Hey there! I just changed my blogskin :) It's a little user-unfriendly because you can't navigate my past posts by headings or hashtags. So i'm gonna update the codings, stay tuned! (The font's kinda hard to read too..other than these 3 peeves, i'm quite satisfied) Follow me on the links below! :) 29/4/2015.
Started this blog during the last few weeks of SEM1(AY2014/15) cos' i regained interest in blogging. I blog about anything - news, social issues, music - but mostly about my university life :) Hope my posts will help you to make better life (and module) choices! Currently a Sociology Major. Still fresh. xD
I need to study for my SC3216 Self and Society!!
Was down with a cold but i've recovered. It's a module which requires deep and critical thinking, I don't know where to start haha. But i really enjoy exercising my mental muscles.
Looking through my Prof's FB (Urban Walker!), and i felt like sharing some of my thoughts here.
Reading the first article; as a student who went for an Overseas Community Involvement Programme, there were a few important takeaways for me. I went to Laos without much deep thought actually - my main purpose was to learn more about the country and its culture, go overseas and have some fun, and try to help to the best of my abilities, with job scopes already pre-defined by the Project directors. I knew that the 'help' i offered wouldn't be exactly the most sustainable, useful, practical even - because i knew barely about the village i was even going to visit. I didn't even know how to speak Lao. I couldn't communicate even on the most basic level, so i really doubted if i could do anything. For me, it was a process of learning to step out of my comfort zone, to experience the complexity of social problems, and just to bring joy even if it's just a short fleeting moment. I share some of my thoughts with the article below as well, but it added more to my perspective.
Which brings me to the point, are OCIPs justified? On what basis?
Replace "Western do-gooders" with "Singaporean do-gooders" - do we envision that we're able
I mean, having the positive outlook and drive isn't bad, but first, we have to listen, and understand the complexity of such problems. Talk to people. Understand how they lead their lives, in relation to the broader social, economic and political forces.
It's okay to feel helpless. Sometimes, even for my own project (SOCIP), I feel like i need to spend so much more time to understand the community. I think I've learnt alot about the complexity of social problems in rental flats, through our door knocking sessions and IES. It helps me to gain visibility of the social forces in place, such as people's perceptions towards social workers, their daily struggles - falling through the social safety nets..
Then it makes you wonder, why am i still doing it when my actions actually...don't really make a difference?
But i think it does. We can't just stop there anyway. That's not a reason for us to not do anything. It's a longstanding, complicated issue - and even though it has been tough, I'm glad that people shared with me their struggles..which could have gone unheard.
Through these interactions and times we spent with the kids, families, volunteers and social workers, we are shaping their thoughts, producing sources of knowledge in one way or another, leading by example for such. We all take on a little bit of everyone we meet. So, through our small gestures, we hope it can at least improve their lives a little.
I don't aspire or even think that i can make a BIG difference with this project, but it's a stepping stone - a stepping stone for all of us to understand how difficult and daunting the task may be, and to learn about people's experiences, listen to their life stories, growing to be more empathetic and reflexive.
And that's a first step.
And what do you know, maybe the first step is all we need. :)
That being said, could there be better mechanisms to ensure that OCIP does not move into this reductionist approach? In the context where there are industries who actually fuel these illusionary desires - such as voluntarism - how do we regulate and frame it in such a way that the issues we're trying to address are complex, and yet not overly daunting for the young ones to take the first step? And also, how do we ensure critical thinking and reflexivity in the process?
Well, that's a thought for another day.
Check out the article here:
Western do-gooders need to resist the allure of 'exotic problems'
But don’t go because you’ve fallen in love with solvability. Go because you’ve fallen in love with complexity.
Don’t go because you want to do something virtuous. Go because you want to do something difficult.
Don’t go because you want to talk. Go because you want to listen.
Don’t go because you loved studying abroad. Go because, like Molly Melching, you plan on putting down roots. Melching, a native of Illinois, is widely credited with ending female genital cutting in Senegal. But it didn’t happen overnight. She has been living in and around Dakar since 1974, developing her organisation, Tostan, and its strategy of helping communities collectively address human rights abuses. Her leadership style is all about finely calibrated moments of risk – when she will challenge a local leader, for example – and restraint – when she will hold off on challenging because she hasn’t yet developed enough trust with him. That kind of leadership doesn’t develop during a six-month home stay.
There’s a better way. For all of us. Resist the reductive seduction of other people’s problems and, instead, fall in love with the longer-term prospect of staying home and facing systemic complexity head on. Or go if you must, but stay long enough, listen hard enough so that “other people” become real people. But, be warned, they may not seem so easy to “save”.
I need to study for my SC3216 Self and Society!!
