Reflections

What would be your first impression of youths who have had a dark past?
What i thought would be that perhaps these youths would be less trusting, rowdy, and even rude. But these were just steorotypes we put on people. Through my experince interacting with them, i found out that these steorotypes were untrue, unfounded and unfair to them. I also learnt that one must never form such a perception of people without interacting with them beforehand, after all, everyone derserves a chance for a good first impression.

Contary, to the popular belief that these youths were unfriendly, we found them otherwise. It was even more suprising that they were the ones to take the initiative and introduced themselves to us, even offering us a handshake. What I saw were not youths with a dark past, but mature teenagers with a bright future. Most of them already had a rough idea of their ambitions and what they want to achieve in the future, and even the potential obstacles that they would face in the process of trying to achieve thier dreams.

One of the potential barriers that would limit their potential would be perhaps the social stigma attached to them because of their past. A few black sheep would further cement the social stigma attached to them. However, we do believe that there is cause for hope after seeing those youths. After all, if even they can change and turn over a new leaf, then it would not be difficult for us to change our perceptions of them. Everyone deserves a second chance, im sure they would not let this chance go to waste.

Reflections

It all started with the meeting with Ms Chris. We secured an interview with her and we met up at Dhoby Ghout MRT. We found a nice little cafe at NUS to have the interview. One thing leads to another, then we were offered a chance to conduct our mini-trial with the organization she's working with.

The following Wednesday, we went to a soccer court in Ang Mo Kio to meet up with the youths. Before we went there, we were joking that maybe they won't be receptive of us. It turns out the tables were turned on us -- we were the ones that were quiet while the soccer youths were very welcoming. We had dinner at a nearby shop and we were quiet throughout the dinner and just observed the youths. Evidently, we were the ones that needed to be more liberal.

We came to know that the soccer youths are mostly teenagers of around 13-17 year olds. Some of them come from low-income families; some have commited crimes and been discharged from Homes; and some have affliations with gangs. But all of them are considered "at-risk youths" from the legal standpoint, and all of them share a common passion -- soccer. Ms Chris explained that soccer can help them to bond together and work as a team. In addition, it can also train them to control their temperament and instill some values in them.

After dinner, Ms Chris brought us to a HDB flat nearby, the one that we would give tuition. To return Ms Chris the favor for letting us conducting our mini-trial, we agreed to give conduct tuition for the at-risk youths.

For the following weeks, we just went to the soccer court to hang out with the soccer youths and get to know them better. Initially, we were quiet with them. Slowly, we became more comfortable with them and interacted more. As for the tuition, we don't really mind the tuition because we find teaching to be fun.

One day, we decided to conduct our mini-trial -- to interview the soccer youths, and to lend them a voice. We promised Ms Chris that we would conduct interviews and post them on the website, Youths United. We went down to the soccer court and found a corner to interview the youths one-by-one. Slowly, through the interview, we got to understand them in a greater depth. We got know their family background, their hopes and dreams. We got to know that through the soccer programme, some of them have become more disciplined.

Also, we asked some crucial questions -- What do they think of JC kids? Have their perceptions changed after meeting us? What do they think of meritocracy? Have they ever felt robbed of opportunities because of their financial status? These questions produced some intersting answers. And we found out that, just like us, they had some stereotypes about JC kids at first, but their perceptions started to shift after we got to know each other better. And they appreciated the fact that we even bothered to interview them and ask for their views.

Well, for me, I find them to be very welcoming -- in fact, more so than some of the people in school. True, I had some stereotypes about them at first, but I soon realized that some of the youths are even friendlier than some of the people I know. Meeting them have definitely been an eye-opener.

23/07/08

last wed we went to do SL / PW project at angmokio
the street soccer youths were SUPER and i mean UBER DUPER pro!
we stood there and just.. stoned
wells it was sorta a culture shock really
cos i mean in hwachong, you don't find people spitting on the floor and stuff
but thats totally not the point

that soccer program has been in place for like one? two? years.
ya and they have improved from vulgar, rough and rowdy to now.
it was kinda refreshing to be able to interact with people outside your comfort zone
you know all the hype about going overseas to do OCIP and stuff?
wells, i realised there is another world out of singapore, out of my comfort zone and stuff
but wed's session made me realise, heys,
actually even here in singapore, i can also do much more to break out of my comfort zone,
why bother travelling outside when you have not even done what you can in singapore?

in fact, i dont really view the session as like, CIP
cos after awhile, it feels like i am just interacting with people our age,
although on the outside, our social circles, lifestyle, cultures are obviously set apart,
on the inside, you and i are but just teenagers.

wells, then we gave another bunch of pre-teen kids (primary school la)
i got to teach this malay girl who went to the centre for the first time too
she's very quite during the tuition although i could see she is not usually so
hahas, then i got stumped by a PRIMARY MATH QUESTION
then junkang got stumped too, finally wilfred solved it with algebra methods --"
we think too much sometimes

-valerie