shadows

yo hi all...

i feel that this work shadowing thing has a great benefit to my life.
thinking about it, it showed the other part of the society,
the part where the gov had done well keeping in check.
i mean lets face it,
that part is and always will be present in society...
but to actually get first hand experience.
thats.. cool i guess, in a way..

anyways, the only regrets i have so far is that i wasnt there on internship
cant do much.
and i am looking the very forward to sitting in into one of their counselling session to see how to how its being done.. i am full of curiousity

so... that will be all for now..

kelx

Care Corner Family Service Centre( social work)

The staff enjoying themselve; playing table soccer

The friendly staff members with stitch:)

hey everyone:)

Let me share with you about my experience at the crossroad youth centre as a student attachment:)

Work shadowing in crossroad youth center( YC) has been a great and enjoyable experience. we not only get shadow but we also get to carry out jobs ourselves!

In the YC, we get to meet friendly staff members who are really fun to talk to, and this allow us to ask questions without hesitations. our main job was to handle the youths that come in from tuesdays to fridays to play (chill out). The games in the YC includes X-box, pool, table soccer, air hockey and also computers for youths to use. We get to engage with the youths, play with them and get to know more about them so that they can slowly open up and tell us their stories or problems they face.The youths who come here to play are mainly from the low income family. i have learnt that many of them often go hungry because they do not have enough money to buy food. This made me realise that we human beings should not take for granted the things we have because there are people out there who have less than us yet they are living without complains. they have parents out there who cannot earn enough for their child to even own a pencil case.

Getting on to the brighter side, i get to learn how to play pool during this period of time and i realise that many of the youths can actually play pool really well! while we take 30 mins to finish one game, they take like 10 to 15 mins! a whole day of chatting and playing can actually wear our brains off! It is very fun yet tiring! Last friday, we brought this boy name danial to causeway point, a friendship band that i bought for him could make him so happy. as we walk, we realise that he does not have alot of things that normal kids have. he does not have money to even buy food! and so i wanted to make him happy for once and got him french fries. i hope that made made a bit of difference in his life:)

On mondays, the YC has this guidance programme for youths that have police cases and are given a second chance for thier actions. They have to attend this programme to learn their mistakes and reflect on themselves. We are very fortunate to be given a chance to interact with them and to participate in the activities. We get to talk personally with them or in small groups so as to let them share their past with us and how they feel. we also gather feedbacks from them after the session and share with the fellow staff. It is emotionally painful to hear their stories and to see a 13, 14 year old teen becuase of one wrong action, have their names on the black list.

Besides all this, we get to chit chat with all the staff members during our free time. we also get to pack logistics and case filing for the youths in the guidance programme. we also get to attend meetings and join in discussions and throw in new ideas. lunch was always foward looking because we get to eat at different place evryday:) we get to ride in staff cars so we do not have to get burnt under the hot sun!:)

i am looking foward to next week in YC!

fransiska:)

Work Shadowing in Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics

Mr Jolovan Wham, Ms Valli, Esther Yen (myself), Tay An na and Wei Yang Mr Jolovan's Desk and workplace.

4 of the mainland chinese workers who lives in H.O.M.E
Wei Yang helping Xu Yue Ming translate a Chinese document into English

Work shadowing in Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) has been a remarkable experience. Words cannot fully describe how i feel towards the 4 days form 23 nov - 26 nov, when i was attached to them. HOME is a very humble, warm and caring social centre that helps migrant workers who are too frequently neglected in the goverment and citizens' eye. Till now, i am very apalled and emotionally affected by what these migrant workers face. Their struggles are incredibly hard to bear and i do not know how they still press on and fight with a positive mindset.

I have come to realise that almost all the chinese migrant workers doing jobs such as construction, factory work and food stockpiling work were all cheated to come here. They have to go through an agent in China to help them find a job in Singapore. These migrant workers have to pay a huge sum of 20,000 - 45,000 RMB (S$4,000 - 9,000) to their agents in order to come to Singapore to work. In ALL CASES which came to report to us, they said that the contract signed with the chinese agent was right before the time when their about to board the plane. Therefore, they did not have time to read the contract succintly and trusted their agents. The contents in the contract are totally unparallel to the employment act laws in Singapore.

