Dear Team
We ventured into several new programmes this year. We began a weekly programme that will stretch 18 months with 20 boys in the Reformative Training Centre, we started 1 residential programme for children and another for youths, completed our Child Development Centre and so forth. As of this week, Kids United Home is operating at full-capacity of 12 residents and last night Community Beyond had its first family & friends night where our 8 residents hosted their family members, friends and other significant people in their lives. We were really glad that an officer from MCYS came by and wolfed down the pasta meal prepared by the residents.

'New' work is always exciting and energising but the reality of the challenges faced continue to bite. I thank all of you for rising to the occasion time and again. I thank everyone for the humility to search within ourselves for answers as to how we can improve. This is so important in social work because realistically, we only have control over ourselves and how we do our work. Any positive change in those we serve is a response to how we conduct ourselves.

I also thank everyone for constantly looking out for each other. The notes of appreciation after various events always perk my day. It reassures me that we are not a bunch of well-intentioned people who kill ourselves in the name of doing good for others. Beyond is a nurturing place to work and I thank you for making it so.

The work in 2007 will be even more challenging and to brace ourselves, I would like to end the year with us being at peace with our efforts this year. Here are some notes of encouragement for what we have done:

To THE GREAT TEAM from Beyond Social Services

I like to express my heartfelt appreciation for the great work that you are doing for our students
in the 3 classes. Your presence each Thursday speaks volumes about all of you. I admire your
commitment and dedication and your patience with our students. You make a difference to their
lives and I can see students (esp those from 1A3) enjoying their time together with you. We may
not see immediate fruits but we will concentrate on the process. So, once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Working together in Fajar
Sok Eng

Hi,
We are greatly appreciative of Kyle bringing his circus training experiences to our JYians. Whenever I speak to these JYians, they are always thumbs-up and thoroughly enjoy the sessions with you all. As spoken to Myrle previously, we really look forward to partner Beyond Social Services to provide circus training to our pupils. It is engaging, enriching & helps to channel their energies into productive uses. We hope that this day will materialise and thanks so much for exposing our 1A3 JYians to such circus experiences.
It has always been a great pleasure reading your detailed observations and comments about our JYians' behaviours during CE. They have been extremely useful, allowing our teachers to see our JYians in a different light from their classroom behaviours.
Btw, I cannot join you all this term as I'm having lessons during this time frame but I'm always heartened and touched by your kindness & magnificent efforts of impacting the lives of our JYians and making a difference to them!

Best regards,

Edwin Chan
HOD PCCG/Juying Secondary School
Thanks Myrle for your report. I am appreciative of the effort put by you and your team of rangers for these 10 weeks. I observed that the 2 classes loved the sessions, and towards the end there is a stint of sadness that all good things must come to an end. They did request for further collaboration with your group as they found the overall CE interesting and fun. Personally I found that the 2 classes benefited from the CE Programme, and in no small way it is due to your passion and the games that they played to learn the skills and values. Thank you once again to you and your team for igniting interest, and the school looks forward to co-operating with your organisation in future project.
Regards.
Choon Leng, Principal, Yishun Secondary

Hi Yet,

T has given me the best Xmas present this year! He passed his 'N' level, scoring 7 points on his 3 best subjects, and to me, it's with flying colours !!

I'm very thankful to you and all your team members for the effort and patience in instilling his confidence and self-esteem. Credit must go to all the people involved in his music lessons which help him to be more tolerant and patience. Thanks to Johnny, his Maths has gone from F9 all the way to B3 now. It's a great effort to turn him around.

I'm so glad he's able to continue his study in Sec 5. Hope he will treasure the opportunity and make it to 'O' level or even further. Anyway, I'll be more than happy if he will to complete and pass his 'O' level.

Thanks everyone, from the bottom of my heart.

Regards
AL (T's mom)

Dear Ms Sarasvathy Suppiah,

Thank you very [much] for the excellent FGC that you have organised at Kentridge Secondary School for K last evening. You have done a great job and we appreciate very much all the support that you and your colleagues have always given us. With all the support and help from Beyond Social Services we feel there is hope for K to change and improve, and eventually turn for the good.

Once again, my family and me would like to express our sincere appreciation and gratitude to you and all your colleagues who have spent countless hours and effort in helping us and K.

Thanks and Best Regards
PK (K's dad)

Most people whom we serve do not send e-mails but I am sure they have expressed their thanks and appreciation to us in different ways. These were just some gestures of appreciation I saw over the last week - a hug from a mother of 4 children who was a youth member here 10 years ago, a flattering compliment about a social worker's appearance, an invitation to a family event, being the last person to leave an event so that he could offer thanks in private, some fruits in a plastic bag at the door, a modest gift from the savings of a few children and an sms that spelt Marry Krismas. The people we serve are giving all the time and it is up to us to makes a gift out of what they bring.

Happy New Year and may you continue to find the strength, wisdom and compassion to give. As we give to others, we give to ourselves.

Gerard

Dear team,

We’ve been in the prison for 3 weeks now. The Beyond team has been working with 20 boys and they’ve been planning each session carefully so that the participants will get the most from it. The approach has not been what we can TEACH but what we can DRAW OUT from the boys.

What’s the difference? In the former, we would be trainers pouring what we know (knowledge) into the heads of the participants, while the latter involves us being damn good facilitators, so the boys will bring to the table their experiences and knowledge so we can work with it. Our facilitators at the prisons, led by team leader Myrle, are good examples.

In one session, they were playing Crab Ball. Crab Ball is football played sitting down, and you are allowed to use your hands and feet to “kick” the ball around. Yes, it is not easy, and requires a lot of teamwork. One of the boys was chosen to be the referee, and during the debrief, the participants had a lot to say about the referee (they were by no means compliments!) When the referee was given a chance to defend himself, he shared how he now appreciates what the judge who sentenced him must go through daily!! “Wah, not easy, ah! The judge has to work very hard, eh!”

That comment alone shows that the boy felt empathy and he had reasoned in his own head the difficulties of good choice making.

Another activity that the team tried was the Trust Fall. The activity requires a person to stand on a platform or bench, and fall backwards into the outstretched arms of his team mates. Unless you trust, you would find it difficult to fall! The facilitators briefed the boys, built the session to a point when they would be willing to work as a team, and then left it to them to organize the activity. Much to the surprise of the team, the boys chose a 2 metre wall to fall from!! All safety measures adhered to, the boys took the plunge. And, each was deftly caught by his teammates. With each person whom the boys caught, the teamwork increased. And most importantly, the trust they had for each other grew.

