Our Beneficiaries
No. of Enterprises
1000
Target
Our Beneficiaries
All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Coming from a single-parent family, Ali* was clueless about his future and lacked motivation in life. He failed his first attempt at the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and had to retake PSLE. Lacking in confidence and patience, Ali was often frustrated when he meets with difficulties. His mother, the family’s sole breadwinner, was worried about his attitude and turned to social workers at RoundBox @ Children’s Society for help.
RoundBox @ Children’s Society is a youth drop-in centre that uses the platform of sports and arts to provide therapeutic intervention to youth between ages 13 to 18. In the centre, youth are provided with opportunities to try out various sports and arts-related activities in a safe space. These activities positively transform youths’ lives by helping them to discover and realise their aspirations, and develop to their full potential. Through these activities, trained professionals will also use specific clinical intervention tools to intervene and instil positive values in youth.
After participating in various activities, Ali eventually found his passion in running with the help of RoundBox @ Children’s Society’s staff members, who challenged him to train and complete a 5K competitive marathon. Apart from participating in running events, Ali also dedicates time for weekly training sessions. Through the psychotherapeutic interventions delivered by trained professional staff, Ali developed positive values that helped him overcome difficulties during training sessions. His efforts paid off when he emerged 2nd runner-up in the second installment of the nation-wide performance series 5K race 2018. Today, Ali receives positive feedback and is focused on working towards his aspiration of developing a career in sports.
Aaron’s and Andy’s Story
A pair of brothers who came to us, Aaron* and Andy, aged 7 & 8 respectively during their time at Sunbeam Place, our residential home …
A pair of brothers who came to us, Aaron* and Andy, aged 7 & 8 respectively during their time at Sunbeam Place, our residential home.
Before they were referred to us, both Aaron and Andy came from a happy family with a loving father who worked hard to provide for the family. Despite his shift job with odd hours, their Dad always made time for his two young boys often taking them out for meals and even took them out for jetty fishing when the boys did well in school.
Things changed dramatically overnight when their Dad met with an accident. When he returned from the hospital, he was never the same again. Aaron and Andy were too young to understand at that point of time that their father had a serious brain injury that caused him to be easily irritable. He lost his job due to the accident and as a result, the family’s financial situation became very strained as the bills for the home and the medical stay began to pile up. This caused the family to break apart. The children’s mother gradually became alcoholic, and eventually left the house.
With the stress slowly building up, their father was no longer able to control his emotions and often took it out on his boys by choking or whipping them with a belt. Aaron and Andy were confused and at a loss at how their family has fallen apart. They wondered what they have done wrong and longed for those happy times with their Dad. Unfortunately, the abuse became more aggressive and frequent and that’s when their grandmother decided to step in and seek help from the school and they were eventually referred to us.
The two brothers initially came to Sunbeam Place displaying aggressive behavior and would often get into fights, be verbally abusive to the staffs who were trying to reach out to them and were not motivated to learn or attend school.
But over time and guidance of our social workers, they slowly recovered from their physical and emotional distress and are slowly adjusting back to a normal life. Aaron and Andy are just two of the many kids Singapore Children’s Society reaches out to.
During these years that they’ve been with us, grandmother would visit the boys every weekend and even bringing them home on weekends when she didn’t have to work. The children’s father’s health continues to deteriorate and has eventually lost his house and is now staying in a nursing home, where he receives the due medical attention.
Aaron and Andy are aged 10 and 11 now. Grandmother shuttles between both homes visiting both his son and his grandsons, and tries to keep whatever is left of the family intact.
*Aaron’s and Andy’s name have been changed to protect their identity.
Derrick’s story
Before Derrick came to us, he was a very mischievous and playful kid. Seeing his disciplinary teacher on a weekly basis was a norm as he was constantly fighting with others…
Before Derrick came to us, he was a very mischievous and playful kid. Seeing his disciplinary teacher on a weekly basis was a norm as he was constantly fighting with others.
Things changed in Secondary 1 when he joined the CABIN Club as a second CCA. It helped him to step out of a comfort zone, learnt to be more vocal and to tone down on his mischiefs. Come Secondary 2, the Project CABIN opened his eyes to never judge a book by its cover. He learnt that in society there were all sort of people, those who may look like a gangster and rugged, may not actually be that bad after all.
However in Seconday 3, his short temper reared its ugly head as Derrick got into a scuffle with his classmate who happened to be his best friend, when he insulted his parents. After that one fight, most of his friends and classmates started to ostracize him. But it was a different case with those from CABIN. They looked beyond his past, and accepted him for who he was.
In his final year, it was not all smooth sailing but he managed to pull through with the support of those from CABIN. The CABIN gave him a chance to develop his leadership skills.
After graduation, Derrick reflected on his time in Secondary School and how Project CABIN saved him from his own worst enemy, which was himself.
It allowed him opportunities to grow and shine as a leader. CABIN provided a platform for him to step up as one of the selected youth leaders who assist in planning and leading youth ushers for major events like Chingay and NDP. Also, it honed his listener skills and to always to look at both sides of the coin so as to make an informed decision.
In a nut shell, CABIN helped to nurture the natural leadership qualities that were within him all along. Derrick remains indebted to CABIN and pays the good deed forward by passing this practice and chance to others whenever he volunteers at CABIN, so other students too can get a chance to shine and be someone who they truly are.
*Derrick’s name has been changed to protect his identity.