Dear friends, The youth were surprised when a mother revealed that when she was violated as a child, the adults she confided in did not believe her. It was an experience the other three mothers present resonated with and they added that such was their reality when they were young. After a brief pause, one of the youth responded, “I …
Dear friends, 15 years ago, a 3-year-old girl we shall call Nina was a student at our Healthy Start Child Development Centre. Her mother was a foreigner, and she was born before her parents were officially married. We remember her because while she had a Singapore birth certificate, she did not have citizenship. When her father was incarcerated, Nina moved …
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 …
Dear friends, Global Handwashing Day took place on 15 October, and it was a day to highlight the value of washing our hands with soap and water to ward off disease. To honour the spirit of the day, Soap Cycling Singapore in collaboration with Purely Fragrances, hosted several complimentary soap making workshops for us this past month. The soap bars produced were then distributed to various social …
Dear friends, Weng Lum and Qayyim were seated at a stone table usually used for chess games. They were not having a game of chess but pouring over Qayyim’s school work in preparation for the upcoming year-end examinations. They were also oblivious to a male stranger in his 60s who was observing them while seated at a similar table some …
“People may think that in order for volunteering to be valuable, they must give in a very direct and physical manner and that the act of “raising awareness” is minor and insignificant. It may feel trivial to just click share or ‘like’ a post. It may seem small to perform an instant act of simple engagement that amplifies our work, but …
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 …
“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 …
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 …
“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 …
