Another Week Beyond – 2243

Comms Team Another Week Beyond, HeadStrong

Dear friends, 2 youth who were unable to reach our meeting venue on time requested for arrangements to join the session online. We were discussing the topic of failure and they felt a need to register their thoughts on what it meant to them and how it made them feel. “Failure is when you are in a bad place and you do not even want to try to push on,” was how one participant put it. We gathered that he meant that failure is the absence of hope, the resignation that one would never taste success any which way. This resonated …

Shahriza, on Family Circles

Comms Team 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

Comms Team 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

Comms Team 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 – 2242

Comms Team Another Week Beyond, youth

Dear friends, 8 youth from different neighbourhoods responded enthusiastically to an invitation to explore how they could lead or be a part of a social action project that they cared about. They told us that they were inspired by mothers in their respective neighbourhoods who organized community activities, spoke to their neighbours about improving their health and cared for older people. They also fondly recalled activities like “really free markets” where they could pick up preloved clothes, bags, and household items as well as potluck dinners and community events where they were welcomed to have their fill. There was always something …

Uma and Deyonsi, on the L.I.F.E programme

Comms Team Education

It’s not that she doesn’t want to learn or can’t learn. When she’s excited about the subject, when she is very happy, she can learn. In the L.I.F.E programme, the teachers are friendly and she responds very differently. She is more enthusiastic and energetic.

Hazirah, on Learning Circles

Comms Team Education

The purpose of Learning Circles is to really try to re-define learning for the children, to empower the children and youth to take ownership of their learning goals, and to allow a more diverse set of topics and subjects to be explored to increase interest in learning for children and youths.  Last year we had a Theory of Change conversation where we shared some challenges we had in running the Learning Is Fun and Exciting (L.I.F.E) programmes. We wanted to direct ownership of the programme back to the community and build their capacity in running it. We brainstormed with community members on …

Nazariah, on the Collaborative Change Agent Programme

Comms Team Community, Women

Nazariah is a community enabler and part of the Parents’ Circle in the Collaborative Change Agent programme addressing sexual harassment and sexual violence in her neigbourhood. The programme is one of the ways that we work towards building “restorative neighbourhoods” one of our building blocks in creating sustainable, safe communities.

Read more to find out how and why she decided to take an active stance against sexual violence in the community and how the journey has been for her.

Another Week Beyond – 2241

Comms Team Another Week Beyond, HeadStrong

Dear friends, Last Monday, 10 October 2022 was World Mental Health Day. The World Health Organisation (WHO) describes mental health as a “basic human right. And it is crucial to personal, community and socio-economic development.” WHO elaborates that it is not just the absence of mental disorders, but good mental health is having a state of mind where we cope well with the stresses of life, learn and work well, and contribute to community. Importantly, mental health is not just determined by psychological and biological factors but by a “complex interplay of individual, social and structural stresses and vulnerabilities.” A …

On the Collaborative Change Agent Programme – Sobi

Comms Team Community, Women, youth

CW: mentions of sexual violence  In 2018 I was conducting an applied drama programme with 11 and 12 year old girls. During that period, they began telling stories about their experiences of gendered violence, and one girl brought up that she had two cousins who were sexually abusing her. We met with the families involved to facilitate a process of restorative justice, alongside the family’s decision to report to the police. After hearing other similar stories of sexual violence, we started talking to mothers in the neighbourhood and got the mandate that this is an issue they wanted to take …