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 Chinese pop concert that is quite a spectacle for men and pubescent boys alike.

These activities that I have described get a little more visible during the 7th Lunar month but all year round in Bukit Ho Swee, you will witness a myriad of Chinese deities celebrating their birthdays or festivals. These festivals are very much a part of life among the people who seek our help and the children we try to keep out of trouble. Perhaps it bodes well for racial harmony but it is always a little disturbing to see Malay kids hitting the gongs and drums when a Chinese deity goes into a trance. What's worrying for me is that these kids with cigarettes dangling from the side of their mouths should obviously still be in school.

This week, we learnt that a 13 year old boy and his 12 year old brother who pulled out of school about 2 months ago are now being groomed to be Chinese deities by some people who operate a Lion Dance Troop out of a one-room rental flat nearby. The older one is being groomed as a Monkey God while the younger, as the "No 2, Old Man" which is the Chinese version of the grim reaper. We have yet to verify but my guess is that their parents are proud that their sons have been chosen.

Such a situation would quite naturally challenge our values and our understanding of what is a normal or nurturing childhood. Perhaps, what is a decent career path as well? Even though this will bring them up close and personal with the Gods. For the uninitiated, this is a career move for the kids. They are out of school, and the younger one does not even have a primary school certificate but they will be high priests for believers. Their job will be to allow the spirits of the Gods to possess them so that believers can seek the Gods' counsel through them. They will be mediums connecting believers to a world beyond ours.

We share our skyscrapers and HDB Housing with Monkey Gods and several others and in a sense we are Uniquely Singapore. We are one people and one community. However, when we see 2 intelligent children give up school for a sub-culture that is at odds with mainstream, we do wonder if we are really one people? I would say we are not just one people but one world and one human race as long as we can look beyond realities that make sense to us.

Cultures and differences do also create opportunities to bring people together. Arjun and his 5 siblings are in LIFE, our foundational learning programme and they were working on a crossword puzzle with Ombeline as a way of expanding their English vocabulary. When Arjun came across a 7-letter blank for a type of dessert, he suggested Parasam an Indian delicacy. Ombeline had absolutely no idea what Parasam was but to encourage Arjun, she kept the conversation going. In all earnestness, Arjun tried his best to explain but Ombeline could only continue to smile encouragingly.

A couple of days later, Arjun came up to Ombeline and said "Here is some Parasam my mother made. Very nice. Please try." It was really very nice and as the other children and Ombeline told Arjun so, he beamed with pride. I was touched when I heard the story during a LIFE meeting. I was really heartened that Arjun wanted so much to share his world and his mother supported him in the best way she knew how. For me, this was a great example of a home-school partnership in action even though Ombeline who is half French and Arjun, are quite a few worlds apart.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

To be matter of fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy -- and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful. Author: Robert Heinlein

Dear Team
Despite being on the job for such a long time, I was a little shaken when a reporter informed me that a dead premature baby was found in a locker. We contacted the premise where the baby was found and offered our assistance but they politely declined as police investigations were still going on. It was also ironical that the team for Babes, a programme to curb the incidence of abandoned babies were in the midst of preparing for an NCSS Audit. As the audit was in progress on Tuesday morning, a copy of the Strait Times with the story on the front page was in the same room. However, the auditor had the good sense to say that the effectiveness of our Programme must be judged over time and not by such incidents.

Babes was launched on 21 Feb 2005 and since then there has been 2 reported incidents. One was an abandoned foetus at a canal on 30 June 06 and this other was the case this week. We now know that it was a 36 year old mother of 2 that was responsible for the latest incident but I am not sure if we will ever know why she did it. Babes targets teenagers experiencing a troubled pregnancy so at our next Partner Network meeting we will be getting our partners such as the National Pregnancy Helpline to share their thoughts on the latest incident. While adults experiencing a troubled pregnancy may not be our target group, it is still our position to see that no babies are abandoned in Singapore.

The NCSS Audit went well on the whole but they recommended that we use a PDA Phone for our work so that we are more efficient in our collation of data. Makes sense; so we will be putting it into the budget that we will be submitting to them. Also related to the Babes Programme was a resident at Community Beyond. Last Saturday, after a discharge interview where she returned home to her family, she gave birth to a baby girl. Both mother and child are doing well.

This week the FSC Team were working closely with Gan Eng Seng Primary on a Child Protection issue. It was heartening to see the school take such an active interest in the management of the children in need of protection.
We have had a working relationship with this school since it began in 2002 and perhaps because of the numerous children we have helped so far, some teachers there see a need to attend to the 'social' aspects of their children. Usually, schools prefer to leave it entirely to agencies like us but this time round we had a very active partner and this facilitated the work.

This year, Safe Kids our Child Protection Programme at Family Services has attended to 28 children referred either by MCYS or the other teams within Beyond. Care plans have help keep these children away from further abuse and cared for within the community. Some of these children have moved into our Kids United Home and some have been placed in foster care. Today, MCYS placed a 7 year old boy with our one volunteer foster parent. We were rather surprised that they did not place him under state care but pleased that these days, MCYS is working very hard to divert children away from institutional or state care.

Later this evening a bunch of youths who are training at Cafe Beyond will be invited for high tea by Woody, a volunteer who is the training manager of the Tung Lok Group of Restaurants. The purpose is for them to experience the discipline needed and the quality expected to work in a top notch restaurant. Besides the education, I am sure our youths will happily take away a full stomach as well.

Hmm....as I look back at the week, our work really requires us to be in touch with so many different types of community partners. We work with government departments, restaurants, schools, volunteers and so forth. Many seek our help but we can only really be helpful when we realise that the best interest of the help-seeker is best served by and within our larger community. To be helpful to the help-seeker, we must move beyond the role of counsellor and be that of a community builder.*

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Our rich texture of racial, religious and political diversity will be a Godsend in the 21st century. Great rewards will come to those who can live together, learn together, work together, forge new ties that bind together. - Bill Clinton

* for more info check out http://www.beyond.org.sg/StaticBeyond/AboutUs/About-Phil.asp

Dear Team
Last Sunday, the children from our Healthy Start Child Development Centre were invited to a Sports Day organised in conjunction with National Day. We were invited by the group of child development centres that were participating in the Sports Day and our children participated as a guest team. It was a well organised National Day Celebration that was graced by the Mayor for Central Singapore and attended by about 2000 residents.

It may have been a competition for pre-schoolers but the other teams were dead serious. For us, we took heart that it was our children's first experience of competitive sports. Anyway, what was heart-warming for me was the keen manner in which our children observed the dances and other performances put up by the children of Bishan. There were of course, lots of familiar National Day songs and our kids sang along when they knew the words.

It hit me then, why the daily ritual of singing the National Anthem and reciting the pledge was an important part of the Healthy Start CDC Curriculum. It is about giving our children a sense of belonging and a part in mainstream Singapore. This is even so more important for our children who are often deemed marginalised.

We sometimes wonder about the parents and children who take what they can from us and disappear without even a word of thanks. We call this a welfare dependency mentality. However, perhaps it is just that they never felt that we are on the same team so to speak, or members of the same community. It is always easier to take advantage of a stranger rather than an acquaintance e.g. tourists tend to be charged more for goods or services than locals.

Hence, celebrating National Day is one important way of coming together as ONE. It is one way of creating a sense of community where people look out for one another because we are all one community. So I am really glad that the Healthy Start Child Development Centre had their own little National Day Celebration and the Centre is decorated with flags made by the children and their parents. Now that Healthy Start CDC has shown the way, we should really have all departments at Beyond coming together for a celebration next year.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Every individual has a place to fill in the world and is important in some respect whether he chooses to be so or not. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

Dear Team
Last Saturday morning, my son wanted to stay home with my wife so I was really looking forward to doing some work at the office alone. Without sounding like a reluctant father, I was looking forward to some undisturbed productive work time and quite honestly, with glee. As I was just about to get started, the phone rang and on the other end was a worried voice asking me which office was open as she could not find anyone at Block 34, Block 5 or Block 26. She was surprised that someone answered the phone as the door was locked. Of course it was locked, I wanted to be undisturbed. Anyway, I opened the main door and there she was, baby in arm and 2 other young children in tow.

Kate as we shall call her, explained that her case worker was hospitalised and she was desperate to speak to someone from Beyond because she had to rush off to her elderly mother in Clementi who was unwell. The baby in her arms belonged to Joan, another parent under our care who has paid her a small fee to baby-sit. Kate was frustrated as Joan had not been contactable and appears to have dumped the baby on her. Kate wanted to leave the baby with me for half a day while she attended to her mother. Immediately the thought hit me "left my kids at home and now I have a baby for company."

After we exchanged phone numbers and agreed that she returns at 3 pm, Baby Nat was lying comfortably in the office. I was going into a meeting an hour later so I informed Martha and asked Shaziah to help me out. A couple of hours later, it was as if there was a baby shower in the office. Stella and her children were there, so was John and Ranga. Even Nadym came by to check out the fuss.

Baby Nat was a cheerful one that kept everyone in good spirits but amidst the excitement, we seriously discussed the possibility of Kate disappearing along with Joan. Kate remained in contact with me via SMS and we learnt that she was at the hospital with her mother. One option was to send Baby Nat to KK Hospital and treat the case as abandonment. This would almost mean that Joan will be separated from Baby Nat for a long time and perhaps permanently because Joan has a past that will not bode well for her reliability as a parent. As a teen she was Beyond Parental Control, she is divorced with custody of her first child going to her ex-husband and she was recently released from prison and not to mention that Baby Nat was born out of wedlock.

On hindsight, I am glad we chose the other option of respecting the rights of Joan. The meeting I went for that morning was with a foreign visitor Mary Shuttleworth, the Director of Youth for Human Rights International an organisation that works closely with the UN. I could still hear her voice in my head "Rights must always go hand-in-hand with responsibility. Young people must learn that they cannot have rights without wanting to be responsible!" So the question troubling all of us at the "baby shower" was whether Joan would be responsible.

At 5 pm, Joan turned up with Baby Nat's father. Initially she was rather defensive as she thought that we were going to take Baby Nat away from her. When she learnt that we wanted to continue supporting her, it was clear that she really wanted to be responsible. When Stella visited her home on Monday, Baby Nat was in a cot and it was obvious that Joan and the baby's father were working hard to care for Baby Nat. With some support from the Healthy Start Programme, they are now discharging their parental responsibilities dutifully.

Parenting is no easy task. Our small group home for children continually churns out all sorts of challenges. If we were jaded we would swear that putting 2 or 3 kids together is a sure-fire recipe for disaster that should be avoided at all costs. Thankfully we are not and continue to give these children the best we can.

This week, a 10 year old swallowed a map pin while rolling it in her mouth as a show of bravado when she was alone with her friends. She was not in the least bit concerned and was puzzled by our serious faces and voices as we rushed her to hospital. It was only when the doctor use the X-ray negative to explain the severity of it all to her that she had a reaction. She broke down in tears.

On several occasions, we warned this girl and other kids about playing with pins in their mouths but yet they continued to do so behind our backs. Children don't always comprehend what we are trying to get across and even if they do, they may still follow their own mind. This is an important realisation to bear in mind when we engage parents and care-givers.

As community or social workers, we will at some time find ourselves ‘imposing’ the expectations of society onto those we are trying to help. Sometimes this blinds us to the genuine difficulties that parents or care-givers are experiencing. Determining what is the wise, kind, fair or ethical thing to do is seldom straightforward and requires both a clear head and a warm heart. Take Joan & Baby Nat for instance; going to the authorities immediately would have been less risky and efficient but then, these are people's lives we are dealing with. Let's remember that we are all in this because we have chosen to care and this requires us to think, feel and act responsibly.

Finally, we welcomed our first female resident at Community Beyond this week.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

"Any of us can feel full and still be starving for love."

The essence of family life is co-operation and not togetherness. A Toughlove Belief.