Another method that Myrle used to work on the topic of trust was a newspaper clipping on the recent drowning incident in the East Coast Park. A father had jumped into the sea to save his drowning son and in the process, the boy was saved, but dad drowned. In the intensive discussion that followed, the boys shared their internal beliefs like what is trust for them and who they would sacrifice their life for.

What our colleagues are doing weekly is a bit like making Stone Soup. Here’s the abridged version of the story, which is one of my favourites:

There was a traveler who’s supplies and money had run out, and he could find neither a room nor a hot meal. He was hoping to get a good meal in the next village, but as luck would have it, the village had undergone a recent drought and there was barely anything to eat. The people hoarded the little they had, unwilling to share it even with their neighbours. The traveller’s hopes of getting a meal looked slim. And, that’s when he chanced upon an idea.

He took out his cooking pot, and started a small fire in the village square. He made sure his preparations were elaborate enough to draw attention. Then he fetched some water in his pot and as it boiled, he went about picking stones of different sizes and shapes. By now, a small crowd had gathered around him. As the water came to a boil, he prepared himself to place the stones in it. One of the villagers, who could not contain his curiosity anymore asked, “What are you making?”

And, that was the chance the traveller was waiting for. He replied, “Stone Soup! It’s the most delicious thing I’ve every tasted!”

The villagers scratched their heads; they had never heard of such a thing before. More people crowded around to see what was happening. As the traveller stirred his boiling pot, he said, “You know, what will go so well with the stone soup? Carrots! Does anyone have any carrots?” Someone ran along to get carrots and these were diced and placed in the pot. The list continued, and the traveller asked for meat, peas, potatos and everything else that would be good in a soup. Soon the soup was boiling and the aroma of the “stone soup” filled the air. When it was done, the traveller shared his soup with all the villagers, and had his fill too.

And, everyone agreed, the Stone Soup was nothing like they had ever tasted before!

What our participants come up with is what makes the soup! Without them, sessions would be unpalatable, like boiled water with stones! The participants’ contributions make their learning and ours all the more rich and flavourful. And it’s the lessons that we learn on our own (with a little help from others) that will stand by us through life’s way.

Here’s to Myrle, Fawzi and Rashid (with some help from Father Frank) who venture to the prisons weekly!

Joyful X’mas and a Sparkling New Year to All!
Ranga

“Success isn’t the arrival, but how we travel “ – Noah benShea

Dear Team
This is a rather long email and I want to begin by thanking you for setting aside some time to go through it. There is good news but I have written it in a rather serious tone simply because the message is serious. The Another Week Beyond no longer allows me to write in a 'serious' tone because all sorts of people are now on the list including donors, corporations and volunteers. This letter is for all of us who are churning out the work daily. We have a good thing going on here in more than one sense but then there is always room for improvement. I am not picking out anyone or complaining about any team but I would like everyone to reflect a little on what I am saying and respond with integrity in your own little way and in your own area of work.

As Mui Mui has informed us, we will be receiving a bonus of 2.7 months plus $220 when our pay gets credited into our accounts on the 23rd. This has been a very good year for the Singapore economy and the payout is how our government rewards civil servants. This system cuts both ways as I remember how we had to take a pay cut during the last Asian financial crisis and following that all salaries were frozen for a couple of years.

We are not civil servants but our salaries are based on the National Council of Social Service guidelines, a statutory board that takes its cue from the civil service. NCSS is the national coordinating body for the sector and as Beyond is a member, we follow their guidelines closely. By and large, we have found this helpful because by following the national benchmark we don't have to spend time and energy justifying to the public, the amounts we pay ourselves.

On the flip side, the salary may not be deemed attractive enough for some people to join us. However, everyone knows that this is a sector that does not generate income and we all join the sector with our eyes open. In any case, salary aside, joining the sector is already a big challenge that is demanding in more ways than one. Day in and day out, we are challenged physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and even spiritually.

Well, our Board recognises this and so even when we have only budgeted for a best case scenario of a 2.5 months bonus pay-out, they told us to proceed with the 2.7 month recommendation. This easily works out to another $60k or more, they have to raise. Remember there is nothing in our appointment letters or contracts to say we are entitled to bonus payouts. Also when NCSS recommends the payouts, they are only obliged to top up the 8 core staff who are posted under the FSC Programme. We have a headcount of 117.

I have another piece of good news but I am taking my time announcing it because I want us to accept it in the right spirit and YES! There is a right way and a wrong way to accept this. The wrong way is to think that Beyond is an organisation that has the financial resources to do this. Our cash flow has been always around 5 to 7 months the last 5 years. This means that we need new money all the time or we close shop in 5 months. Without new money we may find ourselves utilizing the employment services that we so readily refer our 'clients' to. Another wrong way of looking at it is that social services is a great sector where bosses are generous and play Santa this time of the year. And for me, the worst way of looking at this is that having a big heart is enough and naively believing that kindness begets kindness i.e. since I have been kind to my 'clients', I deserve this.

Ok here is the good news. All of us who have been with Beyond before January 2006 will receive another $1000 and those who joined this year will get $500 (Your relevant CPF rules apply). Following this email is the exchange of letters between Stanley and me. You may want to read them but here I have cut and pasted a paragraph from a clarifying email sent by him:

I did mean that anyone who joins this year, whether 1 Jan or 31 Dec, gets $500 and everyone before that gets $1,000. My only provision is that to receive, they must have not yet left BSS at 31 Dec. Therefore those who left during the year are not included. This is not meant to be equitable based on length of service or seniority which is the conventional basis. It is a one off 'Thank You Gift' meant to express that ALL are important members of the team and play critical roles in whichever function they perform. - Stanley Tan, President, Beyond Social Services

So the right way to receive this is to simply say thank you and quietly pledge to keep up the good work. We have gone some way in learning to give so we should also learn to receive. Sometimes in our Asian and Singapore culture, we respond to praise or compliments with a "No Lah!" You know, when we do that, the person giving the compliment is obliged to repeat himself and it seems like we want to hear it all over again because it sounds so sweet.

