The C.A.S blog of Adam Hanif

The ‘Ripas’ Hospital is probably the most important hospital in the whole country. The hospital is frequently visited by many people during the day and being funded all my government, any case of emergency is usually transport to the facility. So what I’m trying to emphasis here is that there are many people walking in and out of every section of the hospital.

The hospital supports and might have everything it needs but lacks creativity. The children wards for example have been seen as a dull and uncomfortable. So in return of ‘Creativity’ hours, I signed up along with friends to support the painting program to make an imaginative and colourful environment for the young babies to grow and nursed into.



It is believed that introducing shapes and vivid colours to an infant influences and shapes the way they think because, technically, their bodies are still undergoing growth after their birth. Plus it puts a smile on parent’s faces. I don’t know if that theory is true because half of it was made up by me but I tend to have a good overview on facts.



The canvases we work on were the surrounding walls and glass windows of the rooms in the ward. The theme: Animal and wildlife. What not better way to introduce a child to the dangers of the world, ‘These animals aren’t so friendly as they appear to be in real life!’ I said to one of the sleeping newborn.

Being serious, I do believe the theme was best as animals are really recognisable in life and they make cute cartoons and shapes to stare at. Other then the animals we frew and paint, we painted their environment. For example, Brunei is covered in forests and we painted its theme of animals living in the forests, the sea with the fishes and sea-creatures and the savanna with the African look (well I assume some parts were savanna-looking environment).

Interacting with my friends while painting gave a nice overture of relaxation (I find art soothes my stress). We as a group cooperated really well and helped each other when either if they needed a drawing of a bird or mixing colours for better results. I helped others a lot in painting techniques for a smooth look.




The environment made discussion and painting at the same time so easy that we tend to forget how time quickly passes by. The group was mainly year 12’s but some of the other younger years step up to join the contribution. The amount of people attending on different days was so many that the ward was almost completed in paint by 4 days of work. The effort put into the project was amazing that a lot of us were mistaken as real painters as occupation by the nurses (who were very kind and wonderful).

How successful was I achieving my goals? To be honest, I think I’ve achieved a lot into the program. I manage to cover somewhat 6m² of paint, details and texture of animals and still had the time to spare help with others. My goal was to achieve as much as I can and help others paint (being an art student after all) and expect to see the smiles on doctors, nurses and parents who will feel satisfied with the contribution of our school.

Cooperation was the key and patience was the backbone. Most of us learnt that the only way we could be cooperating with each other was through patience. And yet somehow that came naturally as we understand this was the benefit for the hospital.



No difficulties were encountered during the painting, except for one particular Owl which had to be repainted over 8 times because it was too “hideous” quoting from Ms. Caterford! But I assume she knows what she was doing when she elected me to take over the job after two other people failed – haha.

Overall, the program felt like a great success. I enjoyed every minute and wouldn’t mind to do it again in the future. The thought of people walking in and out of that ward will see our hard work and contribution of our school made me feel proud of what I did.