Dear Team
Last Sunday, I finally managed to do something that I have been wanting too for a long time. I got in a canoe and paddled up and down the canal behind our Family Service Centre at Delta Avenue. It was fun but the purpose was really to get a 13 year old boy and his father to work together.

As we were launching the canoes, this boy somehow got into the double seater with Kyle instead of his dad. He paddled off quickly to avoid being with his father declaring "My father cannot swim or canoe." I was near his father and it was funny to hear him mumbling in response "What canoe? I was playing with sampans before you born." We paddled for a few minutes just to get used to the water and eventually diverted into a narrow opening along the canal used by maintenance workers. We climbed up the wall-mounted ladders there, enabling father and son to switch canoes and pairing up in the same one.

This was a very streetwise 13 year old who did not have much respect for his dad and we put him in the same canoe with his father so that he could experience taking instructions from his father. Despite his bravado, we knew that the 13 year old was not fantastic at canoeing and we were confident that his father, who was previously a seaman would outshine him.

Dad was definitely more comfortable in the canoe and in the water but the pair had much to learn in terms of team work. Well at least they were talking and I must say, rather loudly and clearly. However, like their life they were going in zig-zag fashion. The rest of us were racing ahead when my sun hat got blown off. As the father and son team were behind, they tried to retrieve the hat but just as they got near, they lost their balance and capsized.

Rashid, Vincent, Kyle and I headed back to rescue and it turned out to be a rare moment where father and son cooperated to the hilt. The T-rescue went without a hitch and within 10 minutes both of them were back in their cockpits and paddling along. We were in the waters for about 2 hours and at the end, the son got off near the Grand Copthorne Hotel and walked back to Delta Avenue where we started. It was no happy ending but it was a start for father and son to rekindle their relationship. Both of them did get back together though for a photo moment just before we packed up. As we packed up, we told them with a smile that they had to keep coming back until their canoe was able to go in a straight line.

It was a pleasant morning and it was most meaningful for the father and son when I lost my hat or rather when they were in trouble. People can either drift apart or pull together in times of difficulty and our presence can determine that outcome. Let's always remember that every case of presenting problems we encounter is always an opportunity to be useful and to expand or rather, enrich our view of the world.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Dear Team
We were appointed by the Clementi Police Division to be a VWO liaison officer for Queenstown Secondary School. We already have a very good working relationship with the school's counsellor and operations manager so this appointment is simply validating a task we have been performing the past year. The role of the liaison officer is to manage juvenile delinquency cases that have been diverted from the police system. So next Tuesday, we will be receiving an appointment letter at the Police, FSC and Schools Symposium they are organising and Saras will be sharing about the outcomes of her Family Group Conferences.

The police have always been working closely with community organisations like ours to address offending trends where they feel can be reversed with the help of family support and civil society. These issues include family violence and juvenile delinquency. Last Saturday, about 30 police officers "invaded" our youth centre with their fancy cars, equipment and martial arts to mingle with our youths and of course, to impart friendly advice that 'crime does not pay.' There was also a buffet lunch thrown in for good measure. Somehow, these youths seemed to have enjoyed climbing onto the police vehicles and getting their photographs taken. Later, there was even a football match between the police and our youths that ended in a 1-1 draw. We then lost on penalties.

While we work closely with the police, both the police and us must realise that our roles are different. We both want to improve society but our roles are very different. Years ago when we had the Police Boys' Clubs, officers were often experiencing much role confusion whenever kids shared their little misdemeanours. Well I am not saying that we protect our kids from the consequences of them breaking the law, I am saying that as long as the kid is within our reach where we can exert some positive influence, it is our job to turn them around instead of sending him into the corrective system. If they really screw up, the long arm of the law will catch up with them and we do not have to facilitate that.

Hence, we do really have to be careful about the 'consequences' we put forth in our day to day management of the young people. We need to develop consequences that help their caregivers re-establish their authority and regain cooperation. This is no easy task but a necessary skill that we need to continually hone in our efforts at delinquency management.

A piece of advice many social agencies dish out to caregivers troubled by their children's delinquent behaviour is to file a Beyond Parental Control complain with the Family Court. Actually, this means surrendering parental rights to the court and for us, that's pretty drastic. Yes, we have done so on some occasions too but those decisions were made on a case by case basis, usually to prevent further self-harm. Despite being Beyond Social Services, the facilitation of Beyond Parent Control Complains is something we want to avoid as far as possible.

The impersonal hand of government can never replace the helping hand of a neighbour.
Hubert H. Humphrey

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dear Team
Firstly, an update that kind of got lost in the midst of activity before the Citi-MilkRun. Through the graciousness of Care Community Services, who gave us a table space at their Care Point Building in Lavender Street, we began work at our 4th Healthy Start Office on 19 June 2006. This is our 3rd Healthy Start Outpost and the housing areas we have targeted are Geylang Behr, McPherson and Shampoo. It has been less than a month and without any massive outreach exercise, we are on 10 cases already. Good work Stella for getting in touch with the community partners in the area and making contact with Minister of State Heng Chee How who is the MP looking after Whampoa.

We are sharing our work approaches with Care Community Services with a view to help them focus more on the low-income disadvantaged families. Perhaps, eventually they can carry out the Healthy Start Programme too.

As we reach out to more children, inevitably our caseworkers have to reorganise the caseload. What may seem like a simple exercise can impact the children negatively. Hence, at a meeting this morning I was very proud of the caseworkers handling the primary school children for standing their ground "in the best interest of the child." Often as caseloads increase and services expand, we reorganise to better cope with the work. In the name of efficiency we pass cases from one team to another or across departments. Unfortunately, this has a very destabilising effect on young children who hardly had the benefit of consistency with adults in their lives.

Children come to us because of their unstable backgrounds and we must carry out our work with enough sensitivity so that we do not rub salt into their wounds. So I thank Pascale and team for reminding me of this basic responsibility we have towards the children under our care. This morning we clarified that as far as possible we will not change a child's caseworker even if he/she attends programmes offered by another department.

I left the meeting feeling very comforted as the "forced" inefficiency meant that the child will experience a consistent adult figure in his life and at the same time benefit from supportive members within an extended family. As we are quite a size now, perhaps it would be best to explain to children that Beyond is one big extended family and he will be cared for by different 'uncles and aunts' who can help him in different ways. For example, a caseworker may say to a child "I am your guardian who talks to your teachers in school but I am not good at Maths but you know what, Aunt Shedah can help."

Children at Beyond are aware of their schedules so while his overall accountability is to his caseworker, he is always accountable to the aunt or uncle who has been scheduled to attend to him. In sum, for this to work we always have to draw on the strengths and possibilities of an extended family structure that gives their best to all nieces and nephews simply because we are family.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

The family is the school of duties... founded on love. - Adler, Felix

Dear Team
So, the run is over and as we clear the post-run logistics, we are already processing the feedback that is coming our way for the improvement of next year's run. There is still much to do for some of us but we want to thank everyone once again for the effort that resulted in the biggest result since we began in 2001 - 11209 participants and a million dollars.

This week the Family Service and Child Protection Department reviewed how they could play a more active role in supporting Beyond's mission to curb delinquency among children and youths from disadvantaged backgrounds. It started with the clarity that while we are a part of the National Family Service Centre Network, we are firstly Beyond's Family Service Centre. Since 1991, we have been operating an FSC in a low-income neighbourhood. The experience garnered from this programme gave us the confidence to branch off into specialised delinquency management programmes for children, youths and their families.

Today, the demands made on the FSC team are diverse and if we do not have a grip on the situation, we will end up a Tracy of all trades but a Master of none. Hence, the FSC team decided that they should firstly nurture core skills to help parents troubled by the delinquent behaviours of their children and the skills for the engagement of disadvantaged families. Over time, workers can increase their competencies in other areas.

I would just like to share an incident that happened on Tuesday that would explain why there is a need to develop a sensitivity or a skills set for the engagement of disadvantaged families. Jacinda and Ranga made their way to the home of a single mother who refused to allow her pregnant teen to be admitted into hospital. The teen was already dilated and this mother was adamant that the teen delivers at home. Prior to this home visit social workers from other agencies have been in touch with the family and they told us all sorts of horror stories about the mother who screamed at them and literally chased them out of the flat. This mother even SMSed the social workers an insult after they kindly left a bag of food rations at her doorstep.

When the mother met Jacinda and Ranga, she brushed them aside saying that she was really tired after work. However, after dabbing her face with a wet towel and composing herself, she sat them down and served them water mixed with a bit of evaporated milk. When she realised that they were from a different agency she started pouring her heart out and spoke for more than 2 hours describing how she had 7 pregnancies of her own and how 2 died during childbirth. She also described how she lost her temper when social workers opened her fridge, checked her rice bin when she asked them for $50 to tide things over.

This was a woman who walked 4 bus-stops to and fro work and tried her best to remain self-reliant. I would think that she has every right to be proud of herself. Asking for help must be a difficult thing for her and unfortunately in the course of our work, we social workers can be down right insensitive. A heavy caseload, rigid operating procedures and the lack of support take away the respect for human dignity that is supposed to be ingrained in us.

At Beyond, we provide our teams ongoing support through a series of in-house training programmes we call Journey Beyond. Besides imparting skills, it also serves to bring team-mates together in a supportive and nurturing environment fostering camaraderie. I am glad that our FSC Team will be embarking on an on-going journey to strengthen their connection with the low-income community and the problems of juvenile delinquency.

For the record, the pregnant teen is now safely cared for in hospital.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing -Ralph Waldo Emerson

In youth we learn, in age we understand.
Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Dear Team
It's 2 days away from the Citi-MilkRun and we are now at 11209 participants of which 9 956 will be runners. The phones are still ringing and we are telling people that we have no goodie bag or tee-shirt for them but they are still coming. The support is just amazing. I remember clearly during our first staff briefing a couple of months ago, we were all visibly concerned about the low turnout of 3000 caused by the 40th Anniversary Celebrations of the Singapore Youth Festival which is happening tomorrow. Well, there will certainly be another Singapore Youth Festival this Sunday. Perhaps one with less pomp but certainly one with more heart.

I am also glad to report that we have surpassed our modest target of $30 000 from general donations. Did not have time to tally all the cheques but donations are now between $60k to $70k with more to come.This is simply because of the excellent work done by our volunteer fund raisers namely, Bernard, Choong Onn, Ek Thoe, Matthew & Seok Har. Thanks guys.

The overwhelming support has created a happy problem but nevertheless we all need to be more vigilant with crowd control and managing the disappointment of those who missed out on the goodie bags. Let's remember all our preparation would come to nought if we slip up here - so lets finish the job well.

This evening our kids and youths have been packed off to camp. They begin resting and preparing themselves for Sunday's run. It is also a time for bonding and celebrating the co-operation and hard training everyone has put in over the last 4 months. For many of our children, it has become an annual highlight and ritual that symbolises their ability to achieve.

Tomorrow, we will gather all the young people, thank them for training hard and serving as our "ambassadors". We will also tell them how proud we are of them. Everyone will then be issued their runner tags, their new running kit and briefed on the following day's programme. It is a nice ritual, a little like having new clothes for Chinese New Year but instead of celebrating a new year, we tell the kids "We are celebrating a 'new' you that is now stronger in body, mind and soul."

See you at the run and Happy Youth Day!
Gerard

P.s. This is the 52nd weekly issue of Another Week Beyond. Thanks for your kind words and encouragement over the past year.
People grow old only by deserting their ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.
You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt;
As young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope as old as your despair.

In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber. So long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are you young. When your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only, are you grown old. And then, indeed as the ballad says, you just fade away.”
- Douglas MacArthur quotes (American General who commanded the Southwest Pacific Theatre in World War II, 1880-1964)

Dear Team
I am glad to report that the Citi-MilkRun has now received $1 003 000 in donations towards our programmes that fight delinquency among children and youths. This is the first time we have seen anything like that and it is largely due to the corporate support from PSA and Citigroup. Citigroup collected $400k from their business associates and this brought us over the 1 million mark. Our most grateful thanks to Lung for his leading the organising committee and steering all of us to keep in mind the reason for all our efforts - 'The Kids". Yes Lung, we are all here for the kids : ).