Well Team, there is much we can be proud off for 2006. We should be proud of the passion each and everyone of us has put into our work. The passion has been obvious to our Board Members and to our peers in the sector. Every time there is a kid whom no one else can handle, we get the job. Sometimes though it is only because we are willing to try and not because we know what to do :). We can also be proud of the strong teams we have nurtured within Beyond but obviously teamwork beckons. ONE is still mainly a show, the kids put up once or twice a year.

We can be proud of our innovation and openness to new ideas and developments. We have brought in Restorative Justice, Small Group Homes, FGCs for Care & Protection, Through-Care in RTC, SMS Outreach as well as taken adventure and experiential learning to greater heights and so much more. It all looks so exciting and impressive but trying new things does not mean we are doing good things or rather doing things well and for now, maybe we get away with it because no one else really knows what we are doing.

This leads me to urge everyone to remain open to learning and improving ourselves. Being the first to try new ideas always gives us some lead time and grace for mistakes but we really need to improve before the mistakes catch up with us. The Diploma in Social Work Practice Programme has helped us set the foundations for a set of core skills all Beyond Community Workers should have. It is just the beginning and from here on, the Partnership and Talent Development Team will have to refine and build on this knowledge and skills-set and pass it on to each and everyone of us.

If you have just joined us in the last 2 years, you may remember that we talked about the 3 Ts required of you during the job interview i.e. Truthfulness, Teamwork and Teachability. To be teachable, we need to be humble and open and often this comes from having a little more self-confidence in ourselves. We have strengths, knowledge and experience but that should not stop us from listening and growing. There's a song by James Taylor that I have liked since I was 17 and till today, the tune goes through my head -

If I had stopped to listen once or twice
If I had closed my mouth and opened my eyes
If I had cooled my head and warmed my heart
I'd not be on this lonesome road.

Hey folks! It Is Only A Fool, Who Has Never Felt Like One!

Please take this message to improve ourselves seriously. In 2005, we served 2978 but this year we reached 6724. In July 2005 we had a staff team of about 30 persons, we now have a headcount of 117. Impressive at a glance but people with management expertise who watch such things will ask how did we manage to find so many people in such a short time. Also, we have many young people that don't necessarily have the relevant training and the older ones among us usually only have related training like psychology and counselling. The truth in my assessment is that we are not quite there in terms of quality social work. We make up for our lack by our dedication and passion but we need a wider repertoire of skills or we need to refine our workmanship. Like it is often said, if we only have a hammer then every problem is a nail.

Across every team in every department, we see mistakes and we struggle with the work. Is has not been easy and probably will never be easy. Mistakes will happen and it is part and parcel of work so it is not so much the occurrence of mistakes but how we approach them. We can blame everything and everyone around us but what we really should do is to humbly reflect on how we can do the work better and rally our team mates to solve the issue. To regain our strength, we need to give and receive support. We need to be talking and cooperating with each other in a more authentic manner and this means moving beyond the jokes and playful banter that makes our offices such fun places to work in. By all means let us keep that happy atmosphere but we do have to get real and find solutions that are good for furthering the work. These solutions may affect us in some sense. For example, sometimes in the haste of service expansion, we take on responsibilities we later find we cannot handle. There is no shame in moving aside and redefining how we can be contributing better. I am sure we will earn more respect that way from every one around us.

As Executive Director, I am concerned about sustaining our Team of People. With an operating budget of $5.6 million for 2007 and a promise to reach 7889 beneficiaries, we definitely need people. Less than 18 months ago, the budget was about $2 million and you know the maxim, the bigger you are - the harder you fall.

I value each and every one of you and I thank you for being a part of Beyond. We can only grow or continue to sustain our work if we have a dedicated and competent team of people. Each of you brings something special to Beyond and Together We create a force beyond the sum of us put together. I hope that you have taken something from being a part of the Team too and I am not exactly talking about the Board's bonus payout.

Over the last 18 months we have put together a range of programmes that gives Beyond a distinct profile as an agency that fights delinquency among children and youths in disadvantaged circumstances. The portfolio of programmes was carefully chosen to achieve this and we are slowly capturing the attention of the government and people who are generally interested in the social services sector.

We have been very fortunate that our expansion has been supported by a very capable Board who has provided the resources and nurtured the staff. However, the tough challenge actually starts now. Starting-up is always exciting and when there is support, it is not too hard. What's hard will be making these exciting ideas and programmes deliver what they promise. Only then, will we really have a case for receiving mainstream governing funding or any other funding, the generosity of donors and the support of our community.

Finally, let us remember that Singapore is a performance-based country where hard-nosed decisions are made for non productive initiatives. It is no different in the social service sector so we do have to produce. Let's take a well deserved rest this time of the year and enjoy your bonus. We deserve it! And, I look forward to all of us outdoing ourselves and delivering a higher quality of service in the New Year.

Gerard

What Grows Never Grows Old - Jacob the Baker

Dear Team,
Last night, we witnessed Beyond’s annual graduation ceremony where more than 171 children and youths proudly went on stage to receive their graduation certificates and special awards. It was an evening to remember for not only the children, but the teachers, the volunteers, the community workers, and most importantly the parents. Our thanks to SPRING Singapore for sponsoring, organizing and hosting this year’s graduation evening!

With wide smiles, and sometimes awkward steps, the children strode across the stage, to receive their certificates and gifts. While each child had only a few moments on stage, the journey for some to get that cert was a long and arduous one. Last week, Pascale from Beyond’s Children’s Service team, shared with all of you the stories of two boys who passed their PSLE. While the odds were stacked against them, they made it, due to their determination and effort, and the supporting strength of the “community” that surrounds them.

The community, in a smaller sense, is the immediate people who have been in touch with the student – teachers, volunteers, parents and community workers. But in the larger sense, it constitutes all of you who are in some way connected to Beyond. As long as you are reading this email, you have contributed to the success of this children and youth! If at this point you are wondering how your contribution could have helped, just ponder over French philosopher/writer Voltaire’s quote:

“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.”

We thank you for the avalanche of support and help from everyone over the years.

Snowflakes bring to mind X’mas and the year end. While we look forward to holidays, family fun and cheer, there are some in our community who can only dream about these things.

The Beyond team, made up of Myrle, Fawzi, Leong Wai and Rashid, got to conduct the first session of our Restorative Care programme for 20 young prisoners in the Reformative Training Centre (RTC) on Wed. At the end of the session, when they asked the boys for ideas on what they would like, the list included dragon boating, rock wall climbing, BBQ at a chalet, family gatherings, disco nights and overseas trips. The boys know full well that they will not get to do any of these things, however persuasive we are with the prisons service. But it reflected their desire to be free just like anyone else out there.

