LATE last year, I met two young men hell bent on realising their personal visions.

Less than a year later, reality bites, as Derrick Kwa, 18, and Faris Basharahil, 20, have found out.

A well-known blogger, Derrick made an impact when he became part of a unique online collaboration in which 237 marketing professionals and bloggers from the United States and 14 other countries - all of whom had never met each other - wrote a book.

A full-time National Serviceman for now, Derrick has taken a hiatus from his well-followed blog.

"NS and all is quite draining. I've put my blog on hold for now, trying to find something concrete to do before I go back to blogging - I kind of want to prove, to myself at least, that I actually have some substance, that my blog isn't just all talk and no walk," he tells me.

Soul-searching, in other words - something that Faris is also doing, although he does so by running around, keeping his charity Social Creatives afloat.

"My final objective is to make Singapore more colourful emotionally and visually," he says. "My personal objective is to do something that will lead to positive ripples."

Money, adds the Temasek Polytechnic hospitality graduate, is not a motive - "I have yet to pocket a salary" - which may explain why his appeal to defer entering NS from June to September was accepted.

Among other matters, the youthful visionary, who founded his company after a dustbin-painting project in Orchard Road under the auspices of the National Environment Board took off, has had to deal with a much older employee suspected of criminal breach of trust.

Faris has his hands full learning how to cope with a severe cashflow problem (despite around $100,000 worth of secured grants) and low staff morale, how to work with the board of directors, as well as other issues that arise from being, well, grown up, and the head of a charity.

Social Creatives, founded a year ago, was given charity status in less than a year and counts the likes of Charles Wong, the managing director of Charles & Keith, and Gerald Ee, chairman of Third Age, as having been board members or mentors at one time.

It charges management fees for projects like those currently in its pipeline, a shoe-design competition in line with the Youth Olympic Games and an Arts for Health programme for Changi General Hospital (CGH). Costs are kept low, thanks to the volunteers it finds for the causes.

The programme at CGH includes workshops with patients and performances during Nurses Day, as well as some mural works.

"I somehow do not know where to begin when asked how I am doing. At times it can be very disheartening while at other times, it is positive," he says.

The upsides include being mentored by The Esplanade CEO Benson Puah for about six months, in line with one of the funding programmes.

In the pipeline is a project with UPS to paint 10 dustbins along the North East Line. Social Creatives has also received permission from Tanjong Pagar GRC to paint 10 murals, and has secured some money for that task.

His immediate concern is getting the funds to create a Credit Facility through a secured overdraft with the bank.

These are tiring times, he concedes. But, he says, "we will not pack up. Maybe the scope will be reduced. But something is better than nothing".

Last year, Derrick, a co-organiser of the Social Media Breakfast Singapore, an event which brings together bloggers and podcasters from all fields, said: "The Web has really opened so many doors for me. It has allowed me to accomplish things I would never have been able to do otherwise. Only on the Web would an unknown, unqualified 18-year-old from Singapore be able to collaborate with some of the brightest marketing minds from around the world."

This year, NS is leaving him with only weekends for himself. The state he is in now - "I've been relatively detached from everything, just keeping track of the one or two blogs which I really value," he tells Today - is definitely transitional.

The teenager was in the pioneer batch of students at the National University of Singapore's High School of Mathematics and Science. He left because he felt he wasn't getting much out of it.

"My biggest fear? That my life won't work out," he says. "But that's what defines us, isn't it? The fear is never going to be gone. It's just a question of whether we can pull ourselves above it, and rise above it to fulfil our potential.

"It's not about getting rid of the fear - it's about acting in spite of it."

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