I would also like to put on record, the magnificent manner in which PSA responded to our needs as organisers. All event costs have been sponsored mainly because of their efforts. They did almost every thing to ensure the event will get going without a hitch. These included transportation of participants, logistical manpower, refreshments and even the clearing of rubbish. Since PSA became a part of the run, the participation at the Run is in the 8k to 10k range instead of 3k. The value of such contributions are beyond the monetary value of the services provided. Service from the heart is a value that is not quite quantifiable but invaluable.

With so much support directed towards our efforts at anti-delinquency work, I thought I should just share a little on the day to day challenges faced by us. Social work conjures images of a helping hand, a listening ear and a warm heart but with the delinquency management work we do, we need an iron fist in a velvet glove. This is not always easy to do but we would be naive if we think we can simply turn kids around through tender loving care.

A productive and effective helping relationship needs mutual respect and cooperation. A kid who has been missing from home for weeks will not be cooperative when we find him. In fact he will probably see how he can get away from the authority of his parents and us. If it is not us who will help him cool down, it would have to be the courts and that would mean the parents surrendering their parental rights. It also means that the young person would spend his formative years institutionalised. No parent would want to see their child go down that road and I believe such a move hurts the parent more than the kid.

That's why we run that extra mile for the kids and their parents as the alternatives are often drastic and have long ranging effects on their lives. But to do so also means that we have to assume the responsibility of enforcing Toughlove. Toughlove actions always appears harsh to the bystander so we are always checking ourselves that they are not abusive and have the full support of the parents. Our goal is always to help the parents or the family re-establish the rightful authority they have over their child. As such we have to be comfortable with the position that parents and children are not equal and that the essence of family life is cooperation and not togetherness.

Beyond exists to fight delinquency among children and youths and that means all our staff have to be prepared to be battle scarred and strong enough to make hard decisions.

Ok back to the Citi-MilkRun, tomorrow we will have a full dressed parade rehearsal at Zouk. There are now 8239 participants and our own humble fund raising effort is now $25 870 up from $22 903 last week.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dear Team
The donations from our regular donors have now reached $22,903 - up from $$7,646 last week. Its is a really encouraging and I thank our volunteer fund-raisers and everyone else who has put in a good word for the work we do. You must have been fantastic advocates who spoke from the heart.

While $30 000, may be a small part of the eventual $800 000 we are aiming to raise, doing our part as best as we can is an important effort in assuming responsibility for our work. Personally, appealing for funds has always helped me value the work we do more. Every time I sign a letter or make a call, it hits me that people do not have to give us anything. So, firstly I have to always reflect if we are doing good work and secondly, acknowledge that even good work does not necessarily get supported. It is a humbling exercise that actually deepens my conviction for what we do. It has also made me more resilient and actually, a more positive person too because reacting negatively to disappointments will only make life unbearable.

Besides the funds, we are also very grateful for those who have been sorting the goodie bags, delivering them and basically putting order to the mess that we have at the Hangout. PSA volunteers have been absolutely fabulous with the task and we are also very grateful for the kind words they often had for our colleagues whose faces carry the strain. Hang in there Rapti, Ziline, Amelia, Yik & Serena : )

This week, our Healthy Start Child Development Centre was inspected by MCYS and though the results are not out yet, we are confident we will pull through well. Just want to thank our teachers and Wan Inn for several months of preparation and staying back till late the night before just to make sure we are ship shape. Boy, was the inspection meticulous. Even the small print of the fire extinguisher was examined. On the same day, our Cafe Beyond was also inspected by the National Environment Agency and soon the Cafe can be proud owners of that laminated blue piece of paper with an A, B, C or D that we see at hawker centres and food outlets.

Cafe Beyond is an important programme that imparts positive work attitudes to our youths. It is not necessarily about preparing them for the F & B industry but rather about instilling a work ethic. Many youths don't come to terms soon enough that they will have to work some day or be self reliant. Sometimes it is because they really have a privileged lifestyle but what about those we serve who come from a disadvantaged background? My visit to the Singapore Boys Home this morning provided me a clue.

The Boys Home is managed as a medium security prison and these days they try to soften the environment by lining potted plants all around and displaying the artwork of the inmates. Wall murals are changed regularly and mural painting is a great task for keeping 10 to 20 inmates meaningfully occupied at one time. What struck me though was the subject of their art work. Heavily tattooed rough and tough guys were producing pictures of Winnie the Pooh and all the other characters of the Hundred Acre Wood. Moreover, Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil were frequently drawn too and they were produced in the 'baby' version i.e. it was not an adult Bugs Bunny but a Baby Bugs and a Baby Tas that were chubbier with lots of baby fat.

Ok, I know I am going to get accused of playing amateur psychologist but I will stick my neck out anyway. Many of these disadvantaged kids have missed a large part of their childhood and while their bodies have physically grown, they behave like children with poor impulse control. Hmm...just like my 3 year old son screaming "I want slurpee and I want it now!"

Nicely put, these inmates are late developers in the areas of empathy and delayed gratification; 2 virtues that significantly contribute to moral intelligence. Perhaps, life as a teenager who is expected to behave like a young adult is too overwhelming. Hence, now that they have time on their hands rediscovering the joys of Winnie the Pooh and friends is connecting with a childhood they did not have. In any case, viewing our difficult kids as late developers rather than recalcitrant is more hopeful.

Finally, tomorrow morning will be the first dry run of our Youth Day Parade. It will not be on site though but will be held at Ngee Ann Poly in the morning. Like I said on FM98.7 on Tuesday, what I find really exciting and meaningful is having young people from different backgrounds work together. Rappers with military bands, University students drumming with a neighbourhood school and primary school kids cheer-leading with teens. It's going to be a quite a show and we are just 15 days away from that blast of a Youth Day Celebration, we call the Citi-MilkRun.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dear Team
Just came out of a briefing on what we need to do from 12 noon on 30 June to 8 pm on 2 July 2006 with regards to the Citi-MilkRun. There is an hour by hour "to do" list to be carried out by staff and volunteers; starting from the issuing of T-shirts and number tags on Friday till the clearing of rubbish on Sunday evening. Well, looks like we are all set for the big day.

Our children are getting into the Citi-MilkRun mood too as they tell me how hard they have been training when I bum into them. Small talk is about who is going to come up tops and one particular boy, Fairus keeps telling me that he wants to emulate a couple of his uncles who were previously Champions. Role modelling is such a natural and powerful way we all learn and I am just glad the Citi-MilkRun has helped provide positive heroes for Fairus.

Oh by the way, since our appeal for funds last week, $7646.10 has come in and I am just hoping we reach that $30k target. Also, we are now at 7145 participants : ). Thanks PSA for coming in with a running contingent of more than 900. Great job Fong Tze, Greta and team at PSA.

While some of us are absorbed by the hive of Citi-MilkRun activity, the rest of us are still deep into the grind of our regular work. Din was tirelessly following leads and he eventually found a 13 year old runaway at Bugis. The young girl is now safe under the care of Myrna and Jimmy and there is much work ahead with the girl and her family. Ryan, on his rounds in the neighbourhood met a bunch of 5 gung-ho youths aged from 13 to 15 years old in the midst of piercing their tongues with unhygienic studs. He began advising them to sterilise their studs and eventually only 1 boy went through with the piercing. However, when that boy met Ryan the following day, he did not have the stud anymore. He also told Ryan that it was perhaps not such a good idea after all.

Harm minimising is an important part of work whether we are working with children, youths or families. We always need to be aware and sensitive to the clear and present dangers staring at us. As ground workers too long in the field we may be jaded and lose that sensitivity. Sometimes we focus too much into the future of the person we are helping and lose touch with the here and now. So please remember to always share notes with team mates to minimise the harm we may be inadvertently causing.

This week, the Children Service and LIFE Teams got into day long planning sessions and have sharpened their mission and work philosophy. Will share more when things are more firmed up. Yesterday, the FSC Team began planning for the task of making sure all the families of our children and youths, feel included at the Citi-MilkRun. Also MCYS shared the Audit Report of our FSC with our Board members. In sum on all fronts it has been busy but guess since 2001, we have been trained to last the distance.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Dear Team
The Citi-MilkRun now has 5653 participants up from 5522 last week. Not a big jump but an improvement nevertheless. So far, about $400k has been pledged mainly through the efforts of PSA & Citigroup the main sponsors and our target is $800K. On our end, we have been assigned a modest target of $30K and we have 2 volunteer fund-raisers doing the rounds with their friends. To help them out, we dug out the database of our donors over the past 3 years and found about 2500 names. With the help of volunteers we managed to get 900 odd appeal letters out to those who gave more than $100 the last time round. The bench mark for a reasonable mass mail response is 2.5 % but since these are regular supporters, I am keeping my fingers crossed for a better than average response.

It was encouraging to know that so many people have supported our work. These people offered us their goodwill simply because they trusted that we would put their funds to do good in a responsible way. Perhaps they were introduced to our cause by a friend, a volunteer or by one of us. Or, they formed an impression of us from some media coverage they came across. Whatever it was, it was good enough for them to part with their money. However, it is not good enough on our part to believe that our responsibility ends when we issue a tax-deductible receipt. We need to constantly 'justify' the reason for our existence.... without going paranoid of course.

Responsible usage of public funds would mean that funds are used efficiently and effectively. Programme evaluation of social services must be carried out on both fronts. Cost efficient programmes that have no impact are a waste of resources while spending for effectiveness must be realistic and practical. Say you are out shopping and a sales person shows you a product that you absolutely have no use or liking for. He then gives it to you for free with the condition that you cannot resell it or give it away. That product is worthless to you and this will be like a cost efficient programme that has no impact. On the other hand, there is something you absolutely like and need but if you are level headed, you will always have a limit as to the amount you are willing to pay for it.

In the month ahead, all teams will be meeting to review and refine their strategic plans. Cost and effectiveness will definitely come into the discussions e.g. based on an operating capacity of 150 kids per year in the LIFE Programme, each hour a child spends in LIFE will cost $4.82. Is this too expensive? Well, we can only answer that if we know whether we have achieved the Programme objectives or whether the child has been helped the way that we have intended. Over time, we will be getting to the costing of all programmes and our planning must be guided by the facts before us. By the way, LIFE is highlighted only because these are the first set of figures we managed to work through.

This brings me back to the donors who support us. When we are clear and transparent about how we are managing public goodwill, we will be sensitised not to take their goodwill for granted. This improves accountability and sets the foundation for a longer term relationship with them that is built on the responsible management of the trust they have placed in us.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Goodwill is earned by many acts; it can be lost by one.
Duncan Stuart

Dear Team
You are going to be hearing a lot about the Citi-MilkRun these few weeks and right now we are at 5522 participants up from 3470 last week. Great going folks, just got to get another 4478 people to show up on Race Day. Preparations are also going full swing. At the Youth Park tomorrow, there will be another round of auditions for young people wanting to parade their talents on Race Day and on Monday we start packing the goodie bags at Block 26. As usual, Block 26 is in a mess but we now have an excuse, a hive of activity and a flow of volunteers walking in and out.

This week, Ranga and I went for some tuition to help us refine our strategic plan. In June, all departments will be engaged to review your key operating objectives for the year and how you are going to achieve them. Lots of thinking to do but like they say, meticulous planning will enable whatever we do to appear simple. Basically, good work begins with good planning and needs to be followed by effective execution.

Our tutor was Andrew Sng, a long time friend of Beyond and he said something that struck me. He said that we did not really have a product and it was really the quality of the people that determined the quality of our work. You know, even if we are beginning case workers, we are doing case management. Problems are presented to us by people in need and we just to need to be on top of the situation. In a sense, our work requires management skills and the attitude of a manager from Day 1 even if we are not considered one in the organisation's hierarchy. It can be tough but the best way to approach the job is to take charge. No amount of instructions or SOPs are going to completely take away the need for a personal assessment or a judgement call. As a helping professional, we have responsibility and we need to be able to manage ourselves and the presenting problems responsibly if we are to be of help to those we serve.