While we cannot grant them their freedom, what we are there to do is to prepare them to handle the freedom that will come in a few months.

The team will be meeting with the boys at least once a week for the next 18 months as they roll out the Community Encouragement, Community Involvement, and Community Bridging modules of the Restorative Care programme. The weekly sessions will focus on individual strengths, team strengths, and how their combined strengths can contribute to community. The last component of the programme will include Family Group Conferences to bridge the youth back to his family. This is to ensure that the youth is supported to remain out of trouble once he’s released from the RTC.

The Restorative Care programme has taken some time to take off. At our first meeting with the prison services sometime last year, we started the presentation with the quote: “Aftercare begins on day 1 of in care”. We still hold that vision. In prison, the inmate is far removed from the outside world and his community. It will be the challenge of our workers to be the bridge so that the young prisoners can be restored back to community, to not just occupy the place they vacated, but to start further up on the road, heading towards new goals and a new future, with the support of people like all of us around him.

Have a great weekend,
Ranga

“The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.” – Frederick Buechner

PS: Just some trivia - the word Community occurs at least 11 times in this email.

Dear Team
Today 50 teenage girls are at Raffles Girls School for a Beautiful People camp. At camp, these girls will attend a series of activities that lead up to them reflecting on their personal goals and sharing "My Beautiful Story” with Big Sisters who are assigned to them. A highlight of the camp will be a Beauty and Self-Confidence Workshop conducted by television personality Anita Kapoor. Anita and a bunch of other celebrities like Fiona Xie, Diana Ser, Melissa Hyak and Jacintha Asbisheganaden have volunteered their time at the Beautiful People Programme over the last year. However, keeping the Beautiful People Programme going is Melissa Aratani and a whole bunch of committed female volunteers who are professionals in their own right.

Beautiful People has proven to be very effective in reaching and inspiring the teenage girls within Beyond and other VWOs such as Andrew & Grace Home and Pertapis. The volunteers work together with our youth workers to offer ongoing guidance as Big Sisters. For me, a really beautiful thing about the Beautiful People Programme is it being volunteer driven. Occasionally, Ranga & I are called upon to offer some basic 'befriending' training to the Big Sisters and our youth workers have to help out at Camps and other events but the programme is sustained by Melissa and friends.

Their effort and enthusiasm to be "Good Company" to our girls is infectious. As such there seems to be an endless flow of people and resources stepping forward to help out. Kudos to Melissa for being a fantastic social capitalist and networker whom all of us could learn a thing or two from.

Last Wednesday evening 6 of our boys who have finished the Streetwise Programme went on stage during IMYC's 10th Year Commemorative Dinner to demonstrate the anti-aggression philosophy they picked up during Rock and Water Training. They performed in front of Mr Wong Kan Seng our Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for MCYS, AP Ho Peng Kee, Minister of State for Law & Home Affairs and other distinguished guests.

It was a first for them and an important step that reinforced their ability to be contributing members of our community. Their rehearsal earlier in the afternoon was recorded and their act was featured in the evening news with one of them being interviewed as well. The chaps did themselves, their families and Beyond proud. Good job Anne-Marie, Jerry and Jerel for believing in them enough to see this through even after they walked out on their first stage rehearsal a few weeks ago.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

It isn't just that women are redefining men. It's that men and women are both being redefined, and often neither can find the other without a dictionary.

Dear Team
We are into the 2nd week of the make-up run of our Diploma in Social Work Practice Training and this time round, I am really glad to see participants engaging in lively debate about the subject matters presented. Perhaps, having our own training team and the management conduct the training increased the touch of realism as we had to draw on real life local examples to elaborate our points. Frank, our "Professor-in-Residence" was of course in the background, clarifying difficult concepts, provoking us to exercise our thinking muscles and basically ensuring that the teaching was on track. One positive thing about this arrangement is that the training 'expertise' stays with Beyond even after Frank returns to his University.

Over the last couple of days, we dwelt on MRT as a way of enhancing lives and moving people. In other words Moral Reasoning Training as a method of getting young people to develop a thinking ability to reason within a framework of moral development stages. We had to tackle several moral dilemmas and in the process sharpen our understanding of the theory and develop awareness that we are often engaging young people at an inappropriate moral developmental stage. It is no wonder then that we fail to engage or influence the young person. This approach does not teach people what is moral but facilitates the process to help them decide what is moral.

About a week ago, I confronted a kid for stealing and decided that I will not begin from the developmental stage of law & order or right & wrong. I have known this chap for some time and he has never ever voluntarily admitted to any wrong doing all this time I have known him. This time round, I simply reflected his view that stealing was not a matter of right & wrong but whether he could get away with it and he immediately agreed and admitted that he stole. We are now working closely with his father to monitor him but the point is that whenever we told him he was in the wrong to steal in the past, he defended himself fiercely because he really did not believe it was so. Boy, the work can be tough and as we have chosen to continue helping this kid, we must adopt enlightened methods that appropriately help him climb the ladder of moral reasoning. We take heart that Kohlberg, the founder of this theory espouses that moral reasoning like mathematics is a skill that can be acquired through appropriate practice.

The PSLE results are out and all the Primary 6s in Kids United made it to secondary school. Unfortunately, 2 others who joined our homes this year did not make it. There will be a Graduation Event on 7 December 2006 to recognise the achievements of the children in our various programmes and we would like to warmly invite you to join us. Please rsvp amelia@beyond.org.sg by 1 December if you would like to come. Details are as follows:

Graduation Beyond 2006
Thursday, 7 December 2006
Spring Singapore Auditorium Level 3
2 Bukit Merah Central
6.15 pm to 7.45 pm
Followed by Dinner Reception

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Whoever supermoralizes unmoralizes.
Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Dear Team
A Family Group Conference for the care and protection of 2 young girls was held this week and what was really encouraging was the presence and active participation of extended family members as well as community partners such as the police, school counsellor and child protection officers from MCYS. Since we introduced FGCs as a way of 'putting things right' a couple of years ago, we are gradually getting mainstream support for the approach. The presence of the police officers was especially important for emphasizing the seriousness of child abuse in the eyes of the law.

