Business school undergraduate Trevor Xie, 22 has set aside $10,000 of his savings to pursue this bee in his bonnet. He wants to start a counselling centre and hotline for runaway young people. "So far, I have only spent about $2,000 of this but then the big expenses haven't come in yet like the rent and phone line." He has also been taking time from his studies to get the project going. Asked how he was balancing his project with his studies, he said laughingly, "I pass my modules!" He added, "It's a worthy sacrifice. I can live with it. Doing this project is more challenging than studying. It's something real that benefits someone. It's more real than studying!"

The idea of helping young people came from his school days when he had friends in need of counselling but saw few satisfactory avenues available. As luck would have it, during his full-time national service he was assigned to the SAF counselling centre where got an insight into the running of a counselling centre and even received some training in telephone counselling work. His focus on runaway youth came about when he came upon statistics showing that in the last three years, there were as many as 700-something young people under 16 who ran away from home. Six out of 10 are girls and only 1 per cent return to their families within a year of running away.

When he turned 21 in December 2001 and in a position to incorporate a company by guarantee, he did so last February and then applied for the status of a charity with the Commissioner of Charities. He received approval last August and since then has been busy with the nuts and bolts of putting together the Student Advisory Centre, such as getting together an advisory committee, and linking up with the police to get referrals to runaways. He was recently given office space in a HDB block in Clementi at a discounted rental.

Said Trevor, "We have the enthusiasm but we need the knowledge.' He and his friends do have youth on their side. Trevor believes that a troubled youngster would rather turn to a young person for help than to an older person. He said, "For example, schools have a pastoral care service that is put under the charge of the teachers. But if I am a troubled student, very often my problems would show up in my studies and I will probably have disciplinary issues, so a teacher would not be the person I would turn to for help." This is borne out by surveys of young people that show that more prefer to turn to their peers than to their elder for advice.

Trevor has also enthused his friends in the centre. The centre has some 30 volunteers who have been undergoing training as counsellors. A 1999 study on youth interests commissioned by National Youth Council found that most of the top activities undertaken by youth were either organised by themselves or by their friends. School-based activities, which covered mostly sports and uniformed groups, accounted for only about 5 per cent of the top activities of Singapore youth.

The Registry of Societies has seen a steady increase in the number of societies registered from 2,900 in 1980 to 4,100 in 1990, 5,400 in 2000 and another 200 more in the last quarter of last year. Many are special interest groups. There exist now a House Rabbit Society, a Hamster Society and societies for the different breeds of dogs from retrievers to schnauzers. Other special interest groups have been inspired by passion for an activity such as singing, running, biking and riding. One group is Harley-Davidson (Singapore Chapter) established in 1995 with fewer than 50 members. In 2001, it had more than 250 members aged from early 20s to senior citizens.

Although there are no separate figures for societies that are initiated and run by young people, a check showed that the groups are started by people ranging from their early 20s to early 40s. Some young people may be clueless but not all. And today's technology makes it even easier for the like-minded to link up. A valuable resource is the Internet with its chat rooms and news groups. Many of the clubs and civic groups started with emails sent out to gauge the level of public interest. The next step is a mailing list. Group-friendly Internet tools like Yahoo Groups also help bring like-minded people together. SMS messaging and its practically real-time nature have made gathering people together for a common purpose easier and more spontaneous. Witness the anti-war protests that erupted in major cities around the world one weekend in February.

With globalisation has come the opening up of choices and minds, stimulating young people to contribute to this growth in special interest groups. Whilst working in China, Raymond Huang, 36, witnessed a demonstration by some 150,000 young people in front of the US embassy in Beijing. The demonstration highlighted the vulnerability of a country and the role that each citizen plays as an ambassador. Raymond felt that it was important to enlarge the common space of Singapore.

When he returned to Singapore, he quit his job as a banker and started the Heartware Network with his wife, armed with the vision of developing national pride and patriotism in young Singaporeans. Raymond picked volunteerism as the focus of Heartware Network because he feels that it is the purest gauge of an individual's sense of ownership towards his or her country. While knowing that it is one of the toughest routes, he also believes that it will generate the best returns for society.