These migrant workers are often not paid for their overtime hours, public holiday pay and are deprived of consistent salary. Some even do not get pay for more than 4 months! The companies are also irresponsible for work injury, if the migrant workers are sick or injured and the visit the hospital, they have to pay the medical fee. What is worst is that the company do not cover their medical leave salary! I found it ridiculous, how are these migrant workers ever going to make money? They might as well go back to China, even if the pay is low, they are not mistreated and have the support of their loved ones.

I also visited a dormitory in Seragoon. It housed 20 odd BHCC chinese workers. When i stepped in, i was revolted by the immense stench. The floors, which originally was white and green tiles were smeared with layers of dirt. The trash area was full and insects were crawling all over. Sorry, i wish i had some pictures but i used Mr Jolovan's camera to take. Maybe i can ask him for some them i show you all.

The bunk beds were infested with invisible bed bugs. These bunk beds are hard wooden planks. The toilets were rancid and very digusting. I had to bear that environment for 30 minutes, Mr Jolovan and I sat down with them in one room to talk about their problems as a whole group. I did not show that i was very uncomfortable because i did not want to put down these workers. I have come to realise that the chinese workers are smart and resourceful, they produce evidence with camera and record their working hours down. They even had a laptop! I didnt even have one till this year! haha. After the visitation, Mr Jolovan said that i should jump vigorously to brush of all the bed bugs. I SCREAMED for a while......hahah

Another meaningful encounter was when An na and i followed a man called Gong Furong to court to settle his salary issues. (picture below is Gong Furong)

I helped him tabulate his Saturday (180 over time) and Sunday (303) working hours in excel. All of these were NOT PAID!!!!! Talk about cheap labour! This is deliberate abuse! On top of this he had 2 months unpaid salary, unpaid medical fee and expenses, and was deducted S$1,500 without reason.

In the end, because Gong Furong wanted to return home to China as soon as possible, he did not wanted the court case to drag and settled for S$3181 instead of S$5000+ (actual calculated amount). Poor thing, he was a nice and friendly man who deserves much better. OH, can you believe it??? His boss of Gong Furong in the company he was attached to was a China man himself! Even they themselves do not protect their own fellow countrymen. An na and I had many complains about this court case, i think we blabbered about this for close to 30 minutes!

All in all, i was really glad that i had the chance to interact and understand more about migrant workers. I was completely oblivious to their plight before and now i am aware. I also learnt many employment act laws so next time my boss cannot cheat me of money! MUAHAHA

Thitipat - work shadowing at national cancer centre

just a picture of my name tag! :D

"Seeing is learning"

This is what i felt about work shadowing at National cancer centre (NCC) ( i don know abt other organization )
Though we walk after the oncologist doctors almost all the time, we manage to see what a doctor's life is like;always so busy picking up calls etc. From my point of view, attachment at hospital or NCC is highly recommended for bio students if you intend to pursue your career in medical fields. But i am not saying that non-bio students shouldn't go because it will be an eye opener for you all as well:) even for me too.

It was my first time walking in hospital, not as patients but as student on attachment. We have the priviledges to use staff toilets, staff underground tunnel and even can enter any rooms we want.hahas. Just as i am studying about this whole topic on cancer, being attached to national cancer centre really gave an insight to what cancer is all about. besides the molecular details of how somatic cells become cancerous cells found in the notes, i now know what are the treatments for cancer patients, the symptoms, the CT scan images, the tumour and even chemotheraphy procedures. During the attachment, some of the doctors who are abit nicer will explain the situation of the patients to me and even allow me to see how they examine the patient's body while some doctor will just let u follow him and thank God, most of the doctor i am assigned to are real nice because they explained to me as if i am a medical student. Those terms that i don understand i just have to nod my head and they even treat me lunch and brought me to conference whereby all the oncologist doctors come together to discuss on complicated cases. It was similar to our lecture style and i saw some of the doctors sleeping too! hahas.