As FGCs are still very much a community initiative, they police officers showed up in their personal capacities and one of them was there but anticipating his wife to call should she go into labour. The concern demonstrated by these community partners was really encouraging and another example was the school counsellor leaving behind her hand phone number because she would be transferred to another school in the New Year.

On the flip side, with so many professionals around, the family's plan may risk getting undermined and sometimes simply because of work procedures that these professionals bring with them. But I am glad to report that the family's plan for the care arrangements of the 2 girls was accepted. Kudos to Lyn John and team for managing the process with a cool head that gave the family the strength to decide what was in their best interest.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Good parenting requires us to remind our children of their strengths. Life will remind them of their weaknesses. As it has reminded us - Anonymous

Dear Team
This afternoon we will be at the Bull Run, an event where the Singapore Exchange rallies the financial sector to do their bit for charity. Our Juvenile Justice Programme in Schools is a beneficiary of their effort. It is wonderful how the community is always stepping forward to do their bit but we must always remember that 'the many helping hands' approach must mean engaging the government as well.

One existing mechanism that we should diligently utilise is the Performance Evaluation System that the government has put in place. The system collects workload data from us on a quarterly basis and while it started with the FSC, we can now also report the casework and counselling we do in all other programmes that are not government funded. As our scope of work is beyond the usual FSC model, the reimbursement of funds from the government would go some way is sustaining the growth of our work. For example for every 60 additional cases, we will be provided funding for 1 additional staff up to a maximum of 5.

The system has been around for a couple of years and after all the teething problems it is now looking very manageable for us to provide accurate feedback on our workload. However to do so, all of us need to diligently update the data. The FSC, Healthy Start & Children Service Teams have been fantastic and have set the standard for the rest of us. Thanks guys:).

Funds from the government would initially look 'inaccessible but that's not true. We just need to learn how the system works, work with it and put forth rational information when we encounter areas that need improvement. Perhaps, approaching funding schemes the way we approach our kids would be helpful. Whenever we encounter unmanageable teenage behaviour, we always look for the function and reason of such behaviour instead of simply judging it or forming a rigid opinion about the kid. When we take this stance, we develop a relationship with the kid and eventually we challenge the kid to improve in various aspects of his life.

I am not insinuating that the government funding schemes are immature or unreasonable but I am definitely saying we need to hone our skills in utilising these schemes. If we don't, we are not diverting available resources to the kids we are helping and that is not doing them any justice.

So, in the spirit of strengthening our partnership with the government, we agreed to extend our Hope Mentoring Programme to include an outreach component. Karen and Poh Lin will drive this area and we are optimistic that in the months ahead, government funding will contribute significantly to the cost of this programme.

In half an hour, some of us will be leaving for the Padang to set up our booth at the Bull Run where we will be providing info about the Juvenile Justice Programme and also promoting our very own Citi-MilkRun which will be on 1 July 2007. I am glad that the Singapore Exchange and us agree that for the benefit of our kids and the disadvantaged, our runs are not competing with each other but are just different vehicles that enable us to take more people to Charity Street.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Sometimes what we refuse to see shows us how we were raised to see.
-Anonymous

It is we who are lost when we don't help others to find their way. - Noah ben Shea

Dear Team
Schools do come up with very good initiatives to help their troubled students. A cluster of schools in Woodlands decided to pool their resources to run a programme for their students who are on the verge of being suspended. So, instead of simply suspending these students from school they send them to what they call their Time-Out Learning Centre (TOLC) during school hours for 2 weeks.

This cluster of schools invited us to operate the TOLC but we felt that the expertise for running such a facility must remain with the schools. Hence, we counter-proposed that we train their full-time school counsellors and we will be physically there to assist them during their first run in January 07. This week, Vincent, Annabelle, LeongWai and Saras spent 2 days training the full-time school counsellors and a couple of youth workers from the YMCA too since the TOLC was based at their premise.

This was our small little way of motivating and encouraging others to 'grow' the work. The school counsellors were from different schools and so, hopefully they will practice and share the skills they have learnt within their schools.

On Tuesday evening, we were at East View Secondary closing the Toughlove Parent Support Group for the year. We congratulated the parents for hanging in there for their children despite the slow progress in the improvement of their children's behaviour. Many took comfort in the fact that their children are still in school and as long as their children are not in an institution it is within their reach to continue working on their relationship.

This morning, HP Asia Pacific Pte Ltd took our Healthy Start kids out to Farm Mart and Clay Oracle as part of their annual community service effort. As I said hello to the volunteers, I was thinking that we are really fortunate that so many in our community have stepped forward to do their bit for what we believe in. Massive corporations such as PSA and Citigroup as well as little neighbourhood groups like a meditation centre in the neighbourhood who made it part of their routine to deliver basic food items to our door-step after their Sunday meetings.

I guess I was filled with these thoughts as President SR Nathan's rally for an inclusive society was front-page news today. Society as a whole must assume responsibility for all its members. In Singapore, both the government and the community have continually contributed to the less fortunate among us and demonstrated an ever-readiness to meet new needs. Thus, as community workers we must be able to direct these good intentions for the well-being of those we serve and to do so in a manner where it is meaningful and rewarding for all parties concerned.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Dear Team
This week, Youth United met up with the Commanding Officer of the Bukit Timah Neighbourhood Police Centre. The police were genuinely interested in our youth outreach efforts at lower-income neighbourhoods and pledged to collaborate wherever possible. While their focus is wider than juvenile crime they are pleased that a non-governmental agency like us seeks to work together with them. Ryan and Adeline will be crafting work plans for the Bukit Ho Swee area with their community liaison officers.

Currently, we are also in the process of setting up meetings with the police from the other areas we conduct outreach activities i.e. Henderson, Ghim Moh & Ang Mo Kio. This is being done with the aim of strengthening a partnership with the police where there is mutual respect and appreciation for the different roles both our organisations play. Together we leverage on this difference to contribute towards "A Caring Community and Safe Homes" which is the tagline for the police's Community Safety & Security Programme.

Such an approach is really different from my days as a beginning youth outreach worker. Back then, the quickest way to be the young people's 'hero' was to 'shield' them from the police and in a sense, 'reality' by identifying with their complains of police harassment, unfair laws and so forth. On hindsight, while I developed rapport and trust very quickly, my relationship with the young people was not very successful in bridging them back to mainstream. By weighing too much on their side, it was very difficult to form links with mainstream organisations or gain the trust of these organisations.

