Tag: LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

Memoirs of the Pioneer Generation with Lion Befrienders 2

XiuYu ZHANGLeave a comment

The actual experience of engaging with elderlies in the Lion Befrienders is more positive and successful than I expected. Different from other “elderly home” I have visited before, elderlies in Lion Befrienders do not have to live there and they just come to Lion Befrienders to make friends and have fun. Due to that, as all elderlies there are willing to be there, they are very open to our weekly visits and would like to chat with us. In my past experience with elderlies, being friend with them has not been that natural and easy.

I used one of the takeaways from my previous service which is that never position yourself as a saviour or helper. With the mind of making friend, I then become friend of some of the elderlies.  They have all sorts of life path, which reflects in their way of talking and reacting. Being the Pinnioor Generation of modern Singapore, they were born before the nation itself. Due to that, the majority of them are unable to speak English, which makes my ability to speak Mandarin useful. We usually play poker with them first to break the ice, but with our self-made simple rules. Along with the playing of the game, we then get the chance to listen to their stories. One thing I learned from their story is that there will always be ups and downs in one’s life, which are not avoidable. One of the really friendly-looking gentleman there was a gang leader in the past, he can now talk about his past in a normal and peaceful tone without proudness or regret. Doing the best thing with the best ability you have in that moment, that is the only way to really live a life.

LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

LO5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.

Project Week Reflection 2 – Preparation

XiuYu ZHANGLeave a comment

The planning of my project week trip is almost completed, only a few minor adjustments has to be made. At the very beginning, it is thought to be a service-oriented service which may have 4 to 5 days of service, making us deciding our destination based on selection of  NGOs. Having that goal in mind, my group members and I have found a suitable NGO to work with, which is the Children Shelter Foundation in Thailand. CSF has a close relationship with our school as one of the Global Concerns, although the GC is no longer existing due to varies reasons, the relationship carries on. With the experience of hosting past project week group, it is believed that my group should able to strengthen the positive relationship further.

After searching more for CSF and contacting them directly, Joy’s house was introduced to us. JH is a family business which is established and currently running by members of CSF, meaning that money spending in Joy’s house will contribute to the fund in CSF indirectly. Knowing that fact, we decided to stay in Joy’s house the entire project week. The price of housing there is reasonable and its location being very close to CSF centre saves traveling time we may have. After sharing our initial planning with other groups, we became feeling that a balanced project week is more desirable as a precious experience. Thus, the plan of two days is changed from service-based to activity-based.

As project week allows students to travel, serve and adventure independently in a foreign nation, the school has many strict rules and procedures for us to follow,  which is aimed to ensure our safety and well-being during project week. However, it also makes the planning process tough and challenging especially when we plan to some activities with some adventurous element.  To figure out all we need, we have met up on a regular basis to discuss our progress and keep communicating with each other online.  The workload has been distributed to all members so that it becomes more manageable for individuals. Without collaboration, we will not be able to complete the planning.

 

Screenshots from our planning doc

LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

LO4-Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experience.

LO5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.

LO6-Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

Project Week Reflection 1 – Investigation

XiuYu ZHANGLeave a comment

Project Week allows me to travel with a group of other students to a foreign country. To plan a  CAS focused trip, I need to find a balance between service and activities. My friends have different opinions regarding the time distribution in this one week, so the first thing I did is searching for people who share the same idea of doing 50% service and 50% activities. By doing so, I managed to meet my current group members Jaeho, Jack and Riku.

As activities are varied from different places, we decide to locate the type of service we want to do first. Among serving elderlies, animals and children, we choose to work with children as our experience of being students can be very useful. This helps our shortlist our destinations to Taiwan, China and Chiangmai, Thailand.  In the present state, Chiangmai seems to be a better choice due to the past working experience our school has had with an NGO in Chaingmai. We have made a collective decision to work with Children’s Shelter Foundation in Thailand, considering all other factors.

Our first letter to CSF

 

First letter from CSF

LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

LO5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.

LO6-Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

 

 

Memoirs of the Pioneer Generation with Lion Befrienders 1

XiuYu ZHANGLeave a comment

Today is the first time I participate in the Memoirs of the Pioneer Generation with Lion Befrienders. After meeting with the members of this service, I have gained a clearer idea of what this service is for. Before joining UWCSEA, I had been studying in a local school in Singapore for three and half years and developed a healthy relationship with the residents around my previous school, which I think will be helpful for me to contribute to this service. The phase Pioneer Generation has a special meaning in the context of Singapore, it refers to the founding generations of Singapore, meaning that they are the first generation of modern Singaporeans as having Singapore nationality. There are not many countries which still have their founding generations present and for developed countries are even less. This makes the conversation between them and me interesting.

I have had similar service experience in my previous school, making me what to see that will them react differently as my status changes from a local student to an international student. I believe this will allow me to better understand them and then to improve the quality of our conversations. As we (other members and I) will interview them about their life stories, I understand the importance of working collectively even in the planning stage. Not many of us are Chinese speakers, so Chinese speakers like me would have to help to translate the conversation. In the process of interviewing, the teamwork also plays an extremely important role as it cannot be accomplished sole. I am looking forward to conducting my first interview as a UWCSEA student.

LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience

LO5-Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively

Healthserve for migrant workers – Overall reflection for season 1 and 2

XiuYu ZHANGLeave a comment

This local service of Healthserve for migrant workers has reached its turning point or more clearly the second one. Although its name remains unchanged, the organization we work with is no longer the same.  Due to change of person in charge in Healthserve, this service with them had to be terminated.  This is what I call the first turning point of this service. This kind of interruption should not exist but did not come as a complete surprise.  Up to the time when my second reflection was written, I used to have a positive feeling about the future of this service. A lot of planning has been done and we really want to kick-start our plans, while we could feel the change in attitude in our partner. As a result of this unfortunate event, our plan remains as written words on paper.  However, with the help of our supervisors, new potential partners were listed and we decided to not change our target group of migrant workers (or migrant brother, a little gift from the Healthserve).  The Migrant Worker’s Centre, which was suggested by me, has been chosen. Theoretically,  the name of Healthserve for migrant workers should be changed at that time.

The working experience with  MWC began at really a high note, as evidently shown in this first meeting with their stuff, MWC is more professional, more passionate and more effective in dealing with the issue migrant workers encounter. MWC has a clear idea of what they are doing and what they can do (reflecting on their close relationship with the Singapore government), in order for us to understand them more, we were invited to their centre for a visit.  I have read their previous student experience with many local schools and thus being quite surprised when they shared us their real need.  Before the visit, we made modifications to our old plans of sport and game events and studied for the law-related issues commonly faced by the migrant workers (covered in employment act) they gave us.  Due to some unknown reasons (at least to me), MWC was more demanding towards us compared to the local schools they used to work with. It has become clear that sports events, game carnivals and all these kind of help were not wanted by them, they wanted us to help them man the helpline.  This core of our service has never changed but the mean was demanded to change. Have we the ability to man the helpline? Have we the time to man the helpline? Have we the right to man the helpline?  To answer questions of those desperate migrant workers by giving suggestions which come from a group of barely trained Grade 11 students yet so significant to even change their even their families life, does not seem right to me. This stress gets built up when the importance of our advice has been again emphasized by the MWC. Another issue with it is that the time they wanted us to man the helpline is either night during weekdays or weekends, which I would consider too intense for me as an IB student who will be sending university application this year.  This misunderstanding between them and us has again stopped the progress of our service.  Considering my current need for academic study, I am aware that I may not able to have the time to sharpen and knowledge in the area of employment law to give my advise confidently, so better not to do so.

As been brought out by my supervisors, it is time to rethink about this service and I have made the thoughtful decision to change my service. My skill set and experience of the previous service will empower me to make a larger impact on the sector of caring for elderly where I am confident. Having said that, the long (almost two sessions of) preparation for a service, understanding the issue of migrant workers and the meaning of responsibility and making ethic decisions will be with me even after I leave this service.

LO3 – Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

LO6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

LO7 – Recognise and consider the ethical implications of choices and actions.

Healthserve Migrant Workers Activities 2

XiuYu ZHANGLeave a comment

Although we have met up on a weekly basis to discuss this service and what should we do for the organization-Healthserve, this was the first time that I actually got the chance to come to their place.  On 28 September 2017, I have visited and met with the volunteer coordinator Willy Lau of Healthserve, together with schoolmates and teachers.

Mr. Lau received us at a small restaurant and led us through a narrow corridor. There was a small conference room at the side of the corridor.  After all of us sat down, he then started his presentation which was very impressive to me.  First of all, the living conditions of these migrant workers were much harsher than I thought. They mainly lost their job due to varies reasons and thus have no sources of income. Furthermore, some of them even got their passport been confiscated by their previous employers. So there is no way for them to return to their home country, provided that they want to do so. The fact is that they had paid for coming here with the aim to earn as much as they could to support their families back home, resulting in their reluctance to go home without wages.  To make things worse, some of them were injured and lost the ability to work. As they do not want their families to worry about them, they often deceived their families by not telling them about the injury. However, this contradicted with the fact that there was no money sent back, making their families questioned them regarding their loyalty towards their families in a harsh manner. This created mental pressure to the injured migrant workers, so they were then suffering physically and mentally.

To deal with the situation, Healthserve tries to include migrant workers/brothers they are working with by providing a sense of belonging. They emphasise the idea of being a community that all members of the community are connected emotionally as friends, not saviour who offers help and poor people in depressed situation. Thus, equality is most highlighted in this NGO.  Having this in mind, I will change my mindset that I am here to make friends instead of simply offering help.

Considering the size of our group, I think our group can select a number of people to make some art products for the upcoming fund raising event they have, and the rest of us can participate in the event by actually attending.

 

LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

LO6-Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.

LO7-Recognise and consider the ethics implications of choices and actions.

Healthserve Migrant Workers Activities 1

XiuYu ZHANGLeave a comment

I have been lived in Singapore for quite a long period of time and observed the fact that there are many migrant workers working here in Singapore and not being taking good care of. This service-learning provides me a perfect opportunity to know more about the working conditions, standard of living of these migrant workers.

The first meeting was used to plan and discuss what should we say and do when engaging with migrant workers. As told by the teachers, a little different from I thought, the migrant works we will be engaging with are really in their hard times. They usually lost their jobs and have difficulties to return home. Bearing these facts in mind, we changed our initial plan as cutting off all the questions about their jobs and trying not to force them to think about the unfortunates. We decided to prepare some easy board games which we can play them. I am sure that there will be something which I can learn from them, so I will come there with a caring heart, not positioning myself as a saver.

LO3-Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience.

LO6-Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance.