January
22
January
9
LO7: Project Week
LO7:Recognise and consider the ethics implications of choices and actions
Project Week required me to think ethically about the NGOs I was working with. How is my time with them helpful to them? One of the most important decisions on project week was making sure that we did not fall into the trap of ‘voluntourism’. The following reflections illustrate how we did this.
Project Week Group Reflections
Evidence of Project Week
December
13
Pre-Kahaani Reflection LO4 and LO5
November
30
Third Reflective Conservation
If I could write my EE in differently, I would consider researching obstetric fistula from the perspective of Biology and Global Politics. I would have learnt about the biological processes which cause obstetric fistula, and the medical procedures which address Fistula versus the procedures that have exacerbated the health condition in developing countries. I would have analysed the psychological impact of Fistula from a Biology perspective while connecting the psychological impacts to human development in Global Politics. If I were to do a Biology world studies EE then my research would have been directed more towards reports which explain medical procedures, rather than interviews which I conducted with NGOs who try to address Fistula. The interview strategy I used to research has become one of the most effective research tools for me, as it allowed me to understand the capacity of NGOs to address human development from someone who has had the authentic experience of working with one of these NGOs. This is because my topic was obscure, specific, and lacked documentation in the country I investigated. I was surprised to learn that US foreign policy impacts the issue as I believed that obstetric fistula was an isolated issue.
October
28
LO2 Challenge: Culturama
In Culturama, I found the Balinese dance which I took part in was more challenging than I expected it to be. Although it was a slow dance, it required a high amount of precision and strength which I struggled to maintain. As come as I tried to be, my anxiety coupled with my inconvenient menstrual cycle made it difficult to sleep that night. In order to overcome these challenges I had to practice extra. I also felt the need to speak to a counsellor who could calm me down on the day of the show and give me some peace of mind. She reminded me that my adrenaline will come regardless of how much I have slept.
The risks that I had when taking part in this activity was trying to maintain my coursework along side. I also felt the risk of not being able to the dance properly and embarrassing myself. The challenge that I feel I was not able to overcome, was being able to dance to the ability of my partner during the transition of the dance. I felt that because she is an experienced dancer, she had definitely danced better than I did.
In the future, with Kahaani, I will approach challenges by reminding myself of the challenges I was able to overcome in the past. I believe that it is important to acknowledge what your body is capable of. I truly believe the it is important to give gratitude for that.Having done the small duet, I have gained far more confidence in my dancing abilities. I have held in a significant amount of insecurity about my dancing but this time I just rejoiced in the challenges that I had come my way.
I think the skills that I developed through this process include the confidence I have in my dancing and the faith that I have generated in my body. I believe that this is crucial for other areas of my life where I will face challenges such as having to have to manage several things at once because I now have the confidence in myself to do so.
Evidence of the dance:
September
19
GEP: LO3 Initiative and LO1 Awareness
For GEP, we planned and produces an event in which we advocated about period poverty and menstrual shaming through a panel discussion and documentary screening. The purpose was to provide insight about the issue to people who did not have it previously. Overall we thought it was a successful event as the discussion was interesting and went smoothly. We also had many poeple in the audience who asked questions. Below is a group reflection which we did on the event.
September
8
Second Reflective Conversation
My research has been successful however I need more research from books and journals. I learned that this is the best way to attain accurate information from secondary source data. I struggled to find information from secondary resources as my EE research question is highly specific. I took the initiative to email several NGOs and IGOs, including the United Nations to acquire information. I made it easy for them to respond by only giving them five questions that they could answer in detail. This helped me solve the challenge of not acquiring enough information from secondary sources as I was able to base my ideas off of their responses. I learned that primary source data is better than secondary source data as responses are more relevant. I have realised that small NGOs often have a better impact than large NGOs as they are able to work with clients on an individual level.
August
7
Engagement Activity with Emancipasia
I did an engagement activity with Sylvia Lee from Emancipasia. One of my key takeaways is their approach to human trafficking which solely includes raising awareness. This is interesting because raising awareness to the public is seen as the first step towards addressing this issue as it is the way to increase political pressure towards TNCs and governments which may be indirectly in support of human trafficking. The same goes towards a kind of environmental concern. If you do not raise awareness to the public, people will not avoid using single-use plastic. Therefore any kind of legislation will go unimportant. The difficulty with addressing this issue in Singapore is that any crackdown on this issue or major change in policy or law would be extremely problematic because such a large majority of migrant workers are victims of human trafficking of some form or another depending on your definition of human trafficking. This is partly why there is little collaboration between Emancipasia and the government to address human trafficking because the issue is to be solved by the public by becoming aware of the clothes that they buy.
July
14
EA: Engagement at TWC2
At this engagement I went to visit one of TWC2’s projects, the Cuff Roads Project, in Little India. This is where they give free meals to the migrant workers. After interviewing a person at this working with the organisation and speaking to a migrant worker I began to realise that all social and political issues become even more complex as you dive deeper into them. It goes along with the saying the more you know, the less you know. During the interview I started to find it difficult to understand the details of some of the struggles what workers face because these issues are so complicated. When I spoke to a migrant worker I became more aware of the assumptions that I had had internally. I was surprised by the fluency of which the workers spoke english and I was amazed by how humbly their interactions were despite everything they had been through. During my interview the manager of the Cuff Road Project said something that truly resonated with me. She said that if you are privileged, know that you are privileged at the cost of someone else. This made me realise what it really means to take responsibility of the privileges I have.
June
13
