family.
Hardworking student
Meet Siew Fang, the eldest daughter of the family. Every after class, she proceeds to work at her auntie's bakeshop, which is just a walking distance away from their school. This is not a typical scenario for an average teenage schoolgirl to enjoy their teenage life. Siew Fang learned that she must have to work hard in order to ensure that she always fulfills her responsibility well. She knew that she is the only one whom her family relies on to do household duties. As you can see, her father is disabled and seeks Siew's success to have their family a chance to elevate their socio-economic situation in the future.
As based on a true story
Upon waking up in the morning, she immediately prepares the food for breakfast. After doing her morning chores, she assists her paralyzed father by transferring him from bed to his wheelchair. Every afternoon after work, Siew Fang waits for her two younger siblings at the bus station before heading home. This is her usual routine before coming home, bringing some food to her family every afternoon.
When at home, she is the only person to do household chores. She prepares and serves each meal for her family, which is her father and two younger siblings. After meals, she will now cleans the kitchen and then help her sibling to do their homework. Late at night, this will be the only time for her to study her lessons at school, such as doing her homework and reviewing her lessons for any surprise examinations provided by her teachers at school.
Impressed the teachers, but made Siew Feng sad
One day, Siew Fang was called by her adviser in her class. Her teacher was impressed from her performance by having high results. The results show that she is eligible to enroll to foreign universities such as Cambridge. However, she seemed to be devastated because there will be no one who will take care of her family when she goes abroad and study. Her principle in life is to follow her responsibility to prioritize her family by any means even if she is offered with new opportunities to improve her career.
The lies
One evening, she revealed to her father that she received low grades when she was asked about her examination results. The patriarch suddenly become anguished about what he heard from her eldest daughter. Siew Feng argued with her father that she is totally devoted to her family and she doesn't want to leave them.
Mr. Fang indicated clearly to his children not to be like him, which is a useless person due to his paralysis. He also reiterated to the younger siblings not to follow Siew Feng for ranking low on her studies. He then immediately discontinued eating his meal at the dinner table and then rolled himself with his wheelchair towards his room. Siew Fang was left behind with her siblings, crying.
Day after day, Siew Fang still served food for her father. However, her refused to be helped and still pondered in despair inside his room.
The revelation
One day, Mr. Fang went to the room of her eldest daughter. He tried to check some stuff from Siew Feng's reading materials. Upon opening the booklet, he read the actual examination result of Siew Fang. When he discovered that her eldest daughter excelled all of her grades, he suddenly burst into tears. He realized that he daugher was lying about having a low grade because she doesn't want to leave her family behind when she study abroad.
While crying, Siew Fang timingly arrived and saw her father who just revealed the real score about her white lies. They eventually hugged each other and then asked for forgiveness.
About the movie
The short film is entitled as "The Last Day of School" that is directed by James Less. The film is the recipient of at least seven Singapore Creative & Advertising award, which is known as GONG 2015 Creative Circle Awards.
This article would like to thank Doghouse73 pictures for allowing to create a blog and to expand the cause for tertiary students in need of support.
Cause
The movie is made to create awareness that aims to support tertiary students that are in need of financial support in order to reach their dreams in the future.
You may visit the web page and may render your support for tertiary students at:
http://www.income.com.sg//OrangeAid