If we are ever going to bridge the 'marginalised' back to mainstream, we need to be able to engage the mainstream organisations. Just because different mainstream organisations have different roles and approaches, it does not mean that we cannot agree on common goals or find common grounds for cooperation that help us achieve our different goals. The ability to do this is often referred to as 'win-win'.

Youth United needs to work closely with the Police to be effective in the course of their work. Our Youth Workers are not policemen but they realise that an increased police presence in offending hotspots would disperse negative influences that affect the young people we target. Without the negative distractions, our chance of offering them opportunities for character development increases tremendously.

Later this evening, there will be a graduation party for our Streetwise Programme Participants. These youths have succeeded in staying on the straight and narrow over the past 6 months and they will share the achievement with their family, youths workers and representatives from the police : ). Tomorrow, the Beautiful People Programme will have volunteer Big Sisters sharing with 21 girls their stories about how they started and succeeded in their own businesses. Girls will then try their hand at jewellery making and tee-shirt designing.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dependent people need others to get what they want. Independent people can get what they want through their own efforts. Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success. - Stephen Covey

Dear Team
Our house-parents and community workers based at our residential facilities acquired their first aid certification from the Singapore Red Cross this week. I want to thank everyone who helped look after the children when these folks were tangled up in bandages and deep in thought over the basic anatomy and physiology of our main body systems.

The first aid training is another effort at enhancing our management of residential programmes. While we should continually enhance the professionalism of our service delivery we have to be mindful that residential programmes we run, no matter how homely they feel and look, are 'artificial' arrangements and are institutions. On a practical and realistic note, institutional care will be a necessary 'solution' for some time to come. However, our professionalism must take us beyond quality care and facility management. On the onset, we must be fully aware of the drawbacks and the abnormality of institutional care.

Sometimes, it seems like we are caught in a thankless no-win situation because when we are fantastic house-parents, we are 'defeating' the natural parents and making it 'difficult' for the residents to return to less favourable circumstances. Hence, we need the strength and wisdom to navigate constraints and expectations and remain helpful for the young residents under our care. It starts by acknowledging the 'abnormality' of our programme and consciously working towards 'normality' that is possible under the given circumstances.

During a meeting this week with the Prisons Service, the issue of creating a fostering programme for babies born in Prison was raised. The Prisons acknowledged that a baby cared for in the prison was not ideal but in our opinion, neither is a Foster Parenting Programme like they suggested, an ideal alternative. Mother and child bonding cannot be simply switched on upon request and perhaps the prison can see motherhood as an important aspect of rehabilitation.

One suggestion that surfaced was for the prison to partner a VWO to operate a small group home in the neighbourhood near where the mothers are incarcerated. In that way, the babies can visit their mothers daily while they live 'normally' in a regular neighbourhood. The small group home of course must be skilled to facilitate the eventual mother and child reunion. Oh... a related piece of good news is that the Ferrari Club will designate donations from their charity dinner on Wednesday towards our Kids United Home.

It is no easy task balancing punishment with rehabilitation and the Prison Service is continually soul searching, churning out enlightened programmes and seeking meaningful partnerships with organisations like us. They were meeting us because we are cooperating on a Restorative Care Programme for boys in the Reformative Training Centre that will begin the moment we clear the security concerns. Myrle, Rashid and PK were at the RTC this week sorting out the kind of adventure training equipment we are allowed to bring into the Prison.

Our team-mates executing the Restorative Care Programme reaches the inmates at the treatment phase and journeys with them till they are back into our community as responsible persons. You will hear more about our progress in the weeks ahead.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

It is in the shelter of each other that the people live - An Irish Proverb

Emotion can be the enemy. If you give in to emotion, you lose your mind. You must be at one with your emotion because body always follow mind. - Bruce Lee.

Dear Team
The PSLE kids were tucked away at Hope Centre during the week so that they showed up on time for their exams the next morning. This has been an annual practice over the last few years and it something we do to minimise any disruptions in these children's lives. Sometimes we manage to get some of their caregivers to help us supervise the children during the sleep-overs but this time round we could not. However, we should always be mindful how we can engage their parents and care-givers and not simply take over like 'kia-sui' (over anxious) parents.

The kids were appreciative though. They told us they looked forward to breakfast even though they were not used to it. The added attention on our part conveyed the message that their examinations were important and the way the children responded showed that they understood. Even a girl who had not been attending Kids United returned to participate in the sleep-over and thanked us for caring.

This week we also introduced the "Rock & Water' Programme to the youths in the Streetwise Programme. Rock & Water was designed by Freerk Ykema, a Dutch educationalist, for boys aged 10 to 18 to manage aggressive tendencies both in themselves and others. The programme uses lots of physical activity which is martial arts based and stresses self-control, self-reflection and self-confidence.

We contextualised the programme by showing a video clip of Jet Li speaking about his martial arts philosophy and that had quite an impact as participants expressed surprise about what he conveyed. They never thought that Jet Li was a peace loving person who believed in resolving conflicts through mutual respect and concern. Jet Li said that winning a fight does not mean that we have won over someone; to do that we need genuine respect, care and concern. Our youths found that really wise and it went down well with them since Jet Li said it.

Why Rock & Water? Well we can approach life as a "rock" which means being strong and uncompromising or like "water" which symbolises flexibility, communication and co-operation. There will be consequences, both positive and negative, either way one approaches the world. This programme helps participants to develop an awareness of the consequences associated with being rock or water.

I would like to leave you with another quote that we left the Rock & Water participants to reflect upon.
To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill. - Sun Tzu

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

If a child has great learning, we must honour the child as if he were an elder - The Zohar

Dear Team
It is Singapore's Children's Day weekend and our kids have been blessed with a whole lot of outings and goodies from various volunteers. Tomorrow PSA will host 60 from Kids United at their clubhouse and the kids will be receiving dance lessons from Jitterbugs Swingapore, a premier regional dance school. Later this evening, M1 will be tying in the Children's Day Party with the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival Celebration for 56 other kids and this afternoon 80 kids from LIFE were at Wild Wild Wet, Downtown East for a splashing good time courtesy of NTUC Club. NTUC Club hosted the Healthy Start kids at ExploreKids on Tuesday too. Oh this afternoon, there was a delivery of 100 mooncakes from DSTA who got confectioners such as Bengawan Solo, Four Seasons Durian and the Ken to do their bit for our kids too

We are really grateful for the wonderful support from the community and this support has not only been about giving the kids a good time. On Wednesday, PSA volunteers taught our residents at the Kids United Home how to prepare mee rebus and mee siam, two staple Malay dishes. Cooking is an important life skill for our kids and as I was told that it tasted super, perhaps one day these kids could open shop too. Thanks PSA for continually showing our kids that they have strengths that can serve them well now and in the future.