Other teams have also been working hard looking at their work in the light of the recent retreats. Social Work Support, Residential Services, Restorative Justice and Child Protection. When relooking the components for our Juvenile Justice in Schools Programme, we realised that we need to work within the frameworks of the education system if we want to secure the cooperation of teachers and the school management. Teachers are already swarmed with lots and only by having our Programme within the frame of their existing duties will they be able to work with us in full co-operation. Lastly, in the area of child protection work, we reviewed the first cut of our SOP and should have a refined version in a couple of weeks.

In sum, the week was not just lots of muscle work for the Citi-MilkRun but brain work too for the improvement of our services. In any case, it is time to enjoy your weekend.

Gerard

Dear Team
Firstly, let us welcome our new members who are on this weekly mailing list. They are the management committees for our child development centre, our homes for children and our homes for youths. These management committees are required by MCYS to help govern the facilities we manage and our Board has put together teams with expertise that includes medical, legal, banking, accounting, business and psychology. Am really glad to note that good people continue to come forward to help us in our work.

As explained during out Citi-MilkRun briefing this week, our operating budget is about 5 million and we hope to raise $700K to $800K from our main fund raising event. On the whole, we are currently fund raising for 70% of our operating budget. This is because many of our Programmes are new but moving forward we need to work towards getting 70% of our funds from mainstream sources provided by the government. As explained in recent weeks, this is the way to go if we want our programmes to be sustainable for children in the years to come and our work to continue beyond us.

For now, we have the Citi-MilkRun ahead of us and this is the period where we really have to keep our spirits up. After our briefing, we have circulated another 1197 donation cards. Great going folks : ). Watching everyone pulling together as a team always strengthens me. Thanks.

I know, every year we think we are more prepared but something always comes along and we are always rather nervous before the big day. This year, a school that was sending more than 2000 runners pulled out because they will be having their own event a few days later and on the whole all schools are sending us less runners because of the Singapore Youth Festival the day before.

To date we have 3470 participants inclusive of race day officials but we need 10 000. 29 schools have responded which is 6 more than last year but the numbers are down. I know those of us who work with schools have been hounding them every day with emails, phone calls and visits, appealing to their goodwill and sense of charity to increase their numbers. I know it has not been easy to keep getting a 'NO' straight in your face but hang on okay, this morning Chris managed to get 100 runners from a school that has continually turned us down since 2001. So heads up, breakthroughs are possible ; ).

Now, back to the heart and soul of the run - Our Young People! The run is really about giving them a Youth Day Celebration that shows them they matter. When they start training and believing that they are contributing back to the organisation, we are teaching them to help themselves and just as importantly, their peers. Getting them involved in the service of others is imparting to them a virtue that strengthens their moral intelligence. Do remember though we have to believe in the value of all this before our young people do so. It starts with us.

All these years, we have been using running as a metaphor for life and our young people seem to understand. We have been espousing the value of 'lasting the distance' and catchy phrases like "winning is not everything but the effort to win is" and so forth. For the younger kids, we remind them of the tortoise and the hare. Basically we use stories, examples of effort, music, affirmation and encouragement of all manner to get our young people believing they can go the distance. We then assure them they can apply the determination they have developed in other aspects of their lives.

Every year, the event turns out reasonably well and we always have heart warming stories to tell. Let us believe it that it should be no different this year and continue working towards that kick-ass youth day celebration that we call ours. Let's show our young people that like them, we go the distance.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

PS Here is part of a song we use for the kids - It's Go the Distance from Disney's Hercules.

I'll be there someday, I can go the distance
I will find my way, If I can be strong
I know ev'ry mile, Will be worth my while
When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong

And I won't look back, I can go the distance
And I'll stay on track
No I won't accept defeat, It's an uphill slope
But I won't lose hope
Till I go the distance, And my journey is complete
But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part
For a hero's strength is measured by his heart

Dear Team
Just got back from the Residential Services Retreat and I am glad to say that we have strengthened our understanding of the task at hand.

Our emphasis will be BEYOND Residential Services and our homes will be temporary shelters that provide residents care, protection and guidance while we put in place plans for them to be cared for by their family group. The time frame we have given ourselves to get the young person back into his community is 1 year. Perhaps some of you may say that 1 year is 'hard-to-do' but it will be a good test of our community bridging skills and a time frame that will keep us on our toes and true to our belief that young people need their family group or community.

In a developed country like Singapore, operating a residential facility is an extremely expensive affair. Professional house-parents and community workers are artificial and costly guardians who may not be successful anyway. Apart from costs, when we think about it, it is 'unfair' because these residents are receiving resources that are beyond the average young person. Hey! It is not our job to turn the world upside down but it is our job to provide a leg-up when the chips are down. We are not adopting these young people so that they share our lives but we are supporting them to get their lives back on a non-destructive (not necessarily positive) track.

Do spend some time reflecting about our role every now and over time we should get a little more enlightened.
Anyway, our children's home is for those aged from 4 to 14 years old identified by Beyond's service teams or referred by MCYS who are in need of temporary care, protection or guidance while our post-care home is for 'homeless' youths aged between 15 to 21 who have agreed to be helped and be committed to be reintegrated into their community. "Homeless" is defined as those who have finished their stay in a MCYS institution and have no home to return to or are rejected by their families.

This was the last of a series of 4 retreats for this year and I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this strengthening exercise that was at times painful but like we always tell the kids "no pain no gain". The work we do must continue beyond us if we really believe that young people must continue to be helped after we are gone. I have gathered that this is another dimension to our name. If we do not build beyond us, we may actually be serving only ourselves and not the young people in need as we automatically claim.

It's Buddha day tomorrow and I thought I leave you with a couple of his sayings:

Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.
I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.
Buddha

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. - Kahlil Gibran

Dear Team
This week, together with his father, we picked up a 13 year old boy who did not return home for 5 days while he was performing with a lion dance troupe at a temple along Depot Road. While doing so, we met another 11 year old boy who had been missing from our Kids United Programme and decided to bring him home to his mother too.
As we pulled away with these 2 kids in our van, we were leaving behind at least another 10 children below the age of 12 years among a bunch of teens and adults that would have been described as unsavoury, to say the least.

Both these kids led us to the troupe 'HQ' which was a Chinese temple along Zion Road to collect their personal belongings. Over there, none of the 15 odd adults that were at the premise raised an eyelid as we accompanied these kids as they changed out of their lion dance attire. Out of courtesy, we told a lady there that these kids did not have the permission of their parents and that one of them has not been in touch with his family for 5 days, leaving his father worried sick. Nonchalantly, she replied that the chap has been sleeping at the temple and asked us how we found out.

Next week, we will be having our Management Retreat for the Residential Service and as we go about defining our clarity of purpose, kids like the 2 we picked up as well as those we left behind will come to mind. Often when we try to figure out our 'naughtiest delinquents', we come to the conclusion that gross instability over their short lives have affected choices they have made. Hence, we worked hard on a programme like Kids United that mainly aims to provide such children stability, care and guidance in their lives. Residential facilities is very much a natural progression for the small percentage of Kids United participants who need that little extra.

Our constant challenge then is to be mindful that we have not adopted these children and that we must always be working towards bridging them back into their community. Even for Kids United, we must diligently work towards the stated goal of encouraging their parents to take an active interest in their children's well-being. We are always driven to do whatever necessary for the kids and we have to always remember that working with their care-givers is necessary.

There is no denying that caring for kids & youths in the Residential Service is a big headache but we have chosen to do so. Now, we have to ensure that we deliver the service in a responsible manner and once again that means having sustainable resources, know-how and enlightened governance. Will be updating you after our retreat.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

"Life is a sum of all your choices." ~ Voltaire

Dear Team
Another week and another retreat. This time it was with the Family Service and Child Protection Department. We have had 3 retreats now and they have been wonderful for helping us take a hard look at our weaknesses. Beyond is a great place to work and everyone here is always so optimistic and can-do about things but this has a down side. While driven by passion, we may fail to attend to the longer-term sustainability of our work. Sustainability would entail:
1. Continued Mainstream Funding
2. Competency of the staff
3. Established work & decision making processes

As a charity the funds raised from the public should always go towards the less privileged and now that we have garnered experience providing services island-wide, we have a more accurate picture of the work we need to do. Hence, it is time to direct our limited resources on the most needy. Our Directors will be working hard on developing funding models that tap into mainstream funding.

Through Journey Beyond and the Diploma Programme we are constantly trying to raise the competency of our team. What needs to be done now is to create an individual training plan for each service department to ensure that their members have primary competencies necessary for their work. When each department ensures that their members are equipped, skills are not lost when people move.

We adopt a work approach where teams are inter-dependent on each other. This is a strength but will also result in confusion if work and decision making process are unclear. At the retreat, while looking at the Child Protection Work Process of Team Meetings, we realised the necessity of established decision making processes. For example, if a family alleged with child abuse has children in different age ranges, the Crisis Management Team Meeting would comprise staff from different teams. With so many involved, someone has to be the lead worker and we established that Lyn John as Child Protection Manager will make that choice. LJ is now fine-tuning an SOP that he will eventually share with all of us.

In sum, when we succeed in bringing about sustainability we would be 'protecting' children whom we have yet to meet. If we really care, we need to be building for the future.

Enjoy your long weekend!
Gerard

A quote for Labour Day - "Work remains a good thing, not only because it is useful and enjoyable, but also because it expresses and increases the worker's dignity. Through work we not only transform the world, we are transformed ourselves, becoming "more a human being."

Dear Team
The retreat with the Restorative Justice Service Team turned out to be a good reminder for the reason Beyond exists:
"We exist to fight delinquency among children and youth from the lower strata of Singapore society."
This is the beginning line of a strategic profile we crafted for ourselves 6 years ago but that was just putting pen to paper for a purpose that has never wavered since we began in 1969.

As our primary or fundamental purpose is to provide a disadvantaged young person an opportunity for a life that is not derailed by delinquency, our discussions focused on:

1. Clarifying our role as a voluntary welfare organisation in response to the issue of juvenile delinquency. We clarified that our interest in justice systems and processes is necessary for our work but they are only tools that enable us to better help the young people in our care.

2. Being mindful that as we work in 24 secondary schools, our programmes must always benefit disadvantaged students.

As we reflected further on these issues, we revisited and strengthened our principle that as a charity for disadvantaged children and youths, we have to ensure that funds raised actually go towards their benefit. Hence, as we move ahead we should be getting our programmes on mainstream funding and providing for the needy, when necessary.

It was a retreat where we took a critical look at ourselves but we ended with clarity and a renewed purpose. At the end of the 2 days, we were asked what we felt was exciting and encouraging about Beyond and I would just like to leave you with my sentiments.

I am encouraged by the fact that Beyond has fundamentally remained a charity for disadvantaged children and youths. Our soul has always been in tact and we have never changed. I am excited that there is clarity of purpose and as such, 'dreams' are describable, do-able and achievable. This type of excitement is infectious and a diverse group of staff and volunteers from different cultures and professions have stepped up to serve. I am deeply encouraged that because of the clarity of purpose, there is a common sense of mission and truly, strength in diversity.

It's been a privilege serving together. Thanks!
Gerard

The practice of peace and reconciliation is one of the most vital and artistic of human actions.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Dear Team
A small achievement for me this week was facilitating an honest discussion between parents and teachers about the difficulty in managing the uncooperative behaviours of their children. One of the schools that we are working with decided to 'divide and rule' by placing 12 students whom they assessed as disruptive into a separate classroom of their own. These students did not take it lying down and at every chance they had, complained of being ostracised. Their parents got wind of their situation and voiced their concern and unhappiness to the school as well. Thus, it was easy for us to be sucked into the role of a rescuer but we refrained as taking sides would not be helpful for the 'triangle of care' we aim to put around the student. Only authentic cooperation between parents, the school and us can ensure that 'triangle of care' is not just a lofty impractical ideal.

