Story contibuted by Myna, Community Worker
Through the Community Tabung initiative with families in Bukit Ho Swee, a regular savings programme grew into a space for trust, friendship, and shared responsibility.
On the first Friday of the month, a group of parents from Bukit Ho Swee gathered at the bowling alley. Shoes were exchanged at the counter, bowling balls rolled across the floor, and children hovered nearby, watching and cheering. For once, they were not meeting in their usual space to sit in a circle and count savings. This Friday was set aside simply to be together.
The idea had come from the parents themselves. They chose to meet on what would normally have been their Community Tabung day, planning an outing instead: bowling, a late lunch, and time to catch up. Before heading home, they still gathered to count their Community Tabung, a familiar routine grounding the day in purpose.
It was the school holidays, and many had already spent the morning caring for their children or running errands. Still, no one seemed eager to leave. Conversations lingered. Laughter carried across tables.
Community Tabung is a community savings programme where families contribute monthly to a shared pool. When someone is unable to contribute, others step in so that no one is left behind. These collective savings are matched by donors and then by the government, before being distributed equally into the children’s Child Development Accounts, multiplying the original amount sixfold. The funds support children’s development and education, and any unused savings can later be transferred into their Post-Secondary Education Accounts.
Alongside national schemes that support families and children, Community Tabung gives parents additional breathing room, financial, practical, and emotional, as they navigate the everyday demands of caregiving, work, and planning for their children’s futures.
At the bowling lanes, families drifted easily between groups. There was gentle coaching, good-natured teasing, and cheers when a ball stayed on course. One husband stood nearby, encouraging his wife as she bowled for the first time, then ran over to hug her when she knocked down more pins than she expected. These were small moments, but they spoke volumes about the relationships that had formed.
This ease with one another had taken time. When Community Tabung restarted earlier in the year, some parents were meeting for the first time. Conversations were polite but quiet. People tended to sit with those they already knew. What connected them was a shared concern for their children, and the discipline of showing up, month after month.
Through regular Tabung sessions, parents began talking more. They checked in on one another, shared advice, and looked out for who might need extra support that month. Resident leaders helped organise sessions, kept track of contributions, and ensured everyone felt included. Beyond Social Services supported with coordination and logistics, working alongside families to make sure the programme ran smoothly and safely.
By the time this outing came around, planning it felt natural. Participation was easy. Trust had been built, not through grand gestures, but through consistency.
Community Tabung creates space for families to come together regularly, to save, to talk, and to support one another. Over time, those ordinary moments add up. What begins as a structured programme becomes something more familiar: a network of neighbours who know each other, rely on one another, and choose to show up together.
On that Friday, bowling was just the activity. What stayed with everyone was the sense of belonging and the quiet confidence that they are building their children’s futures, side by side.