Unlike counsellors and therapists, as community workers we are never simply working with individuals and their networks. We need to be influencing organisations e.g. schools for the benefit of our kids and advocating for changes at the societal or structural level. Our German Professors have aptly coined it as executing our work through the SONI Lens i.e. Structure, Organisation, Networks and Individuals. On Tuesday, members of our Management Committee for our Homes did a fantastic job at the Structural Level when they initiated a productive discussion with MCYS on the issues of intake and funding for our residential facilities. Thanks Mrs Mah, Mrs Bala, Stan, Lung, Jackie, Norman & Galen for paving the way for enlightened change.

Someone once said that "Some of us will give our children everything but nothing of ourselves." I would just like to say that in our case, our volunteers have given much of themselves.

Happy Children's Day for the child in all of us.
Gerard

Dear Team
Social work is a job that will continually challenge our beliefs, values and actions. To have our actions, feelings and thinking constantly questioned is not exactly a comfortable position to be in but then, it is only because helping is not so straightforward. Helping may look easy but the help we give over time must be empowering the people we serve and not disempowering them. We can never be 100% sure and it requires a judgement call based on a set of principles, ethics and information available at a point in time.

This was one important point I took away as the Singapore lectures of our Diploma Programme wrapped up today. I want to thank all participants for giving it your best shot during the past 2 weeks. The training was designed to challenge your thinking, beliefs and actions and I know it was really uncomfortable at times but you all bounced back and dare I say, are now looking forward to finishing your exam on Monday.

Social work is not an exact science and in a sense, it is more of a craft. Life is complex and social work training is about developing people who can embrace life's little riddles, injustice, calamities and from the complexity, craft out understanding, compassion, dignity, peace and hope. Both the films screened this week brought this point glaringly into focus.

The Children are Dead by Aelrun Goette is a documentary based on a true story of a 22-year-old mother who leaves her children unattended in her flat for two weeks. She is charged for murder when they die of dehydration. The film focused on whether the mother is the only one responsible for the death of her children. How about the neighbours, the friends of the mother, the grandmother, the youth welfare service worker, the owners of the building? What is their role in ensuring the safety of the children? All communities have their strengths, and their networks which can be termed the Social Capital that workers can tap on to help the people they serve.

Ladybird, Ladybird by Ken Loach is a film about a mom whose children get taken away as she is seen to be an unsuitable parent. Everytime she gives birth, the authorities are at her door to take the baby away! She loses 6 children to the state, and she will never see them again. What they see are her deficiencies - no stable home, no proper job, someone who talks loudly and uses foul language, and has multiple partners. What goes unnoticed by the social workers in the film is other side of the mother - her struggle to find them a stable home away from an abusive husband, her attempts to maintain a relationship with her boyfriend, her love for her children, and most of all, her fight to want to keep her babies.

The realistic scenes in both the films challenged our own values as people and as social workers, and left a lot of us questioning how well we know the families we serve, and if we were truly open to their strengths. Adopting a strengths perspective when serving our community requires us to be flexible yet grounded. The ability to focus on the vast grey between the black and white.

So as not to get lost in the "grey", a craftsman for hope needs more than knowledge, he needs understanding because "Understanding is living in a house where every room has a point of view." - Noah ben Shea. In my view, good social work training builds character and I am glad our team is now stronger and a tad wiser : ).

Enjoy your weekend!
Ranga & Gerard

"Few men during their lifetime comes anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used."--
Richard E. Byrd

Dear Team
We are into Day 5 of our Diploma in Social Work Practice Programme and firstly I would like to express my deepest appreciation to those of you who held the fort while 30 of us were at lectures. I am also very glad that many of you took time to attend our movie night and the Bavarian evening. These were 2 small events that enabled Diploma participants to include their colleagues in their learning journey. I am sure you had a good time at the Bavarian evening and I hope you were inspired by the movie "Rhythm Is It" which is really a documentary showing how through the guidance of an enlightened dance choreographer, 250 youths from diverse backgrounds, discovered strengths within themselves.

We can only build on strengths and every sports coach worth his salt would advise his players to play to their strengths and attack the weaknesses of their opponents. It is similar in our work and fittingly, the series of lectures began with an elaboration of the Strengths Model. We must begin by acknowledging that the people we work with are the Experts of their Own World and it is the context that determines whether a behaviour or an ability is a strength or a weakness.

To be effective helpers, we need to be able to be congruent with helpful viewpoints e.g. Someone who describes himself as depressive could only be someone who has an ability to show and accept feelings of sadness. The ability to stay in touch with sadness is a strength as it a useful starting point for honest introspection. In other words, this person has a sensitivity that promotes deep thinking. Hey, this is not a clever play of words, an effective helper that adopts a strengths perspective must really believe this.

Another related point is that our society tends to create 'new' problems every now and then. With 'new' problems, new solutions are touted and one wonders if the human race is one that keeps degenerating. Actually, for most of us we are strong enough to say "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going!" We just got to get going on a playing field where our strengths give us an advantage. As effective helpers, we must be able to see that the world is big enough for every person we work with, to find a playing field where they can excel. There are definitely strengths within the people we work be it in their Hearts, Heads or Hands.

During the Bavarian night, Elisabeth the tutor who charmed us all in her traditional Bavarian outfit, told me that Beyond is a special place. A place where she could experience our passion to serve despite the difficult situations we find ourselves in. Moreover there is a positive energy where everyone seems to get along and aims to make things work.

Thanks Elisabeth for your encouraging words. Affirmation is always strengthening and I would also like to thank Frank & Oja our Professors for strongly challenging us when we fudged up an experiential learning activity for our youths. Adopting a strengths perspective does not mean that we ignore mistakes. We must sincerely believe that people can do better and perform at their true potential and we must always challenge them to do that. So let's respond to our Professors' challenge by strengthening our Culture of Evaluation. Let us humbly look at our mistakes, correct them and get it right the next opportunity that comes our way.