Sometimes when there is a problem in a relationship, the Blame Game comes into play. Unwittingly, people in the relationship while communicating with each other play the roles of a persecutor, victim and rescuer interchangeably. In this instance, as the 12 students portray themselves as victims they are actually baiting their parents and others to step in as rescuers. As this takes place, the school being portrayed as the persecutor actually feels victimised. If this goes on tensions and tempers will escalate and relationships will break down.

As I explained the Blame Game to both parents and the school, it helped everyone to pause reflectively. A teacher then related how students who were chided for a minor offence would reply aggressively as a way of 'frightening' off the teacher. Should the teacher come back even stronger, they would then act 'weak' as a means of showing-up the teachers as people who impose their authority in an over-the-top fashion. This makes the teacher look bad and parents and others will jump in to confront the teacher. It was a meaningful sharing as the teacher added "what we are experiencing in school with your children is probably what you are experiencing at home." Her statement bonded the school and parents as it dawned on everyone that they were on the same side and had to remain so in tackling the non-cooperation of their children.

Well the next step for this school is for us to facilitate a dialogue between these 12 students and their teachers as well as their classmates. Apparently, teachers have reported that students are learning better since the class was divided. So it is deep feelings and perceptions of both the students and teachers that have to managed so that their relationship can move towards reconciliation.

In true dialogue, both sides are willing to change.
Thich Nhat Hanh

Now, with our increased presence in schools we have to keep expectations in check by clearly stating to them our belief that "There is no treatment for delinquency, there is only management." Delinquency management requires a joint effort from the triangle of care where there is a clarity of purpose.

Next week, the Restorative Justice Team will be going for a retreat to review the role of our Juvenile Justice in School Programme. This weekly email will be coming a day late.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

We are all one - or at least we should be - and it is our job, our duty, and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek the salve of reconciliation.
Roy Barnes

Dear Team
Some of us were away for a management retreat for the Infant and Early Childhood Department on Monday and Tuesday. This was the first in a series of management retreats to renew our vision and to refine the position we should take to reach our vision. As we often joke that change is the only constant at Beyond, we sometimes dread such retreats because it would mean more changes. The truth though is that while work approaches and emphasis may be modified, the Department's vision that 'every child despite a disadvantaged background receives early childhood education' has not changed. Hence, there has been no fundamental change but a renewed sense of clarity and purpose.

From a recent newspaper report, 2000 odd kids registered for Primary One never had assess to any form of early childhood education. These kids can't follow the curriculum and are placed in the school's Learning Support Programmes which run for 2 years. Despite that, educators feel that the chances of them coping well with school have been reduced significantly.

The task we see is to get these kids into pre-school and to stay there. Our game plan is to get Programmes that do this entrenched in the government's system of care. Our role is to be a community-based player with a nation-wide focus advocating for the kids and encouraging other voluntary welfare organisations to help out with the task. . These are the broad strokes that will guide Gloria and team as they work out the details and 'strategies' to pull this through. We will keep everyone updated when things are clearer.

As we think deeper about our work, we cannot help but reflect on our principles, values and ethics. When we were discussing how to get kids into organised care, we realised that by doing so we would also be depriving parents of their right and opportunity to care for their off springs. At what point does social service intervene so that we do not weaken natural social structures. Something to chew on would be Stanley's statement that "prevention is fine but not pre-emptive strikes".

In our work, we see a fair amount of injustice and feel the pain of those affected. Out of frustration, we may end up playing God or upsetting the natural order of things without realising it. Ironically when we do so, we become the ones that create injustice. Let me give you a simple example.

Our kids because of their disadvantaged background get invited to all sorts of shows or events by well-meaning members of the public. If it was a treat once a blue moon, it would be fine but with so many people wanting to do their good deed, our kids can be going for every family entertainment event that comes to town. Now, tickets into such events are usually beyond the average family and a night out must be considered a privilege. If we don't manage such a situation well, our kids will be over-privileged and that is not fair to the average kid.

There is no ready formula to many of the things we do so we need to continually put things in context. However, if we don't think enough about our work, we often end up sending the wrong signals and imparting the wrong lessons. Don't be surprised then when kids under our charge act up. We may not be totally responsible when that happens but we are responsible to some extent, perhaps not individually but collectively.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Too many parents make life hard for their children by trying, too zealously, to make it easy for them.
~ Johann von Goethe

Dear Team
Last Saturday, more than 150 youths came by the youth park to show us how they could spice up the Citi-MilkRun. Bands, rappers, dancers, drummers, beatboxers....believe me, Singapore has talent. Response forms are still coming in and we need to stage another audition pretty soon. We have more than enough acts to last a day let alone the 6 hours at the Citi-MilkRun. Thus, the challenge for our youth workers is get these young people to work together for the sake of Youth Day. Youths have to set aside their egos, keep to training schedules and learn to cooperate and pool their talents. There is no way, we can fit everyone into the programme and they just have to share the limelight. This is the learning and not so much the perfecting of their talents or craft.

As youth workers, we look for ways to engage the youths and in this instance, we are using the performing arts. We just need to be mindful that it is art for character development and not art for art sake. Journey Beyond, our regular in-house training sessions keep us refreshed about our roles, responsibilities, ethics and guiding principles. This will always be necessary because besides being technically competent; to do our job well, we have to be principle and value driven. So I am glad that 31 of us have embarked on the Diploma in Social Work Practice that commenced this week. For those of us who are new, this is a programme we are collaborating with the Otto Friedrich University Bamberg Germany.

Talking about training, it was another busy week as sessions included foundational counselling for the youth, justice and sports teams; Toughlove facilitation for the family service team, risk management for the experiential training leaders. Over the past 3 weeks, we were also sharing much of our know-how with our visitors from China and it was a mutually enriching experience. Our Chinese friends described us as unique because despite being 37 years old, they experienced the organisation as a rising sun and not a setting one. Poetic and a little deep but I take that as a compliment for the energy and commitment that all of you have put into your work : ).

Our friends leave tomorrow morning but not without contributing to our work here. Yesterday, they sat down one of our little rascals and discussed the plight of the LuoYuan typhoon victims with him. Our rascal was 'consulted' on how Singaporean children could extend a helping hand to displaced children in Luo Yuan. There were no miraculous breakthroughs but at least it was a positive step towards developing moral intelligence in this child.

Resource Building efforts this week included a Babes Network meeting and a follow-up meeting with Innova Junior College. The College Management felt that their students benefited tremendously by volunteering as Campland Rangers and offered to have all their students involved with us in some way. Innova is a new college brimming with enthusiasm and ideas and I guess they too are a 'rising sun' and that's why there seems to be a synergy with us. Just to digress a little. I have been going around lots of schools and actually neighbourhood schools are more willing to try new ideas and embark on new initiatives compared to schools with tradition. These established schools tend to stick to their time tested formulae which sadly, run the risk of being outdated. Anyway, the learning point for is that we have to stay relevant to meet needs and not just perform a task simply because we have always done so.

Finally, we received the MCYS/NCSS audit report for our FSC. Here are their comments for our service delivery:

Audit team would like to commend Bukit Ho Swee FSC on the following best practices that have been implemented:

a) Responsiveness to clients is excellent with a response time of 1 day for reverting back to voicemails and phone calls; within 2 – 3 days to revert to emails/letters;

b) Proactive in reaching out to the community with the bi-annual door knocking exercise to residents;

c) Possess the capability to mobilise resources to attend to clients with differing language proficiency.

d) They are very client-centred as they do not turn away any clients who approach the centre. Furthermore, Mr Lim expressed that their agency would be happy to take in clients from any boundary in Singapore. The agency’s client centric focus is also evident in their approach to casework. The agency encourages its staff to make frequent home visits to their clients.

e) They have a very good community networking. Based on 2004 Annual Report, BHSFSC had partnered up with 70 different agencies (corporate and educational institutions) and individuals.

Of course we have areas for improvement too but on the whole we did ok : ) Well done Jim and Team.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Goethe:
Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.

Dear Team
The first quarter of the year has gone by and so I'd like to reflect on where we are in our areas of emphasis and to say a little on how we will move from here. While all programmes have their targets and work plans, the areas of emphasis for the year were outlined in January (ABW - 0601) as such:
1. Schools
2. Child Protection
3. Residential Services

As of now, 18 secondary schools are on our Juvenile Justice Programme and 12 primary schools on Campland. So in total we are fostering partnerships with 30 schools. Of course the partnerships are new and the depth of the working relationship with each school differs. These days we tell the schools that our intention is to form a 'triangle of care' around their students. The 3 partners of the tripartite partnership are the school, the parents and Beyond and the objective is to 'protect' the child from delinquency. Hence, we get to play a part in the management of delinquency and other problems that challenge their students.

A good example this week would be East View Secondary in Tampines. In the morning, the Principal joined our Community Encouragement activities organised for a 'problematic' class. To say the least, we were encouraged because Principals would usually be disciplining a problematic class and prefer to maintain their distance and authority. Instead this Principal joined in the introductory Hell Door exercise together with this bunch of rowdy students. At one point when the group was supposed to go through the door on the command 'GO', the Principal found himself in Hell while the whole class standing rooted had a good laugh. In a sense that was pretty cooperative and ingenious on the part of the students. How did they communicate their intention to 'sabo' their Principal despite him being in the game?

More importantly, the Principal laughed with everyone else and that was so important for setting the tone for the other teachers present. He showed his teachers that it was important to connect with the students if they wanted to influence or teach them. For the students this Principal showed them the school really cared and perhaps their teachers were more approachable then they believed.

Later that evening, the parents of these students attended our Toughlove Parent Support Group held in the school library. These parents kept asking what 'lessons' were we teaching their children in the morning and this was indicative that they cared. Thus, we are optimistic that the triangle of care that is forming at EastView will prove to be a viable 'school social work' model.

Currently, school social work is embodied in the Step-up Programme or the School Family Education Programme administered by MCYS. They provide funds between $10 to 20K annually per agency per school. Of the 18 secondary schools we work with, only St Andrews and Queenstown are still not on either of these programmes. However, schools are telling us that Step-up operators are in general not comfortable dealing with delinquency issues and so they really need our help. On a practical note, we need to approach these 2 schools to adopt us as their Step-up operators and will continue to work with MCYS to see if there is another way they can be supporting our work in terms of funds.

Our work is school should only grow as long as we are meeting real needs and making a difference in the lives of troubled young people. While we will be tapping available government funding wherever possible, we will remain mindful that funds support the work and not the other way round.

Child Protection. Yesterday, Jim attended a ceremony where we were officially appointed as a partner of the Child Protection Department of MCYS for the handing of low-risk supervision cases. Our study on Child Protection is still ongoing but meanwhile we are strengthening our partnership with MCYS. To further strengthen this partnership, we will need to have a plan of action to improve trust with the other teams of this Department. Recently their supervision department conducted training for our staff and this led to this official appointment. Now, we need to get to their Intake and Investigation Teams so that eventually we can really be a partner in the true sense of the word rather than just a vendor for cases they would like to farm out. So, Children, Youth and Family Teams, get ready for their referrals : ).

Residential Services. Facilities at Alexandra, Block 34 and Hope Centre are ready and while we have not handled any official referrals from MCYS yet, we have been learning the ropes with our own cases. The learning curve has been steep but after 3 months of in-house training we are more settled, stronger and more ready to take on the official cases. Despite not being officially open, we have been attracting queries from the Reformative Training Centre(Youth Prison) and they described very real needs of teens needing the post institutional care that our facilities were meant for.

Over the next few weeks we will be aiming to facilitate a dialogue between RTC and MCYS who encouraged us to set up such a facility in the first place. Both organisations fear that if their young people come together in our facility it would be unhealthy for their development. Well we don't really know whether the prisoners will contaminate the hostelites or vice versa but what we do know is that our facility must be a place for healthy growth and the neutralisation of contamination is our responsibility.

