Dear friends, Hope you had many joyful moments with family and friends this Lunar New Year season. During a family circle discussion this week, we were reminded that family is also a commitment to care and friends are an important source of support. After sharing how they spent their holidays, and exchanging festive greetings, Zoe shared that her husband had been in hospital for some weeks now and she had been caring for her children on a reduced family income. It was clearly a very difficult situation, but Zoe communicated her challenge in a matter-of-fact way. It appeared that to fulfil her …
Another Week Beyond – 2249
Dear friends, 4 youths were waiting for another to show before starting a meeting to discuss the notion of financial independence. It was a regular check-in where young people who have progressed in their studies mentor those attempting to qualify for tertiary education. However, the meeting started with disturbing information as the person everyone was waiting for, stormed into the room exclaiming that he was feeling very hurt and angry. “I have just returned from my mother’s workplace and her supervisor was not at all understanding or helpful!” He explained that his mother was crying when she called him from work complaining …
Another Week Beyond – 2246
Dear friends, Last month we featured Ela her on our Facebook page. She shared her story with us as she wanted to acknowledge how being a part of Family Circles had benefitted her. When her circle met this week, she appeared rather upbeat, and others present complimented her for coming a long way. They recalled how they were deeply concerned when Ela contemplated having a knife near her for self-defence. While they appreciated Ela’s fears, they were glad that she took their advice not to do so because any chance of a better life would diminish if she ended up …
Shahriza, on Family Circles
 “My name is Shahriza, I am a mother of two kids and 10 cats. I have known Beyond since early 2015 when my kids started participating in their outdoor programmes and art classes. A Beyond volunteer asked me one day if I’m keen to join Family Circles and I agreed since I had some spare time and wanted to meet new friends. To be honest, I also have social anxiety, and I wanted a safe space to slowly build up my confidence and heal myself. I was quite nervous the first time I had to introduce myself, but I managed …
Shariffah, on Family Circles
Family Circles was meant to bring together community members who had further financial difficulties during the COVID-19 period. We wanted to start by acknowledging that low-income communities have the potential and resourcefulness to improve their own financial and general well-being. We trust and invest in low-income families as well as the solutions they discover on their own and as they take initiative, families get access to resources that can accelerate their efforts towards social mobility.   When we showed them the objective every month, they used to always say “You want us to get out of financial need, but we are …
Ela, on Family Circles
“I moved to Singapore 20 years ago from my hometown in Sumatra. I’m very lonely. I don’t have any family here and very little friends. Sometimes I even choose to work on Hari Raya because I don’t have anyone to visit. So I joined Family Circles because I know it would be good for me to meet new people and make friends here in Singapore. Family Circles is very helpful because we can raise topics to discuss, share resources and help each other. Some issues we have talked about are settling unpaid bills, how to increase our savings, how to …
Another Week Beyond – 2234
Dear friends, After almost a year of meeting monthly online, 6 mothers in a mutual support group met in person for the first time. Each brought some food from home and the mood in the room felt like a reunion of old friends. A few remarked that being in the same room with each other gave them a very different impression of each other and made them question if they had really known each other for a year. It has indeed been a year and it was timely to take stock of everyone’s experience being a member of the group. So …
Another Week Beyond – 2222
Dear friends, A common aspiration among those in our Family Circles is home ownership. Currently, they live in a 1 or 2 roomed flat rented from the government at a highly subsided rate but they aspire to have a place they can call their own. 2 mothers. I shall call Jean and Joan have 4 and 3 children respectively. They have come to realize that without a job where their employers contribute to their Central Provident Fund (CPF) account monthly, they are unlikely to have enough savings to purchase a flat. CPF is a mandatory social security savings scheme funded by contributions …
Another Week Beyond – 2147
Dear friends, The 5 Family Circles met, and we were most encouraged when members of 1 circle told us that it was the best session they had so far, elaborating that they were no longer feeling awkward with each other and really enjoyed their conversation. This circle was meeting for the third time and seemed to have acted on a gentle provocation we introduced at the beginning of the session, “Why is it that people in the group only seem comfortable with those from their own neighbourhood?” We then said that we would like them to run the meeting and left the zoom room. …