"Good timber does not grow with ease; the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees."--
J. Willard Marriott

Believe me, I am not implying that we are kayu (wood) : )
Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dear Team
It was a school holiday week and most of us were busy keeping the kids occupied. Last Friday evening till breakfast on Saturday, Anne Marie and her team cycled more than 40 km with her whole bunch of Streetwise Programme youths. It turned out that the youths not only appreciated the night out and breaking their curfew but they liked the physical activity as well. One of them even asked Ryan, a cycling enthusiast about racing competitively.

Many of the young people we work with are often complaining about how bored they are and when we give suggestions on what they can do, they just look at you as though you are the most uncool person around. So for every generation of young people, there will be parents and adults fretting about the unhealthy state of youth. Well some things never change but that also goes for the fact that youths need to be challenged. A regular Streetwise Programme Youth would very much prefer to spend his day at the malls in air-conditioned comfort but that does not mean he will not enjoy cycling ...just got to get him started.

Perhaps it is not so much the activity but who is introducing the activity to them. Yesterday, a volunteer had more than 10 youths spellbound as he showed them how to prepare curry chicken. They listened carefully and took turns to work the cleaver on the chicken. Of course, Chef Benny Se Teo was no ordinary volunteer but one who had first hand experience of gangs, drugs and prison. Somehow, the youths could sense that and he knew just what to say for them to listen.

Chef Benny ran a very successful food joint after some time in rehab and currently has a dessert joint along Zion Road, which is just a few minutes away from our Bukit Ho Swee neighbourhood. He has a strong desire to encourage youths at risk and even flew up to London to check out Jamie Oliver's kitchen. Good job Michelle for introducing Chef Benny to Cafe Beyond.

As community workers we bring into our work our strengths and talents. These are useful tools that help us to engage young people but as our work grows, it will be more important for us to bring into our work the strengths and talents of volunteers in our community. Many of these volunteers will be much more effective than we could ever be and that means the young people we reach out to will benefit even more. As community workers we must build social capital which definitions include
• The degree to which a community or society collaborates and cooperates to bring about mutual benefit;
• The value of social networks that people can draw on to solve common problems;
• The attitude, spirit and willingness of people to engage in civic activities that bring about a common good.
Ok... deep thoughts but those of you on the Diploma in Social Work Practice will hear a lot more of it over the next 2 weeks when your Singapore lectures begin on Monday. The German tutors have already began arriving and from the preparation I have seen, it is going to be enlightening and fun.
Just wanted to end by thanking the Sports and Skills Team for dragging the rest of us off our chairs for a couple of hours this afternoon to have some fun competing with the kids.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Dear Team
It's Teachers' Day and today, our Healthy Start Community Workers gave our early childhood teachers a break by taking the kids to the East Coast Park. As the Community Workers supervised the construction of sand castles on the beach, the teachers enjoyed a cuppa at McCafe. Last night, I had the privilege of joining them for a Teachers' Day dinner organised by the Healthy Start CDC Management Committee. Thanks everyone for showing our teachers that they really matter.

The bulk of our team are Community/Social Workers but you know what? Most of us would not have had a social worker in our lives but we would most certainly have had a Teacher. We would also most probably have had a teacher that we liked & respected. Yesterday, a 13 year old that is out of school and training at our Cafe requested permission from us to visit his Primary School Teachers even though school is probably not his favourite place.

Teachers are significant people in our lives who have the ability to impact our lives. Hence, as Community Workers we must be able to harness their potential to impact the lives of the students whom we are trying to help. More often than not, community workers, social workers and other helping professionals end up on the opposing side of the school system. It is always easy to critic intellectually but difficult to critically value the role of the teacher.

Personally, I think teachers work very hard, starting early in the morning and apart from teaching, ending up with all sorts of duties throughout the day. Once in preparation for a Toughlove for Teachers Programme, Ranga and I offered to teach a few classes in school and I must say it was not the easiest job trying to keep 40 active young people clued in to what you were saying. The classroom despite its projector & screen was a challenge as I had to speak rather loudly simply to overcome the white noise from the environment. With 2, 000 students and staff occupying a building where classrooms have windows and doors open, a school can never be silent.

This week we were in a secondary school trying to help a class of 12 'difficult' students view their teachers and school in more positive light. These 12 were separated from the class of 40 so that teachers could provide them closer attention and coaching. These students and their parents could not appreciate the efforts that the teachers were putting in and were generally critical of the arrangement. I have shared about this class before but we finally got to work with them again from last week. Anyway the means of engagement we used was abseiling and all these kids had to be given a slight push over the ledge before they made their way down. Here is a paragraph for Shaw's debrief report to the school.

We related their learning back to their experiences in school. When students give up on their studies, it is often due to fear of failure. If they are willing to overcome their fear, they will have a chance to succeed. The school did not give up on them but, tried different ways to help them to study better. While they recognised the benefits of a small class, they were stuck at the negative feelings that they had towards the class separation. Mr Issac had to point out that their studies had improved as some of them did not acknowledge that. The school had to 'challenge' them in order not to give up on them. The students admitted that they did not like the process. Yet, they knew they were being helped.

We move in and out of schools playing a supporting role and sometimes we have a very difficult time. At least we get to leave before the bell rings but not the teachers. So let's remember that, the next time we meet a teacher. Being Teachers Day, we also thought it would be auspicious to launch a monthly email to all Principals, Discipline Masters, Pastoral Care Heads of schools informing them of delinquency management efforts carried out by educators and community organisations. This is just a small way of encouraging partnerships between schools and voluntary welfare organisations and promoting inclusive school environments.

Lastly, not forgetting Shedah, Om, Letch and all the teachers and volunteers at LIFE. Kudos for believing that primary school children who still struggle with the alphabet will eventually get it. Thanks also to Lillie, Shan Shan, Jeannie, Helen & Cecilia, the social work support team that ensures kids get their bus fares and pocket-money to get to school........so that the teachers will have their hands full : ).

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

To understand the world one must not be worrying about one's self. - Albert Einstein

Dear Team
The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts ended on Wednesday although technically, it is the 7th month of the Lunar Calendar all over again for the next 28 days. If you had visited Bukit Ho Swee the last month, you would have found yourself continually walking through burning incense and joss papers. Your path would have been lined by billowing smoke that some of our children will not look at. These children swear that if you look hard enough you will see the smoke taking the shape of a Hungry Ghost. Quite likely, as you walk along, you would have also been greeted by a traditional Chinese puppet show or opera and in the evenings, a