In sum, there has been progress in our areas of emphasis because we have been able to able to create or act on the opportunities that fuelled movement. Getting to a longer term objective is really about small purposeful action steps. I must say all of us have been marching along and giving it all.

With much appreciation and thanks
Gerard

Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.
Alfred Adler: a contemporary of Freud and the originator of the Theory of Individual Psychology

Dear Team
As I left Campland yesterday evening, I could not help feeling really proud of what we have created and achieved. More that 460 kids were reassured that their teachers and others in their community thought well of them and had their best interest at heart. The volunteers from Innova Junior College did such a fantastic job that Jerel has offered them lifetime ranger membership with Campland. More importantly, by their concerned and supportive presence these volunteers would have inspired the kids to see that being a Ranger and going to Junior College is really cool. What's more, Innova is a Junior College in their neighbourhood.

Campland at this size cannot be run by a few individuals. For effective execution, we need an organisation but what made our latest effort really satisfying was the fact that instead of an organisation, we organised a community to execute the programme. 80 Innova students set aside time to get themselves trained as rangers and Evergreen teachers roped in Christchurch which was another school in the neighbourhood to share their facilities. This spirit of co-operation and the pooling of resources is truly the "Together We" motto of Campland in action. People in the Woodlands Community were focused and united in giving their kids a positive learning experience.

This brings me to our ART of Social Work Model that we practise because executing a programme like Campland has only been possible because we Advocated, Resource Mobilised and shared our skills by Training others. There was a training session on Tuesday where our Chinese friends and some of you attended. I just want to reiterate some key points here.

Advocacy can be adversarial or inclusive and our long-term view and approach is always Inclusive Advocacy. In the interest of child safety and other crisis situations we would have to take a defensive position that could seem adversarial but for developing partnerships with others, we must find a way to build bridges and not burn them. So for Inclusive Advocacy we must always communicate the interest of 1. the beneficiaries we serve, 2. our organisation and work & 3. our community partners. The rule of the thumb is to ensure that our efforts strengthen relationships among these groups, they are not divisive or unfair to any one group.

Resource Mobilising begins with relationship building. Otherwise, people may feel that we are simply using them to meet our needs. In any case, I don't think we can really bully people into working with us. As for Training, we need to share our skills if we want people to help us. So I would caution everyone about coming across to others like we got it all together. If others see us like we know-it-all, why then would they need to help.

ART rallies the community to come together and share the load for managing social problems or needs. The other approach would be the treatment approach when the job of rectifying social problems is the responsibility of a small group of professionals. Though we are professionals we must be mindful that our jargon and the way we carry ourselves affects the partnerships we aim to build with schools, other vwos and other community partners. Actually, people often decide very quickly (perhaps not necessarily logically), whether they are for us or against us. Let's remember to ALWAYS go about our work humbly and purposefully.

As I write this, I am reminded of a small but significant effort on the part of our Healthy Start Child Development Programme to include care-givers in the education of their children. Granted most of the caregivers are not highly educated but by encouraging them to flip through the pages of a book at home with the child even though they may not be able to read, is a step towards a Home-School partnership. This small gesture through the "reading backpack" activity is ART.

Finally, this week another batch of Streetwise boys left us. Yet is really getting quite good at making all these graduation speeches that encourage and caution at the same time : ). He reflected that a few years ago, all these teenagers were lovable children adored by their families but things can change so quickly. Now that they have put things right, it time for the families and the teens to rediscover the love they shared.

Enjoy your weekend.
Gerard

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 - 1978)

Dear Team
During one of my trips to school this week, a saying posted on a corridor caught my eye but as I was in a rush, I did not note who said it. "We often attribute the mistakes of a young person to a lack of character but more often than not, it is simply because of the smallness of their vision." Immediately, I thought that I had to share it with you as dealing with juvenile delinquency day in and out can get us pretty jaded. I was also reminded of a meeting I attended at MCYS 3 weeks ago when someone was commenting that young people, able bodied and healthy did not deserve our help as they 'chose' their problems.

Guess out of frustration we all can get a little harsh and judgemental but when we judge others we seldom define them but we define ourselves. So a helpful view is that young people lack the wisdom and resources to make informed decisions but the decisions they make often have long-term life defining consequences. Take heart, the needs of the children and youths we try to meet are real and important for their longer-term well being.

From Monday to Wednesday, more that 20 of us received training from MCYS Child Protection Department. This was a very important first step towards the strengthening of a relationship between us and them so that abused children can benefit from the protection of the law and the responsiveness of a community agency like us. Another piece of good news is that we are awaiting the arrival of our houseparents from the Philippines as their work permits were approved after some initial hiccups.

On Monday too, the Shining Star a fictitious 20 part Chinese teledrama series that has a social worker based at Beyond weaved into the plot, began on Channel 8. The great thing is the Babes helpline was part of the story and that's super for getting the message out to the Chinese speaking teens. Haven't got to catch it but I was told that the social workers did not quite look or worked like us but let’s laugh it off as it is just prime time family entertainment. The important thing is that the Babes helpline has been ringing and girls in genuine need are being helped.

Babes is slightly more than a year now and glad to note that the publicity machine that is vital for the success of this programme is running well. Bus ads on strategic routes have been out for 3 weeks now, and the radio commercial on 98.7 has been refreshed. Shaz and Jacinda are really busy so do pass the word out that we are looking for reinforcements and get them to contact me.

Last Friday to Monday, Saras, Myrle, Is and Peikang were at the Jalan Bathera Campsite supporting the teachers at the Shuqun Secondary Camp. Hmm.. just noticed that it was a true Singaporean team that comprised a member each from our 4 official ethnic groups. While it was 4 energetic and hectic days with the young people, they were well looked after by the students and teachers who kept ensuring that they were well fed. I was not there but this morning when I was at the school, I saw several students coming over to Saras and Myrle to show them their report cards and to say hello. For me it was clear that while we go into schools to encourage them to be a community, we become a part of their community too. This is not just a job done but a sharing of ourselves : ). Again, my deepest thanks and compliments to Saras, Myrle and everyone else for making this work.

Finally, our 6 Chinese friends from Luoyuan touched down last night and even though we settled them in at Hope Centre close to 2 am, they were up and about and all ready to join us this morning. From the initial discussion we had this morning, there is much to learn from them even though they are here to learn from us. They spoke about the alarming rates of teen suicides and the troubles they experienced with gangs and youth crime and although Ranga now has a Chinese name, the common language we speak is not Chinese but the work. Over the next 2 weeks let’s give our visitors and the learning opportunities they bring, our warmest welcome.

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dear Team
This week 5 more schools hopped on to our Juvenile Justice Programme. Well, looks like we are on track in this area of emphasis for the year. Great job Myrle and thanks everyone for chipping in to help out with the very tight schedule. When the new term starts, we will probably be in 2 schools at the same time.

This afternoon I was at Fajar Secondary meeting the Principal and her group of Discipline Coordinators. Authoritatively, she told them that teachers were in a sense youth workers too and she went on to brief them about the New Zealand Model of Family Group Conferencing. I was certainly impressed and wondered how she was so informed. Later, I found out that she attended the FGC seminar we organised a couple of years ago. Wow! It is certainly heartening to witness the impact of a small effort of ours that I have forgotten.

Every school I went to, acknowledged that a huge factor for discipline problems is the breakdown of the teacher-student relationship and so they could really see the benefit of the programme's Community Encouragement component. They are hoping that an impartial party like us will be able to help both the students and their teachers view each other in more positive light.

As we are helping schools become communities of care, we must remember that we can only do so if we too work hard at being a community workplace. Those of you who have not been with us very long may be unfamiliar with this term but as our community encouragement work grows, I think it is apt that I remind every one about the stages of Community Building. When we can identify the stages, we will have the awareness and hopefully the courage to face the challenges each stage presents.

The journey to a community workplace can be categorised into the following 4 stages:
1. The Superficial Community
2. Chaos and Confusion
3. Emptiness or Letting it go
4. Community Workplace

Whenever we have visitors, they often comment that our offices have a good atmosphere. People laugh and there is a good energy that suggests people are driven and want to work together. It is a nice compliment but I hope the good energy is the result of a group having overcome differences and not one that is cordial at all cost simply because it is afraid of conflict. If it is the latter then we are only superficial and if bluntly put, plastic.

The avoidance of conflict is a sophisticated art form which we all probably have practiced at some point in our lives. But, Community Building is a step-by-step process and if we fear and cannot resolve Chaos and Confusion, we stay plastic and superficial i.e. to get to stage 3 you need to pass Stage 2.

Stage 2 is painful and we need to recognise what we are doing that sustains the pain. Pain is sustained when we try to avoid it or when there is a task at hand that we are avoiding. Here is an elaboration of task avoidance behaviours:

1. Fight
We have the better point of view. What you said was totally disrespectful or unprincipled. You are now saying this but why is it you acted like that? Well the list goes on and all of us have our true life examples.

2. Flight
Give it time, it will get better. Let's not talk about it now. I am not ready to talk. Let's change the topic. Let's not spoil the occasion. All this simply means the lack of courage, will or skill to confront the bad situation.

3. Joining or Pairing
People pairing off as couples in a big group and creating their own comfortable world. Getting support from within or outside your team to get endorsement for your viewpoint or to strengthen the case you have. Familiar? All these efforts actually divide people and gear everyone up for a big showdown.

4. Dependency or Faked Helplessness
Well, I would approach him but it depends on how he will take it. This is really not my job or business, it is the team leader's responsibility. I am the youngest in the team, how can I bring up such issues. It is often because we don't want to rather than we can't.

These pointers help us reflect on our action. When we say we are trying to make things better, are our efforts actually just 'task avoidance' tactics that can be found somewhere in Fight, Flight, Joining or Dependency or are we really trying to talk, listen and create new realities that would put things right. As Community Workers, we have foundational counselling skills and this already gives us at a big advantage over others. Think about it.

Letting go of these task avoidance behaviours is Stage 3 and when we can communicate authentically, we become a community workplace.

What I have just shared are skills that can be taught and learned. As we practice them here, we will become better Community Encouragers in schools. Currently, we are doing a lot of Basic Counselling practice for the different teams because Basic Counselling Skills are actually Foundational Skills for Communication. They are not Basic as in simple because without them, any knowledge of 'advanced therapeutic models' cannot be executed. Hence, we prefer to call them Foundational Counselling Skills.

In sum, it is a great place to work and it will be so as long as we continue to nurture and be nurtured Beyond.

Enjoy your weekend!

Gerard

P.s. I was introduced to these ideas of M Scott Peck by Dr Ang Peng Chye who was our team-building consultant when we were a small team of less then 10. Boy, must have been at least 15 years ago! I have used them repeatedly in helping the youths I worked with and the teams I led.

"A community is a group of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant commitment to 'rejoice together, mourn together,' and to 'delight in each other, make each others' conditions [their] own."
M Scot Peck in the Different Drum (Simon and Schuster, 1988, p. 59.)
www.fce-community.org & http://communityx-roads.org/

Dear Team
Gloria is helping me with this week's message. Enjoy : ) Gerard

Hi everyone,

We have been having our monthly case discussion involving case workers who are involved in direct work the past two years or so. As we grow, the number of colleagues attending the case discussion also grow and at times I find it quite challenging trying to think of ways to make the discussion effective and meaningful for everyone.

Well, as usual, I stick to my basic working principle i.e just do it cos' impossible is nothing!!!

Anyway, despite the challenge mentioned earlier, it has been very heartening to see how our staff from the different teams have come together to spend 2-3 hours, putting our heads together to think of ideas on how to help the case worker help children or family. For those who have the opportunity to present their cases, they have found it helpful cos' they realised they are not alone in the struggle and that it is often better to have many heads than just one head to think through the cases - even though if not managed properly, too many heads can lead to further confusion.... so far we haven't reach the confusion stage yet, or am I in denial???? For those of us not presenting, every discussion have offered us something new to take home with us.

