Sending Heartfelt Mail to Socially-Isolated Elderly in Nursing Homes

What happened when a tight-knit group of former JC schoolmates came together during the circuit breaker? In this particular instance, Hey, You Got Mail! was born.

In our very first episode of A Singapore Story, we find out from team member Wei Lin why they felt it was important to send personalised, handwritten mail to the socially-isolated elderly in Singapore’s nursing homes.

Producer/Interviewer: Arman Shah

Video/Editing: Naufal Azman

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“I'm 74 now. When I joined the army, I was in my

“I'm 74 now. When I joined the army, I was in my early twenties. Back then, many thought Singapore was too small to have an army. But in 1967, the government began to publicise the need for a Singapore Armed Forces. That was when National Service was formalised.

Incidentally, that was around the time I left school. Me and my contemporaries were looking at different job opportunities. I went for interviews at some British companies, but there was such a strong pull from the army. I thought joining the SAF was a great way to start a career.

I was posted to Pulau Blakang Mati – now known as Sentosa – to join the first batch of trainees at the School of Field Engineers. For six months, the type of training we did as Combat Engineers included construction of bridges and fortifications, and demolition and mine warfare.

Historically, the island of Sentosa is very famous for setting up military units. The two most elite units that were started at Fort Siloso were the Naval Diving Unit and Bomb Disposal Unit. I was actually sent to the UK for about a year to get training on bomb disposal, and subsequently, Mine Clearance Diving with the Royal Engineers and Royal Navy respectively.

Back in the day, the Communist Party of Malaya was very strong in Singapore. The communists cultivated a lot of students, and they planted flag bombs that injured and even killed civilians. As emergency responders, my men and I were activated to dismantle these bombs.

The police once arrested a university student and brought him back to his school campus to locate a flag bomb that he had planted. He planted it, so why should I have to dismantle it? From afar, we could see him trembling as he dismantled the explosive device.

What did we do over the weekend? Well, I was posted to the Royal Garrison Artillery barrack. It’s situated at Pulau Blakang Mati where we trained recruits, so I was very busy during the weekends. But when we were not on duty, we did have some time for recreation such as sailing, horse riding and sketching...

“I stayed in a rental house for about 25 years.

“I stayed in a rental house for about 25 years. It’s quite a ghetto area for many low-income families. By the age of 14, I was already working at different fast food outlets to earn extra pocket money. I worked during weekends and school holidays.

Back then, my parents would wake up everyday at 1am to make vadeh. It’s a popular Indian snack. My sister and I would take turns to wake up at 3:30am to help pack the vadeh. By 5am, my dad would deliver the vadeh on his bicycle to a few stalls in Geylang.

That was how my parents raised us. They were not highly-educated, but they were always working hard to make ends meet. I consider myself lucky that my mum had a talent for making vadeh; that’s how we survived. But because of me, she was hospitalised.

I would tell her that I was going out to study with friends, but I would actually be hanging out with some bad company after school. One day, I got beat up by about 10 other kids at my void deck. The incident happened the same year that I had to sit for my O-Levels.

My face was swollen. When my mum saw what happened to me, she couldn’t take it. It was so strenuous on her heart that she had to be hospitalised. More than anything, she was very disappointed in me for lying to her.

We didn’t have a lot, but she sacrificed so much to make sure I had the things I needed – food on the table, money for tuition and religious classes. When I saw the look of disappointment in her eyes, it was a real wake-up call. That was my turning point.

I actually wanted to drop out of school because I lost interest in studying. But after the incident, I was determined to pass my O-Levels. It wasn’t easy. When I recovered and returned to school, one of my teachers even told me I was a hopeless case.

I wanted to make my mum proud and prove that teacher wrong, so I burnt the midnight oil and worked hard to pass my O-Levels. I managed to scrape through and get a place in a Polytechnic and course that I wanted...