This was in 2000. Heartware Network became one of the first recipients of the Youth Development Fund awarded by the National Youth Council. Housed in a disused double-decker bus parked at the Youth Park just off Orchard Road, Heartware has given itself the mission of promoting active citizenry by networking both individuals and organisations for involvement in meaningful community service. Today, it has about 300 volunteers in its database. Raymond estimates that about one in 10 are active regularly, with the rest helping out on a project basis. The volunteers are mostly young professionals in their late 20s to early 30s, the group seen by many as the one with the largest number of "quitters"- the ones who would leave the country to seek greener pastures elsewhere when Singapore shows signs of trouble. Raymond is encouraged by their number and interest and feels that this group has not been given enough credit for their staying power and active involvement in community service projects and activities.

The Network plans to build a borderless online community for Singaporeans and is in talks with MSN Singapore. He feels strongly that Singaporeans need to develop a world vision and see Singapore as a non-geographical space. Instead of blaming the government, Raymond believes that "we should be part of the solution. If we can see the problem, instead of whining about it, we should look at the problem and think about what could be done to tackle the issues presented." Their website is at http://www.heartware-network.org.

Many groups test the sustainability of their interest by running for some time before registering themselves as a society. One that did this was Action for Singapore Dogs Society which was registered only in July 2002 but was already active as a group of dog-lovers from December 2000. Ricky Yeo, 38, its president, said, "The society was started because we felt that the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is heavily taxed and did not have enough help."

Its members believe that they can make a difference to the unfortunate animals that have been abandoned, abused or are homeless and are single-minded in their belief. Unlike the SPCA, the society does not have a pound. Instead they use their own resources for "re-homing" unwanted dogs or housing them temporarily at available animal farms. The society also promotes the benefits of pet ownership to encourage a more compassionate and caring society.

Action for Singapore Dogs has 700 on the mailing list, 60 per cent of whom are young people. While these young people are "fired up" about the cruelty to animals, have a greater awareness of the social issues involved and they are more than willing to take responsibility, finding members prepared for the long haul is a problem, The society which relies mainly on the Internet and word-of-mouth for publicity, would like to see more committed members. Those interested can find out more about the society on the web at http://www.asdsingapore.com/.

The level of particpation in group activities falls with age as young people get more caught up with their studies and careers. In a recent National Youth Council survey of 1,500 young people aged 15 to 29, it was found that particpation fell from 74 per cent for students to 30 per cent for working adults.

Special interest groups by their nature depend on the strength of interest for their existence. The higher the level of interest, the bigger the group. The more enduring the interest, the better the chances of continued existence and even growth. The established and fairly large special interest groups today began as small groups of committed people with an agenda. One is the Association of Women for action and research, better known as AWARE, the women's action group. Another is Youth Challenge that began as Teen Challenge, a group wanting to help out the Macdonald kids - the aimless young people who were hanging out at fast food outlets. Today they run Club eXchange which is supported by the United Nations Volunteers Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and the Co-ordinating Committee for International Voluntary Service and also a Young Entrepreneur Network which allows aspiring youth a chance to interact with top local and foreign entrepreneurs.

Another factor that leads to the demise of societies is funding, a problem that Trevor Xie of Student Advisory Centre faces. But Trevor, the youngest "Iron Man" in Singapore has come up with a hair-raising fund-raising project. In August he and some of the extreme sportsmen friends will swim from the East Coast to the Merlion statue at the Explanade to raise funds for the centre. It's a distance of 10 km and he already has the permission of the Port of Singapore Authority to swim in the sea lanes. Those interested to help out or find out more may contact Trevor Xie at 9006-0909.

Said Trevor, "I know it sounds crazy but my friends are all athletes and we can do it." When Trevor laid claim to the title of 'Youngest Iron Man in Singapore" in 2000, he had to swim, bike, jog and run the marathon all in one day - toting up about 200 km all in one day. He added, "We want to make our youth worthwhile. I want to do something that I can be proud of when I grow old." There's no doubt that he is going about it the right way.

The article is reproduced in full from the Singapore International Foundation publication, "Singapore" (April - June 2003 issue)