As for Annabelle, who presented her case yesterday, she felt less overwhelmed and she commented that before the case discussion, she knew she has to put the children in KU. But the case discussion has helped her to think further as to "what then after they are being put in KU?" i.e how to ensure they are regular in KU.

So far we have been using TO-LO-PO-SO-GO as a guide for our thinking process. We also try to incorporate some other trainings e.g ART, strengths-based perspective and yesterday, Choice Theory to guide our intervention plans. I am aware of the fact that we have several new faces in our teams who may not be familiar with these theories. Not to worry too much, training will be provided for you and you will have lots of opportunities to practice them later!!!

Anyway, the discussion went further after we went back to our respective offices/destination. A few of us spoke about spending more time on the "how" bit after deciding on the "SO". This will involve putting into practice the skills we have learned through our training etc... Shaw informed me this morning that James suggested we do small group discussion on the "PO" so that each one can contribute. Thanks James for the suggestion!

Shaw also informed me that she too had a fruitful discussion with Shaz last night and she informed me this morning that they both came with another new model called W-W-G-D. She asked me if I have any idea what that model is. Have any one of you heard of it? Anyway, it is a model very much practice in Beyond and it is called "What Will Gerard Do" theory!!! I went on to say it also means "What Will Gloria Do"!!!

Have a good and restful weekend!
Gloria

Dear Team
This week the police released the yearly crime statistics and as in the last few years, the juvenile delinquency rate has been on the rise. The police have observed that a lot of youth crime happens when teens gather in groups late into the night so they have decided that they will keep parents informed should they find their teenage children hanging out in the streets after 11 pm.

When the news broke, a reporter called me for a response and I simply told her that it was too early to judge such a scheme. Obviously, she was trying to get me to critic the move as she believed that it was drastic. Her argument was that such a move would not be tackling the root causes of the problem. So I asked her what she thought were root causes and her answers ranged from changes in lifestyles, poor parenting, peer pressure, poor self esteem, sense of feeling marginalised etc. After a pause I asked her if she had solutions for these root causes and would it mean that once these are tackled the crime rate would come down.

We have been trained or conditioned to think in terms of cause and effect. So we often think that as long as we tackle the root cause of any issue we are doing the right thing. Perhaps, it is the right thing but realistically what impact would our efforts have?

We are concerned with the rising juvenile delinquency rate and would welcome the opportunity to influence youth policies that may reverse the trend. We are also trying to change the manner in which children and youths view 'cool' through Campland, Youth United and events like the Citi-MilkRun and ONE. Also, through Restorative Justice we are trying to divert and de-label young offenders. These are efforts in changing the youth landscape and have a macro-intention. However, on a day to day basis, the services we provide will have no impact on the rising trend. We must realise and acknowledge this.

What we have to offer though in a day to day basis, is the ability to address the needs of youths and parents who seek our help in resolving issues of juvenile delinquency. Tackling juvenile delinquency is a core strength of Beyond and as our profile increases more requests for help will come. All the more it is important to be clear about how we can be helpful and to manage the expectations of the help-seeker and ourselves.

Yesterday, the senior staff in restorative justice as well as the children and youth services spent a good 4 hours clarifying how we can be helpful to those whose lives have been disrupted by unreasonable teenage delinquent behaviours. Saras was spot on when she reminded everyone that the designation printed on our name cards is Community Worker and not Miracle Worker. On the other hand, Yet cautioned that we should also not cop out of the challenge by declaring that most things are beyond us.

In conclusion, we clarified that we have expertise in the management of unreasonable teenage delinquent behaviour. Our first task is to stabilise the situation for the help-seeker and the range of help would include an impartial hearing out of the issues, accurate information about the legal options but more importantly, our belief that diversion and community effort are viable problem solving options because without HOPE, life would be unbearable. Our 2nd task would be to attend and moderate the 'needs and wants' of the parties concerned. One helpful way of doing this would be the categorisations suggested by Choice Theory and these include the need for:
1. Love and belonging
2. Fun
3. Freedom
4. Power
5. Survival
Our final task is to build community support around the help-seeker so that life goes on.
As Community Workers, we should not view delinquency as a disease or problem that needs treatment from professionals. Instead, we should rally the support of concerned individuals and organisations in our community to help out. It is not that professionals have no part to play but definitely it is not for professionals to shoulder the entire responsibility. In any case, parents or professionals suffer isolation if they go alone and isolation is part of the problem.

To sum up, I just want to relook our promise that "no matter how rough or tough a kid, we will turn him around." It's really tough but it is a great ideal to drive us on. However, while we should always remain hopeful and idealistic, we need to learn to take that punch squarely on the jaw and stay down when we need to rest.

Over time, let's also learn to appreciate the miracle that people in our community continue to care by helping out directly or supporting us in other ways. The Tough Kid may eventually choose not to cooperate with anyone but it is also an important achievement that people are cooperating for the sake of the Tough Kid. Like they say, Toughlove works as long as we do the Tough Work.

Enjoy your weekend
Gerard

Dear All,
Our week started on Sunday, with Mrs. Mah hosting the annual Chinese New Year gathering. The families we serve were at Blk 26 in full force, and we got to talk, laugh and carry their babies outside of the work setting. All of us shared a great lunch thanks to the kind sponsorship of one of the board members, which was truly a reunion of the extended Beyond family. As usual, everyone chipped in to make the event special - our youth at Café Beyond did a marvelous job supervised by Café Managers Lareina and Michelle; Amelia and Serena, with the help of the partnership development team, had decorated the classrooms (BTW, does everyone know that Anne Marie can make beautiful handicrafts using simple ang pows?); and, Hardy, our drum instructor, prepared our young drummers from KU and YU so they could welcome the guests in style. It was a nice way to celebrate the New Year and the kids left with ang pows, mandarin oranges and smiles on their faces.

Later in the week, Saras and I attended the CARE Network Retreat. CARE is a network of agencies that exist to help prisoners and their families. We attended the retreat to find out how we can further our Restorative Care programme. To refresh everyone’s memory, the Restorative Care programme that we are planning to start soon is to serve the needs of young people in residential facilities. We made links with a few agencies and social workers who are passionate about working with young offenders, and were very heartened to note that the network will be focusing more energies on preventive work and in working with juvenile offenders. That’s right down our alley, and the RJ team will have a lot more work coming their way.

This week also saw some intense planning for Citi-MilkRun 2006. The partnership development team, with the help of Coach Stephen and our race trainer, Jaya, and other volunteers, has been busy putting together the plans for Citi-MilkRun this year. With so many helping hands, the event is expected to be bigger and better. While we would not have to compete with the Dragon Boat race this year, we’ll have to plan our route around the construction of the floating stage near the Esplanade! Stephen has walked and cycled many kilometers by the Singapore River, and we trust that he will come up with the best possible route. The rest of the team is busy preparing collaterals, making contact with schools and tertiary institutions, bringing in partners, and recruiting volunteers. We’ll keep everyone posted as to what’s happening after the main committee meeting next week!

We also met with Bee Leng this week to discuss the details of a team from Luo Yuan, a village county in Fujian Province, China which will be visiting us in early March. Some of you may remember Bee Leng’s ‘Another Week Beyond’ note in November last year where she had described her visit to Luo Yuan and how the very dedicated and hard working team there reminded her so much of our colleagues here at Beyond. We’ll be hosting 5 members of the team here, a couple of whom will spend two months working alongside us so that we can share our expertise with each other. So, for all those who speak Mandarin relatively well, we’ll need to count on you to make our visitors feel comfortable, and for those of you who don’t (that definitely includes Vincent and Gerard) this will be an opportunity to brush up your skills!

Tomorrow’s going to be a busy day for those of you who have kindly volunteered to help in the Share-A-Meal coin counting. When Yik sent out the email requesting for volunteers, not only did some of our colleagues volunteer, they also asked if they could get their friends and family to help! Thanks for going Beyond your immediate responsibilities, and pitching in, in a spirit of love and service.

Next week is Valentine’s Day, and there will be lots of love going around J. But, at Beyond, we don’t need any reason or season to show love. Here’s a quote by Henry Drummond :

“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in a spirit of LOVE”

I am sure we had many moments this week, when we truly “lived” and loved, and there are many more to come!
Happy weekend, and happy Valentine’s Day in advance!

Yours truly,
Ranga

Dear Team
On the train to work on Wednesday I saw a letter in the Straits Times forum praising Singapore's racial harmony. The writer was saying that the Lion Dance Troupe, his Church engaged over the Chinese New Year holidays comprised Malays and Indians and this reflected well on Singapore's racial harmony. To emphasise his point, he went on to say that even Chinese funerals these days had Malay music and musicians. Hmm ...how charming.

At the same time, Vincent was also on his way to work and at a traffic junction, he stopped behind a lorry with a Lion Dance Troupe on board. He looked up and smiled at the energy and enthusiasm of the youths but after a couple of seconds, it hit him "Hey! These kids should be in school!"

So I guess that's one difference between a social worker and a well meaning member of the public.

This is a very busy and crazy time for many of us as we are rushing around trying to get kids back to school. After all these years, you may wonder why we can never seem to be on top of the situation but I can only say that some things are bigger than us and the best we can do is to ride the wave with a clear purpose or destination in sight. There is not much we can do when Lion Dance Troupes and funeral bands continue to seek young people with little adult supervision to join them. Let's put it this way, Chinese New Year is 15 days and this year, we had 3 days of public holidays so where are Lion Dance Troupes going to find enough members for the other 12 days? I don't think many of these Lion Dancers would have applied for Annual Leave from their work places.

It is at this time that we need to "stay focus on what is within our sight and soon what is unseen will become clear" (a line from the Bible of St Thomas). Our primary task is not to fight the Lion Dance Troupes but to help our young people behave in an accountable, responsible and truthful way. Yes, their bag of tricks is huge and they will throw everything they have at us to have things their way. But as long as we can recognise the tricks we will not get sucked into their game. Yet, our Youth Engagement Trainer has this analogy from basketball "We have to play our own game at our own pace and not be led into the game the opponents want us to play."

Well, perhaps it is a game after all and so it could be fun. Of course, it is never fun to be on the losing side especially when the stakes are as high as a child's well-being but I am so proud how so many of you are chipping in for supervision duty. Last night when I was really pooped at about 10pm, Vincent, Pas, Leela and their teams were busy putting together a duty roster for a couple of rascals we are monitoring.

When I was meeting the parents of these 2 rascals with Pas and their teacher yesterday afternoon, I realised that both of them were running the household. It was sad that while the parents were concerned, they could not do the effective thing of giving any instructions. Partly, they are really discouraged by their previous failures in doing so and feel completely helpless. The teacher, Pas and I were in the living room with the father while the kids we in the bedroom with their mother behaving as though we were not around. Both parents kept ordering; them to come out but to no avail. Finally, the teacher went in and pulled her student out.

My conversation with Dad was not going anywhere until I agreed with him that getting the kids back to school will not mean that there will no longer be any problems. I quipped that it may be ok for a while but come next Chinese New Year, all hell will break loose but by then we should be well rested to do this all over again. We both had a good laugh and he started reprimanding his kids with more conviction.

This has been one instance where we needed to put our helping attitudes, values and principles such as positive regard and non-judgement to good use. Both mom and dad told me that they keep getting scolded by teachers and principals because of their children's misbehaviour and it would be easier just to give it all up and pull their kids out of school. This makes me wonder then, what does it mean to be helpful? We are in the helping profession so do we always offer assistance in a helpful way? These are difficult questions to answer and answers are often contextual but as long as we remain in service, they will follow us.

Even if we believe that there only one 'Truth', we have to accept that "Truth" has many doors. With this family, it was finding the door that brought them and us into the same room. This belief will also be very useful as we seek to develop win-win relationships with community partners. This week, the Family Service Team sat down to refine how they can better function as the family support arm of the organisation and it was obvious one of their main task is to strengthen partnerships with others in our Community. Just wanted to say that win-win is not about everyone seeing things the same way because often that would not be possible but really about people believing that the partnership will serve their objectives and both partners are better for it.