“I worked at a bank for 14 years. When it was ne

“I worked at a bank for 14 years. When it was nearing time to retire, they said, ‘Emily, can you stay for two more years?’ I did consider it. It was a beautiful place to work with lovely people who cared for me. But I wanted to enjoy retirement and know what that life feels like.

For the first three months, I thought, ‘What a relief! No work!’ I could finally offload and laze around at home all day. But soon enough, I got bored. I felt unproductive. And because of my age, I felt like I could get dementia really fast if I continued to do nothing.

I took up baking classes and ate well. But after six months of staying at home, I told my sister that I was bored. I wanted to go back to work. My whole family was very supportive and encouraging, so I started looking for new job opportunities.

One day, someone called and asked if I wanted to join the hotel line. The hospitality industry is something very different from what I was doing, but I was eager to learn and know more. So I applied and got the job, and it’s been an amazing experience so far.

Today, I work as a Lobby Ambassador at The Barracks Hotel in Sentosa. This whole building complex used to be military barracks. You can still see the well-preserved colonial architecture.

Now lovingly restored, the hotel transports world-weary wanderers to the golden age of travel, when travel was – and still is – a stylish art form, filled with marvel, romance and discovery.

As an Ambassador, my duties are not tied to one aspect of hotel operations. I’m at the lobby if guests need help. Because of COVID-19 concerns, I also help to ensure that everyone follows protocol, like putting on our masks when needed, or practising social distancing.

Fun fact about my job? We had a trained barista teach me how to froth milk to do latte art. Mastering this took me a while – it’s all about getting the milk temperature right! – but I’m glad I got the hang of it. My designs are always shaped like a feather or layered onion...

“When I was eight, I was fooled by my papa to mo

“When I was eight, I was fooled by my papa to move to Singapore. It wasn’t an elaborate plan, but he used my fondness for planes to trick me. ‘Adisty, do you want to take the plane with me to Singapore?” At that moment, I didn’t know that I had to leave my friends in Bogor, Indonesia for good.

Life in sunny Singapore during my early childhood wasn’t as carefree as it was in Bogor. Bogor has vast open fields where I would run barefooted chasing tires. The rain didn’t stop me from staying outdoors to stomp on puddles.

A few hundred metres from my house, there was a river where me and my friends would jump and cannonball into. Life back there was good. But in my new home, I was introduced to ‘mugging’.

In Singapore, I learnt about national education through textbooks. In Bogor, I joined presidential rallies, standing on top of a car screaming, ‘Pilih Megawati!’ I was six and didn’t know what I was yelling for; but, I had a lot of fun.

My parents moved back to Indonesia when I was 10, leaving me and my brother to care for ourselves. Most would think that any kid my age would revel in that moment. But all I ever wanted was to spend more time with my parents, particularly papa.

Over the next two decades, I was raised by my papa who’s 581 miles away. He would call me twice a week. Our conversations were centred around errands but I loved these tasks. I felt like his right-hand man.

‘Adist, can you go to the travel agency and bulk purchase flight tickets for you and your brother? Adist, can you help send some documents to ICA? Adist, go and set up a new account with Singapore Powers.’

My papa was never one who would show affection to me or my siblings. But every time he told me, ‘Adist you are very capable’ after running an errand, whatever cloud I had above my head at that moment disappeared. I guess that’s why I am not a romantic. I am a realist...

“In Japan, people work so hard till late. There

“In Japan, people work so hard till late. There was a point of time where I was about to break. Between work and family, I was experiencing a lot of stress, and I just didn’t know how to manage everything. I was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

The social pressure is quite hard. But I’m Mexican, and as a foreigner in the country, you have to work even harder to prove yourself. I was overworked and I put my health second. I became overweight and I thought, ‘I have to do something about this.’

So I joined a group of guys who played soccer at a small school field every Saturday. It was a cool, fun group. We ate together, played soccer and then had coffee after. From there, I started to exercise more and eat more healthily.

But then the school expanded and they got rid of the soccer field. For several months, we didn’t know what to do. We played futsal, but it was expensive. We started to lose guys until the group eventually disappeared.

