Students from the NTU Welfare Services Club link up with participants from voluntary welfare organisations and school students to create a tiled mural of breathtaking proportions.

Ask the average person what "mosaic" means and one will probably hear a reference to retro "toilet tiles" from the 1970s.

Now imagine a mural 8m by 3.5m – two-thirds the area of a badminton court – constructed from these "toilet tiles".

This large mosaic mural was the creation of some 80 people with disabilities from Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs). Together with another 220 student volunteers, they painstakingly pieced the tiny tile fragments to form the mosaic.

The event, Challenge Your Limits 2008 (CurL 2008), was organised by 16 undergraduates from the NTU Welfare Services Club (WSC) and involved some 300 participants from VWOs such as Friends of the Disabled Society, Handicaps Welfare Association, MINDS Youth Group, Moral Home for the Disabled, Spastic Children's Association, and schools such as CHIJ St Theresa's Convent, Dunman High School, Dunman Secondary School, Fajar Secondary School, Kranji Secondary School and Nanyang Junior College.

Determination and teamwork
CurL 2008 participants slogged for eight hours on 3 August at the newly-opened HortPark, gluing bits of glass and ceramic tiles to wooden boards. Over the next three weeks, the organisers cemented and touched up the mosaic.

Their effort was officially recognised when the completed artwork was unveiled by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, on 31 August. The mosaic mural is now on display at HortPark, a testimony to the determination and tenacity of the CurL 2008 participants.

In her speech at the unveiling ceremony, CurL 2008 Chairperson Ms Wong Shu Ching explained the motivation behind the project. "Our previous events have focused more on physical and mental challenges, such as dragonboat racing and kayaking expeditions. This time, we also wanted to allow participants – both people with disabilities as well as able-bodied volunteers – to contribute something to society."

With the support of NTU's Student Affairs Office and Alumni Affairs Office, the organisers decided to put together a large mosaic mural, which turned out to be "far more challenging than expected", said the final-year accountancy student.

The mosaic mural is on display at the entrance of HortPark. HortPark is open from 6am to 10pm daily. Admission is free.

© NTU Welfare Services Club