I once almost fainted during the chemotheraphy because as the needle pierce throught the skin, the tummy bled and so i faster went out of the room and headed for the toilet. after that i re-enter the room.

after the attachment, frankly speaking, i am quite scare of getting cancer already. so from nowon i will eat more fruits and exercise regularly.hahas. and i once tell myself after this attachment " if i got cancer one day, i would just die on the spot cos i don want to undergo the treatment, it's like everyday have to come back to NCC and get poked by the needle and got alot of tubes going around your body and somemore also will be a burden to the family "

However, after what one of the doctor said that cancer is in a way "good" because patients know when they will die. so they can plan their days doing what they want to do before they die. so now i would rather die of cancer than dying from accidents or heart failures.hahas

cancer patients are not always depressed. some of they know it is curable and even fight bravely with positive thinking. for example, theres this guy who pretend to comb hair in front of the doctor even though he was bald ( due to side effect of chemotheraphy), he was smiling at the doctor and the doctor laugh at him.

" doctor, i know i am going to die of cancer, but my last request is i just want to eat. that's the most impt thing to me now" this comment was the most "touching" during my attachment period. the patient actually develop a throat tumour and he cannot eat. i felt so sorry for him:(

Underwater World Singapore

I'll start the ball rolling!

Work Shadowing at Underwater World Singapore, although short in duration, was rather enlightening. We got to experience behind the scene activities like feeding the marine animals and we also got to help out at the various attractions, such as the Ray Pool. In a sense, we got to be staff members of both the Curatorial Department and the Guest Services Department, though we didn't get to try our hand at everything they had to do. Going into a shark tank to hand feed a huge piece of tuna to a shark, carries obvious dangers. And besides, we didn't have diving qualifications.

Overall, it was a really fun experience. I especially loved part where we got to be Mascots, not an easy job, mind you! Just as Michelle! Though I didn't really get to wear it and go interact with the visitors. But I did get to try on the head gear. That itself was a blast for me.
The Guest Services Officer (GSO) was Nuraini. She was a really bubbly girl and tried her best to make our attachment enjoyable. She thinks I'm in love with the Mascot's head.

Here's myself and Amanda. Hahah!


I've learnt a lot through this experience. One of them is the fact that the divers you see feeding the marine animals don't have it easy. You may think that they have one of the best jobs. But they have to do much more than just... feed the animals. Just like any other Curatorial Department staff, they have to help prepare the food, scrub tanks, stock taking, monitor the marine life and all that.

And, for Underwater World Singapore, or any other organisation to succeed, all sectors have to be performing at tip-top standards. In the case of Underwater World Singapore, both the Curatorial Department and the Guest Services Department have to be good.
Similarly, in our studies, we shouldn't forgo any topics or subjects. I know, cliche, but it's true!

That's all from me.
I hope the other Work Shadowers' experience would be both enlightening and fun. (:

Some comments from your employers

Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (HOME):
"All 3 students were wonderful. They were helpful and dilligent. I'm glad Esther felt the experience was enriching. Apart from talking to the workers, she also visited them at their dormitories and she an Anna helped me take notes during a court hearing between an employer and a worker. Wei Yang and Anna also assisted with written translations from Chinese to English and English to Chinese. I must say their language abilities are quite good!"

PACE Development :
"The 2 students are very well mannered and presented themselves excellently. Hope they will be more warmed up in the coming days, be more vocal, and interact more frequently with the PACE staffs, so that they'll learn more effectively."

Dear all participants of Work Shadowing Program

I am so pleased to hear very good experiences from some of you over this one week of Work Shadowing Experience...I cant help but would like all of you to share your invaluable experiences to other people, other students and of course your teachers...

Hope you guys will conrtibute to this blog, I will grant all of you the rights to create new pages!!

You are welcomed to include interesting pictures/ videos that you've taken during the short attachment!

Ms Chen