taken from http://www.straitstimes.asia1.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.c2aef3d65baca16abb31f610a06310a0/?vgnextoid=f832758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:dcc575ed0e38b010VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD
I REFER to the article, 'Poverty: Generation next' (ST, May 27).
Most Singaporeans must be both surprised and shocked to read about the 'underclass' plight of poverty, hunger and neglect in a First World country like ours.
More significant, children born into such families have little chance to escape the poverty trap, making it a vicious circle. Unless parents buck up and show them the way, their children have precious little resources to pull up their socks despite sincere intervention by schools and social workers.
Having worked as a social worker aide in a family service centre, I got to know first hand horrendous details of families in dire straits. Most felt trapped and seemed unable to get out of their situation. Naturally, most of their problems are financial, due to either prolonged unemployment or insufficient income. Lowly educated and unskilled, their chances of earning a decent income are curtailed. Their choice of employment is also limited and their wages are often at the mercy of unscrupulous employers.
Naturally, most find work a chore and have little job satisfaction. By changing jobs frequently, they perpetuate the problem especially during gaps of unemployment. Most I knew found jobs as cleaners, dish washers or general workers. Work is more for survival than satisfaction. They also do not have much left after paying essential bills.
I knew of a family I visited who lived in darkness and without water for a full month. They had four small children with the fifth on the way. The children studied in the corridor in the evening and mostly ate plain rice with ikan bilis. The children did not show much confidence in life let alone their studies.
The family was waiting for the wages of the breadwinner father to pay the utilities bill. When asked how much he earned, I was shocked to learn that he earned only $750 as a delivery assistant working a six-day work week. I later realised he owed Singapore Power only $150.
Even with social assistance like The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund for the children, this family struggled to meet their basic needs. More significant, the psychological and emotional trauma for the children was irreparable. Unless they can harness strength from within themselves to see beyond their present situation, they will continue to struggle in their poverty. In my tour of duty as a social worker aide, these similar scenarios were frighteningly played out numerous times.
Many families that struggle in Singapore have a sick or unemployable breadwinner. People who suffer from cancer, stroke, mental illness or heart disease come to mind. With the sudden onset of a dreadful calamity, the family livelihood is affected as the job seeker is either retrenched or his services terminated. Social assistance provides only a pitiful amount for a limited period. Assistance seekers also feel shameful to ask for more. Some have to downgrade their flats to reduce their obligations. Many housewives come out to find jobs for the first time adding to the family instability.
As Singapore continues to prosper and the economy attains First World status, let us not forget that in the forsaken closet, many families have problems paying for utilities, eking out enough to put three meals on the table and trying to stay sane in spite all that has happened.
I salute the Government for trying to engage the poor in order to solve some of their problems. Social service agencies like the community development councils, family service centres, schools, self-help groups like Mendaki, Sinda and Chinese Development Assistance Council should work together closer than before. My previous experience was that social service agencies worked rather autonomously when information sharing ought to be the way. When agencies carry out their duties selflessly for the good of the people they serve, the poor here will have a better chance to escape the poverty trap.
Gilbert Goh Keow Wah
my point is, the family since they are already so poor. Why are they keep having children when they could not afford it. You may love children but issit fair to them to derive them of a proper and happy childhood, and perhaps a good education.
So if you are poor, please, one is enuff. Dun make ur children suffer with u