Ranganayaki Thangavelu's Posts - Community life competence2024-03-28T14:37:09ZRanganayaki Thangaveluhttps://aidscompetence.ning.com/profile/RanganayakiThangaveluhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2523256737?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://aidscompetence.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=2iv2boreuc4za&xn_auth=noGoing Beyond Social Services - Safeguarding Communitytag:aidscompetence.ning.com,2019-11-02:2028109:BlogPost:1800522019-11-02T05:55:08.000ZRanganayaki Thangaveluhttps://aidscompetence.ning.com/profile/RanganayakiThangavelu
<div><p class="x_MsoNormal"><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3693174883?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-full" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3693174883?profile=RESIZE_710x"></img></a> Beyond Social Services just commemorated 50 years of working with low income families and communities in Singapore. Our approach has always been to focus on the strengths of the members of the community, and rally people around issues they face.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">SALT and CLCP entered our lives about 8 years ago. SALT…</p>
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<div><p class="x_MsoNormal"><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3693174883?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/3693174883?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-full"/></a>Beyond Social Services just commemorated 50 years of working with low income families and communities in Singapore. Our approach has always been to focus on the strengths of the members of the community, and rally people around issues they face.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">SALT and CLCP entered our lives about 8 years ago. SALT reinforced our original beliefs and further strengthened our approach to fostering relationships among community members, and between our community workers and the community members. Together, we learnt to listen and appreciate the lived experiences of those in these neighbourhoods and support projects that they want to undertake. We now have so many parents and youth who take ownership and encourage their neighbours to participate actively in addressing community concerns. These range from health issues, to safety, employment, education, family issues and others.</p>
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<div><div><p class="x_MsoNormal">SALT provided a clear perspective to who we must 'be' as we 'do' the work. While some models of community engagement give tools to engage members, SALT practices in so many communities around the world provided us with clear examples of how to approach and develop communities together with members.</p>
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<div><p class="x_MsoNormal">An example is how several parents have come together to create a savings programme for their children. The children's savings are matched by donors and deposited in a government initiated Child Development Account (CDA). The amount deposited is then matched by the government dollar for dollar. So a child's savings of a $1 is double matched by donors and with government matching, it becomes $6. This account can then be drawn down for educational and health expenses for the children.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">Previously, parents from the low income families were not availing of the CDA account as they need to place a deposit to receive the government matching, and many did not think they could afford to save towards even a small deposit. When more parents came together for the collective effort, the initial feelings of helplessness disappeared, and they found that they could save a few dollars each, and more collectively.</p>
<p class="x_MsoNormal">Now there are several self organised groups that meet once a month to pool their savings and divide it across all the participating children. In some months, if a few children are unable to save much, the rest compensate with their own. This boosts the community spirit, as they encourage each other. </p>
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<div><p class="x_MsoNormal">We are also in the process of organising communities to explore issues of health, and their perceptions and beliefs around health. While health services are well organised in Spore, low income families are not adequately utilising them. Also, the healthcare providers want to address the health needs in the communities. We will be starting the project soon, definitely guided by SALT.</p>
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<p class="x_MsoNormal">Rome was not built in a day, and the same for community. Relationships grow with trust and are fostered through shared experiences, and Beyond's efforts are in creating opportunities for these experiences. </p>
</div>My day, as it turns out was worth it!tag:aidscompetence.ning.com,2012-03-13:2028109:BlogPost:933172012-03-13T11:58:39.000ZRanganayaki Thangaveluhttps://aidscompetence.ning.com/profile/RanganayakiThangavelu
<p>This is the first blog post I am writing. So, in advance, thanks for reading :)</p>
<p>In my role at Beyond Social Services, an NGO in Singapore, I do not get the privilege of working closely with the community we serve. My colleagues have that privilege and I often listen to their experiences, and stare at them in awe. Isn't it wonderful that people share their lives with us? That they trust us enough to include us in their world, when they don't really have to? So I jump at every chance…</p>
<p>This is the first blog post I am writing. So, in advance, thanks for reading :)</p>
<p>In my role at Beyond Social Services, an NGO in Singapore, I do not get the privilege of working closely with the community we serve. My colleagues have that privilege and I often listen to their experiences, and stare at them in awe. Isn't it wonderful that people share their lives with us? That they trust us enough to include us in their world, when they don't really have to? So I jump at every chance when any one of my colleagues walk into our office, and not finding Gerard (our boss) to consult on a problem that one of the families/youth is facing, turns to me and says, "Ranga, can I talk to you?" I listen, and share my thoughts, and suggest ways to address the issue, and I hope I am helpful, if not all of the time, at least some of the time. Just observing, listening, engaging in conversations, reading, being silent, are many different ways I have "absorbed" what it is to be helpful. And, I am so grateful for that, as I don't think I could have learnt it in any school.</p>
<p>Today started out like any other, with a new lesson for me. It was an interesting start and a meaningful end that I felt was worth sharing. Over lunch, with a businessperson, I heard that most people are motivated by either Greed or Fear!! From politics to personal decisions, this person felt that the root for our decisions in life were these two human emotions! Between the soup and the main course, I got really disturbed as I knew there was more to life than that, and then between the main course and dessert, I was figuring out where Love and Compassion fit in. Things got clearer by the time coffee arrived, and defintely by the end of the day.</p>
<p>Now comes the meaningful end to the day. Marilyn, my colleague, walked into the office and asked me to look at an email she was sending to all the staff. It was an intro to a weekly email that six colleagues who had gone on a SALT visit to Jogjakarta will be sending out. Her intro, which was very well written, reminded me once again what it is to be human, and all that we had shared in a previous group session. It put a smile on my face :)</p>
<p>I want to thank my lunch partner and dear Marilyn for today's life lesson : It is not about running our lives based only on greed or fear, and but it is really about community, and all that we share as human beings, which includes to a smaller or larger extent, emotions like greed, fear, compassion and love, among many others. I am so very happy to be where I currently am, doing what I am doing, with humans who come in all colours and different shades of grey.</p>
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