2024 Week 19: We Got Pierced!

I don't know how long this eyebrow piercing is going to last, but yay I finally got pierced somewhere that's not my ears. Hmm, this face decoration thing is addictive. I'm already thinking about which piercings to get next.

Enjoyed Thursday out in JB doing exciting things like getting my teeth cleaned, then came back to find Bun Bun in GI stasis... oh no :( cue a lot of panicky syringe feeding.

Friday was Haybeon's spay surgery so I spent most of the day in and out of the vet's. Her recovery hasn't been linear. The night she came back, she was already eating. Day 2 her diet and poops were even better. But now it's Day 3 and she seems to be refusing food again. I'll get through it...

Internship notes: Week 6

• MON: combined team meeting, door knocking data entry
• TUE: team meeting, block 26 circle meeting
• WED: meeting with Yik, door knocking
• THU: (day off) 
• FRI: (meant to WFH but was mostly busy at the vet's)
• SAT: (to make up for Fri) admin, door knocking

So far I've heard from close to 30 soon-to-be-relocated residents, and I'm still struggling to see a pattern. 

When we started on this project, I had just read They Told Us to Move. So I was expecting most people would be upset about having to move to some unknown place, and not by choice. I also expected nostalgia, some wistfulness about leaving the kampong behind. Maybe some sob stories. 

But these are easy sweeping narratives found in popular media. In reality I found a patchwork of experiences and stories. Some were sad, some were happy. Some weren't ready to move, some had been waiting for this opportunity for years. Some had a personal connection to the place, some shrugged and said "it's just convenient, that's all". Some would miss their friends, some couldn't wait to get out of that shitty neighbourhood. Some were angry about financial/logistical issues. Some were apathetic. Some were resigned: "what's the use of feeling anything?" 

I realised I had been thinking of the residents as the "low-income community" and therefore expected some homogeneity in their responses. For example, I had expected finances to be a worry for most. This wasn't the case. As I talked to more people, I realised the circumstances under which people fall into poverty are so diverse.

Some residents were once home-owners in their first marriages. When the family fell apart, they lost their homes too, and wound up living in rental flats. Some people had pretty decent capabilities and careers but lost them due to age, illness, childrearing, whatever. For them, former work experiences are obviously a badge of pride. It's almost like: "hey, I may live in low-income housing but I want you to know I am not useless."

For me, practical talk about finances and home ownership comes a lot more naturally than asking about memories or relationships. I met quite a few who had been planning to buy their own homes for years. Some have saved enough to buy a place. Others are just starting to explore the options. One woman was very upset that she got this relocation notice after turning 55, because all her money has gone into her CPF RA and now she can't buy a flat (hopefully her appeal works).

Stories like these give me hope that maybe there is a point to all this financial and emotional assistance. Maybe all the SSAs do provide the support necessary for (motivated) people to "level up" socioeconomically.

Anyway, another major thing that happened this week in my internship: I'm getting a transfer to volunteer management! It started out with me telling my supervisor that I am not keen to become a full-time community worker (for various reasons). She asked if I'd like to cut short my internship, but I thought I'd rather stay since I'm already halfway through. 

The very next day I bumped into the volunteer manager at Beyond, who's been struggling with her workload since her staff left. We chatted about my interest in volunteer management and she suggested that I switch to her team since I didn't see myself converting to community worker. It sounded like a really good opportunity to try out a support role in social services, which is more aligned with my (current) career plan anyway.

I am sure it's not going to be easy - I have already been warned that it's a buttload of admin - but I'm looking forward to a new challenge.