It is going to be a busy weekend with Share A Meal tomorrow and our Patron's Chinese New Year Gathering for our children on Sunday. Will be seeing many of you and it is only appropriate to leave you with this quote that we have used in our Share A Meal Presentations:

"If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way...."
The Buddha

Regards,
Gerard

Dear Team
Receiving the updates about how you all did at the Share a Meal presentations brought a smile to my face and really made me proud. I am proud that I work alongside so many people with a can-do attitude. On Monday, when assembly was cancelled because of the rain, it suited Greta and Serena just fine as the students from Queenstown were greeted by the Share a Meal Show on frequency Compassion the moment they got into class. At St Andrews Primary, we had Aishu and Leela getting 1600 kids clapping for Giving and Mryle and Jacinda started a karaoke session at Bishan Park with everyone belting out Lean on Me. These are just a few experiences highlighted but I understand that everyone had fun doing something you don't normally do. It is amazing always to discover the gifts and talents within us when we are driven by the conviction of a cause.

I was never a particularly talented student as I was growing up but in my early years as a youth worker I started realising that I could actually do so many things. I never had the music in me but somewhere along the line I learned to play the harmonica because the kids were interested. An average soccer player at best, I learnt to coach and helped our young people experience success. We cannot help people without helping ourselves and we have a job that continually challenges us to grow and experience a fuller life. I am just so happy to see so many of you growing and receiving as you give.

Last Saturday, Patricia a teenager, got her entire family and some of her friends together to get a Chinese New Year Celebration going for Kids United. It was a wonderful event that reinforced the Kids United tagline 'Friends Beyond Colour.' Our kids got to do Chinese calligraphy, tastes a range of traditional festive foods and learn about the significance of customs and practices. It was great fun, educational and most importantly a celebration of friendship beyond colour.

I am also sharing this story because it shows how our presence in the community has started to create a caring community. 5 years ago, this teenager's elder sister Penelope, was with her family at Sentosa where we held our very first Streetwise Run. She saw the race, signed up on the spot and became our very first under-14Champion. A couple of years ago, Penelope rallied her friends to sell paper roses during the Christmas season and all the proceeds went into our Educational Assistance Fund. This year her sister Patricia got into the act and next month her mother who is a Superintendent of schools will introduce us to the Cluster of Principals under her charge.

As I thanked Patricia and her family last Saturday, they remarked that Beyond has inspired them to reach out as they are doing now. Besides the Share a Meal rounds and Community Encouragement, every programme from Hope Mentoring to Healthy Start to Youth United or even IRS at the FSC has an outreach component. Remember that when you outreach, you are also motivating others to reach out too.

Journey Beyond sessions this week touched on Risk Management for the Youth Teams and Mediation for the Healthy Start Team. We are very glad that the Healthy Start Team could apply the skills taught immediately following the session and that the Youth Teams have an increased awareness that by attempting to play the role of a bridge between the Community and the Youths, we are inadvertently subjecting our beneficiaries, ourselves and the organisation to much risk. But to do the work we cannot be risk-averse. Instead we have to take steps to minimise and manage the risk. Such training sessions will eventually reach all teams but please note that Journey Beyond's approach is to be responsive to immediate concerns of the various teams.

The Learning Curve is rather steep here as the work presents itself in the most complex of situations. Hence, we take the training of our teams and the ongoing building of capabilities very seriously. So you would be glad to know that our Diploma in Social Work Practice will be beginning soon. The Board has generously agreed to subsidise 50% from their own pockets and Mui will be very happy to work out instalment plans for the rest.

This week, we had discussions with the Child Protection Department of MCYS and they are now wanting to work together on more areas i.e. Intake, Investigation, Supervision of Low-risk Cases as well as the development of Foster Parents. Should this work out, children at risk will be able to benefit from both the Protection of the Law and the Strengths, Resources and Flexibility of Community Involvement. There is still much work ahead and mutual trust between them and us will be a critical success factor. We will keep you posted as we go along.

Finally, my grateful thanks to Jim and the FSC Team for pulling through the audit is such an accountable, responsible and transparent manner. We are not the best in everything and there are areas we definitely can improve but by approaching the audit in the spirit of putting things right, you have come up tops in integrity.

It's the year of the dog so as we link up with friends and family over the next few days, remember:
Being patted is what it is all about.
--Roger Caras.

Happy holidays!
Gerard

Dear Team
One recommendation that I give to families when they are fighting is to work together on a common project. Usually the simplest thing is a family outing but for something a little more difficult, I suggest that they redecorate or reorganise their household. The process usually forces them to cooperate, gain a better awareness of members' roles, likes and dislikes and how the family reaches decisions. The end result is then visible testament of the families ability or inability to work together.

This week has been a busy one tidying up 4 new facilities namely, Level 3 at Hope Centre for Post Institutional Care, Level 2 @ 350, Alexandra Road for LIFE, Kids United and Children Service , Block 34 for Healthy Start and Youth United and Blk 120, our Child Development Centre. Thankfully, judging from the way things are turning out, it is a positive testament of our ability to work together.

Block 34 is done, the Healthy Start team is nicely settled in and Youth United moves in on Monday. Over the last 2, we have also housed a runway there as we worked on family reconciliation. The Restorative Justice and Babes Teams will function from Hope Centre next Wednesday and another unit of Kids United should move into Alexandra by end of next week. As for our Child Development Centre, it looks really good. It has been hectic to say the least and I really want to thank everyone for all the scrubbing, dusting and heaving of furniture.

There is a certain pride and excitement and even Aziman our maintenance guy keeps pushing me along when I get a little tired. Aziman is not our only ex-beneficiary who is happy with our growth. Victor the contractor and Ah Teck, the painter were in our youth programme many years back and are now paying back with excellent service. For me, it is connecting with these people now as partners that makes all this hard work so gratifying. Victor and Ah Teck have families now and I really enjoyed the small talk and updates about themselves that they gave me in between the shop talk. Saul Alinsky, a pioneer Community Organiser, once said that effective community workers ’love’ those they serve. I would proudly say that after all these years, those whom we have served love us too.

Just a word of caution at this point. To minimise security risks please do not make the addresses of any of our residential facilities (including Block 34) public. The addresses should only be released on a need to know basis.

It will continue to be hectic for the next couple of weeks as we help out with Campland Ranger Training, Share a Meal and face the teething problems of operating from new offices. Also, this coming Monday and Tuesday, our FSC will undergo an audit by NCSS/MCYS. There is really a lot on everyone's plate and Ranga and I are concerned that we should all take care of ourselves. Keep lines of communication open yah coz a load shared is a load halved. Let us all watch that the little stresses do not injure the wonderful relationships we have with each other.

Leaving you with another Saul Alinsky quote:

"The threat is generally more terrifying than the thing itself."

Believe it and you will enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dear Team
Our emphasis on helping schools become protective environments for their students will be getting a tremendous boost from this year's Share A Meal Programme. Share a Meal is a MILK fund-raising programme that honours the Chinese tradition of celebrating everybody's birthday on the 7th day of the Chinese New Year. Funds are raised when members of the public contribute the monetary value equivalent of a regular meal they would have e.g. if a chicken rice & coke lunch cost $3.50, they would give $3.50 which went towards educational expenses and programmes for disadvantaged kids.

In the light of the availability of various educational assistance schemes operated by others, this year's Share a Meal collection will be dedicated to the MILK Compassion Fund which will help students who are stricken by a family crisis caused by death or a medical emergency.

As usual, collection tins will be placed at participating schools but this time round the MILK Fund will match every dollar raised by the students. All School Principals in Singapore will then be informed that they can access the Compassion Fund should a student in their school finds himself or herself in the unfortunate family crisis described. It will not matter even if their school did not participate in the Share A Meal Programme but the unfortunate student must be helped.

By doing so, the MILK Fund is creating the opportunity for students to help students and empowering the school management to proactively look out and care for their students. Schools will be the first learn of their student's misfortune and instead of referring the student to a charity or organising an ad-hoc collection, they can act decisively and timely because they have a resource at hand. As this is a crisis relief fund, it operates on the principle that it is not long-term but it will provide for whatever is necessary and be made available until stability is restored.

Students Care Service (another MILK Partner) will help to administer the Compassion Fund and will assist the school with case management should it be needed but the Compassion Fund really is to encourage and empower the School Management to assume a holistic responsibility for their students. When both the school management i.e. teachers and student take the effort to look out for one another, a school becomes a nurturing community which is a protective environment : ).

On 4 February, our children will be helping out with the 'street' collection at ComfortDelgro train stations and bus interchanges and those of us who have close contacts with the schools will probably have to help out in some way or other too. It will be a meaningful extension of our work.

With our increased presence in schools, the workload at the Juvenile Justice Programme is really quite heavy so we will be drawing on everyone's support and not just our Sports and Skills Department. Occasionally you will find yourself helping out with Community Encouragement Activities managed by Myrle. Soon, Jerel and Rashid will be putting the "newer" ones among us through the paces of becoming a experiential learning facilitator.

Over the last year, we have strengthened our capability in experiential learning/counselling so much so, it is now an important unique strength that we can apply across our work. Besides children and youths, this skills set can be effectively applied for family units dealing with a range of issues and challenges.

Last Tuesday morning, we put a family of 4, stressed out by the violent behaviour of their teenage son through several co-operation and trust activities. It was really very effective in bringing out unhelpful family dynamics and helping the parents to focus on problem areas. After lunch, that family left for the ice-skating rink. It was the first family outing that they have had in a long while. Hmmm...actually, coming for our experiential learning activities was the first outing. The children are looking forward to our next session and really it is not often that a teenager would look forward to a "counselling" session so we must be doing something right.

You know, if you have been helping out at Campland and Community Encouragement, you could actually be a pretty good family counsellor too : ).

Enjoy your weekend!
Gerard

Dear Team
It is the first work week for the year and we have already done 1 Campland at New Town Primary and started Juvenile Justice activities in St Andrew's and Shuqun Secondary. This is GREAT! This time last year, we were only with Evergreen Primary. Now we have Campland in 9 Primary Schools and Juvenile Justice in 12 Secondary Schools.

Schools are an important sector for us simply because that's where the young people are. Also, schools are an important protective factor that keeps young people away from delinquency. Studies keep showing that it is less likely for a kid to get into trouble if he stays in school. Hence, our focus should really be helping schools become protective environments for young people. In this regard, we have made much progress at Evergreen Primary as we are now a member of their Character Development Committee that meets monthly to look into discipline, pastoral care, leadership programmes for their students, students with 'special' needs, parent-teacher interaction, and National Education. This must be the benchmark that we should be replicating with all other school partnerships.

This year, our emphasis on Schools will continue but remember it is always about a shared responsibility and joint ownership for the well being of their students. We may not be charging a fee for our service but the school should 'pay' with their commitment and genuine interest in their students. Of course, writing an invoice for commitment and genuine interest would really need our best relationship building, advocacy and motivation skills.

Another area of emphasis for the year will be Child Protection. Without aggressively looking, we had 40 kids in our view last year. This year, we will step up our partnership with MCYS and we are looking towards staff attachments at MCYS and mutual training programmes. Basically, getting both feet into the MCYS Child Protection Department and pooling resources to effect improvements. Jim has been the great salesman that got us so far. Thanks Jim!

The third area of emphasis will be the setting up and effective management of our Residential Services. News that we have secured tenure for our small group home at Alexandra Road till 2010 came in on Wednesday and over the last 2 days, we have started doing the necessary adjustments to the premise. With our increased emphasis on Child Protection, the small group home will be an important part of the solution.

In sum, the areas of emphasis for 2006 will be School Partnerships, Child Protection and Residential Facilities but this certainly does not mean that we ease off on the other programmes we have worked so hard to build. In any case you will realise that you won't be able too : ).

It's going to be another exciting year that will challenge us another few steps Beyond. Let's go!
Gerard