Dear friends, Ellyn joined our after-school programme at 9 years old and she remembers that she was placed 3rd in a 5km race at the East Coast Park that year. She was having a shower when her mother told her that her name was being announced on stage and urged her to hurry up so that she could collect her prize. The occasion was the Streetwise Run, an annual Youth Day Celebration that was part of our calendar from 2001 to 2010. She also remembers learning circus skills and performing for a Sunday afternoon crowd at Toa Payoh and singing “Seasons …
Another Week Beyond – 2133
Dear friends, A month ago, I was with a locksmith at about 10 pm fixing the locks of the gate and main door of a flat. While the gate could still be secured with a padlock, the wooden door behind it could not be locked from the outside. The locksmith was very skillful, and both the gate and the door could be secured from the outside when he left. This was a small gesture to reduce the anxiety of a mother who feared that her home would be damaged when no one was home. The bigger fear though was the safety …
Another Week Beyond – 2132
Dear friends, “Our Singapore Spirit” is the theme for this year’s National Day Parade and on its official website, visitors are invited to say what the Singapore Spirit means to them. As of 28 July 2021, the top 2 traits articulated are “hard-working” and “caring.” We can’t disagree as our work is significantly sustained by the caring people who donate their time and resources. Just this Monday, someone brought in 2 bags full of chocolate beverage mix for our members. He told me that they happened to be on sale at the supermarket and so he thought of us and another …
Another Week Beyond – 2131
Dear friends, After saying his name, he added “I am 14 years old, and I don’t know what I am doing here!” It was not the reconciliatory opening statement others in the room were expecting but perhaps the occasion was just overwhelming. His older brother who spoke next, immediately defended him. “I am here because I damaged the RC’s door and I wish to pay for repairs. My younger brother is not in the wrong because he did not damage the door.” On Tuesday evening, we coordinated a conference that served as a platform for these 2 boys to put right …
Another Week Beyond – 2130
Dear friends, Jael, who is doing her internship with us in partial fulfillment for her degree in social work was curious why most of the caregivers she met were mothers and women. She wondered where the fathers and the men in the community were. “Men and fathers are difficult to engage,” she was told at school and when she asked the women she met in the neighbourhood if this was true, they concurred. Nevertheless, as she administered a survey among financial assistance applicants, she asked the men who spoke to her if they would kindly allow her to call them again to …
Another Week Beyond – 2129
Dear friends, A mother contacted us sounding extremely troubled. She told us that a police officer had contacted her informing she had to pay $1500 for a door that her sons had damaged. He also told her that her sons may be charged for attempting to break into a premises. It sounded rather odd that a police officer would be asking for restitution, but the situation was much clearer after we contacted him. He told us that footage from closed circuit television had showed these boys damaging the door of the Residents’ Committee (RC) office and a member of the RC had …
Another Week Beyond – 2128
Dear friends, “Where do you imagine yourself to be 10 years from now?” We posed the question to group of caregivers aged from 61 to 26 years old. “Heaven!” A man in his 50s quipped but a couple of others took him quite seriously and said that it seemed like a reasonable answer for them too. A colleague who was taking notes resisted the urge to reframe the answer. She is in her 50s too and she imagined herself having a more restful life living at a place close to nature, taking long walks and having more time for activities she …
Another Week Beyond – 2127
Dear friends, In 1944, oblivious to the dangers of landing in a Japanese-occupied Singapore, Mr Heng and his father left their home in Guangdong in search of a better life. His daughter could not say how he and her grandfather navigated the dangers upon arriving at Syonan-to, the “Light of the South Island” but she knew that once the light was extinguished and Singapore was officially returned to British colonial rule on 12 September 1945, both men took to peddling. With a strong bamboo pole across their shoulders that had a basket full of wares on both ends, they would walk …
Another Week Beyond – 2126
Dear friends, 2 weeks ago, 2 women from Sew Can We, our income generation project got together on a zoom call to get a sense of what it means to govern themselves as a sociocratic circle. Introducing the concept, principles, and tools of sociocracy was a Community Fellow from the National University of Singapore and also present were 2 staff members from The Institute of Policy Studies. 4 of us working together with these women were also listening in and we could not help feeling very proud how seriously these women took the session. In a sociocracy, every voice of those present …
Another Week Beyond – 2125
Dear friends, The Heightened Alert which began on 16 May 2021 has moved into Phase 3 since Monday. Social gatherings of 5 persons and below are allowed and hopefully dining-in at eateries and hawker centres will resume next Monday. We are still working from home and most of us are generally getting by. However, the situation has caused job loss or reduced income for several breadwinners who were mainly cleaners or helpers in coffee shops, hawker centres and restaurants. We have been directing such families to the government’s COVID-19 Recovery Grant-Temporary, where they will receive one-off support ranging from $500 to …