Was down with a cold but i've recovered. It's a module which requires deep and critical thinking, I don't know where to start haha. But i really enjoy exercising my mental muscles.
Looking through my Prof's FB (Urban Walker!), and i felt like sharing some of my thoughts here.
Reading the first article; as a student who went for an Overseas Community Involvement Programme, there were a few important takeaways for me. I went to Laos without much deep thought actually - my main purpose was to learn more about the country and its culture, go overseas and have some fun, and try to help to the best of my abilities, with job scopes already pre-defined by the Project directors. I knew that the 'help' i offered wouldn't be exactly the most sustainable, useful, practical even - because i knew barely about the village i was even going to visit. I didn't even know how to speak Lao. I couldn't communicate even on the most basic level, so i really doubted if i could do anything. For me, it was a process of learning to step out of my comfort zone, to experience the complexity of social problems, and just to bring joy even if it's just a short fleeting moment. I share some of my thoughts with the article below as well, but it added more to my perspective.
Which brings me to the point, are OCIPs justified? On what basis?
Replace "Western do-gooders" with "Singaporean do-gooders" - do we envision that we're able
I mean, having the positive outlook and drive isn't bad, but first, we have to listen, and understand the complexity of such problems. Talk to people. Understand how they lead their lives, in relation to the broader social, economic and political forces.
It's okay to feel helpless. Sometimes, even for my own project (SOCIP), I feel like i need to spend so much more time to understand the community. I think I've learnt alot about the complexity of social problems in rental flats, through our door knocking sessions and IES. It helps me to gain visibility of the social forces in place, such as people's perceptions towards social workers, their daily struggles - falling through the social safety nets..
Then it makes you wonder, why am i still doing it when my actions actually...don't really make a difference?
But i think it does. We can't just stop there anyway. That's not a reason for us to not do anything. It's a longstanding, complicated issue - and even though it has been tough, I'm glad that people shared with me their struggles..which could have gone unheard.
Through these interactions and times we spent with the kids, families, volunteers and social workers, we are shaping their thoughts, producing sources of knowledge in one way or another, leading by example for such. We all take on a little bit of everyone we meet. So, through our small gestures, we hope it can at least improve their lives a little.
I don't aspire or even think that i can make a BIG difference with this project, but it's a stepping stone - a stepping stone for all of us to understand how difficult and daunting the task may be, and to learn about people's experiences, listen to their life stories, growing to be more empathetic and reflexive.
And that's a first step.
And what do you know, maybe the first step is all we need. :)
That being said, could there be better mechanisms to ensure that OCIP does not move into this reductionist approach? In the context where there are industries who actually fuel these illusionary desires - such as voluntarism - how do we regulate and frame it in such a way that the issues we're trying to address are complex, and yet not overly daunting for the young ones to take the first step? And also, how do we ensure critical thinking and reflexivity in the process?
Well, that's a thought for another day.
Check out the article here:
Western do-gooders need to resist the allure of 'exotic problems'
But don’t go because you’ve fallen in love with solvability. Go because you’ve fallen in love with complexity.
Don’t go because you want to do something virtuous. Go because you want to do something difficult.
Don’t go because you want to talk. Go because you want to listen.
Don’t go because you loved studying abroad. Go because, like Molly Melching, you plan on putting down roots. Melching, a native of Illinois, is widely credited with ending female genital cutting in Senegal. But it didn’t happen overnight. She has been living in and around Dakar since 1974, developing her organisation, Tostan, and its strategy of helping communities collectively address human rights abuses. Her leadership style is all about finely calibrated moments of risk – when she will challenge a local leader, for example – and restraint – when she will hold off on challenging because she hasn’t yet developed enough trust with him. That kind of leadership doesn’t develop during a six-month home stay.
There’s a better way. For all of us. Resist the reductive seduction of other people’s problems and, instead, fall in love with the longer-term prospect of staying home and facing systemic complexity head on. Or go if you must, but stay long enough, listen hard enough so that “other people” become real people. But, be warned, they may not seem so easy to “save”.
“To put away aimlessness and weakness, and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.”
- James Allen Quotes
Sometimes I wonder how people see me and what they think of me. It scares me a bit, honestly. I am sure though, that what they think of me,
what they think my life is, is a complete misperception. I have always tried to show myself as a carefree person, as someone who wont get bothered
because of public judgements. I am sure my friend and family think there is nothing going wrong in my life, that I do not worry enough, that
I am always happy. And I am sure they probably somewhat hate me for it because, lets admit it, there is nothing worse than seeing someone
who is life seems so perfect while yours is a complete mess. Truth is, I have become an expert at pretending. I think we are all experts
or at least we are getting there.
my projects
links exchanged opened! just tag me but link me first
: Amelia Lim, 20 October.