It was bad for me because soccer was my escape from work. On top of that, my daughters were growing up, so they needed more time from me to guide them through their teenage years. I didn’t know how to manage it all.

One day, my wife brought back a pamphlet she got from the streets. It was a boxing ad, and I asked her, ‘Boxing? Really?’ I did Taekwondo in my college days. I was not bad but I got injured quite badly and I stopped after that. So I wasn’t too keen on boxing.

But my wife enrolled me in a trial class and I actually enjoyed it. The coach from Japan was nice. I got hooked on it and went more often – early mornings; late at night. I was going three, four, five days a week and really got into the sport.

Boxing brought a sense of balance – and equilibrium – to my life. I started losing weight and became healthier. My mood changed and my daughters noticed; the office noticed. I was happier and doing better...

Hello dear readers! We're already in the second we

Hello dear readers! We're already in the second week of February, and we hope 2022 has been treating you kindly thus far.

It's been a while since we last posted, and we just wanted to hear from you, literally. Our editorial team is looking for inspiring stories, and if you have an amazing one to share, we'd love to know about it.

Email your story to hello@everydaypeople.sg. Your story might just be featured on our humble little platform one of these days. Have fun writing!

Street art has come a long way in Singapore. Dismi

Street art has come a long way in Singapore. Dismissed as an act of vandalism, it slowly but surely earned its respect as a legitimate artistic discipline. And at the forefront of changing the narrative – alongside other pioneering street artists – is ZERO (@zero_rscls).

In 2003, ZERO started @rscls (RSCLS; pronounced as ‘rascals’) with his peers to rally like-minded creatives and push street art to the next level. With power in numbers, they’ve tackled group commissions and made the pursuit of art financially-sustainable.

Here, he talks about “The Escape Artist”, the mural he did for Kampong Glam (@visitkampunggelam) as part of the “Hall of Fame” exhibition. He also discusses how COVID-19 has impacted all of us and the importance of street art as a platform for change.

This is the last of a five-part interview series, “People of the Arts: Stories from Singapore to Germany”. It’s presented in partnership with KunstLAH! (@sgdekultur), an initiative by the Singapore Embassy in Berlin.

✏ Interviewer/Producer: @spid_arman
🎥 Filmmaker: @rubyleafgreen

#everydaypeoplesg #kunstlah #peopleofthearts #berlin #germany #singapore #streetart #murals #graffiti #art #artist #spraypaint

“I cried one time. That was my most challenging

“I cried one time. That was my most challenging day in France. I completed a dish and was about to serve it out to guests. But the chef checked my dish and threw the plate at me because my plating was off by two degrees.

The whole kitchen had to stop and restart because your dish must be out at the same time as the other dishes. Everyone blames you because it’s all your fault. It was such a bad day. But that experience toughened me up and made me more meticulous in my approach.

My attachment at the French restaurant taught me discipline. It also taught me how to be mentally tough. Otherwise, you’ll break down easily. They love to break you and re-mould you over and over again, so your mind must be strong.

I’ve loved cooking since I was five. I would follow my mom to the market during the weekend and watch how she chooses her vegetables, meats and seafood. She taught me how to handle sharp instruments like knives and how to turn on the fire and control the heat.

She also taught me how to cook. My favourite thing to cook was fried rice because it was so easy – you just dump everything in. The first time my family tried my cooking, they thought it was too salty. From then on, I controlled my seasoning and started improving.

I realised I wanted to be a chef after I got my O-level results. I was 17 and deciding if I should transition to a junior college, polytechnic or SHATEC. I went home, discussed the matter with my family and told them that perhaps I should go to a cooking school instead.

They rejected the idea because they felt that being a chef involves standing for long hours all day – you have no life. They are not chefs themselves, so that was their concept of the profession. But I bit my tongue and just went for it, hoping their perception would change...

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13 February 2021
In Activists, People, Video

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