Written by Wilson, Community Worker
On Thursday afternoons in Jalan Bukit Merah, the Homework Support room opens long before any volunteer arrives. Five mothers from the neighbourhood take turns unlocking the space, laying out snacks, straightening chairs, and greeting the first few children who always show up early – eager, restless, and ready to tell someone how their day went.
This little programme began because some parents, especially those who struggled with English or had fewer years of schooling, wanted so badly to help their children but didn’t know how. Beyond now brings in trained volunteers to support the academics. But the mothers? They shape the environment. They make sure the room feels safe enough for learning to happen.
And that’s not always easy.
Some of the children have parents working long, unpredictable hours. They carry that tiredness and tension into the room. In the early months, the mothers often found themselves raising their voices just to keep things in order – then wondering if they had done the right thing. Were they too harsh? Did it even make a difference?
One afternoon, I asked them a simple question: “Do they still behave like that now?”
Silence. Then slow smiles.
Somewhere along the way, the children had stopped using vulgarities. They stopped being rude. They still played, they still tested boundaries – they’re kids – but they also showed respect. The mothers’ consistency had shifted something, quietly.
As the year wrapped up, the children wrote appreciation cards for the volunteers and the mothers-in-charge, which will be presented to them at the Celebration of Learning even next month. And, in a twist that made everyone laugh, the most expressive cards came from the ones who had been scolded the most. The strictest mother received the most love. Not because the scolding meant anything on its own, but because the children remembered what came after – the outings to the Botanic Gardens, the walks, the attention, the care.
Those small moments reframed everything. The children realized that someone in their community cared enough to guide them, to show up, to stay.
This is what it looks like when a neighbourhood raises its young together.
At Beyond, our role is simply to walk alongside them to nurture dreams, strengthen relationships, and make sure no one does this alone.
If you’d like to support communities like this, we’d love to have you volunteer with us.