Chapter 13 : MWH cause 2009 - Jul/Aug update

The inspiration to document warm, human stories from the MWH was initiated in Sep 08. It is written, illustrated and designed by some 35 local and international professional volunteers and student volunteers from the Raffles Junior College (RJC). The book, tiltled 'Many Roads Home', is expected to be launched in Nov 09 at the National Library Board (NLB).

The editors, Stephanie Ho and Jaime Koh from the History Workroom are doing the final round of editing to the stories. Megat and Fadly from Avant Garde Imageworks are submitting the pictures of the Home, former residents and volunteers, to be inserted in the book. Hong Yin from Red Ink Communications will then look into the final book layout. We are ahead of time for the books to be printed in Oct 09. Thank you to all volunteers working in this endeavour.
http://www.historyworkroom.com/
http://www.agimageworks.com
http://www.redinkcommunications.com.sg/

On 29 Jul 09, MWH is honoured by a kind visit by the Director of Corporate Projects of the Singapore Sports Council (SSC), Addy Suhairi, Senior Executive SSC, Nor Ain and Executive Volunteer Management of Singapore Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee SYOGOC, Alan Chen.

Addy Suhairi strongly believes that sports can be an effective tool to make the positive change in disadvantaged youth. We agree with Addy Suhairi wholeheartedly. In fact, in one of the stories in 'Many Roads Home', we'll learn on how a former resident of MWH has made a significant turning point in his life by engaging and excelling in sports. He was abandoned by both his parents at a tender age due to their prolonged incarceration. He is now pursuing a tertiary education in Sports & Exercise Science and earning some income as a soccer coach to primary school students during the weekends. A well-written piece by volunteer Martina Ambrose from the National Youth Council (NYC).

Another MWH volunteer driven effort that takes off this year, 'Wish For Home 2009' project, aims to raise funds for the new MWH premise. The Home would officially open its doors in Dec 09.

We are also very pleased to receive unreserved support from our partners. Definitely, we are equally thankful to the following sponsors of 'Wish For Home 2009':
Rabobank - for the computers and adoption of the Computer Room
Volunteer Albert Chong - for the adoption of the Music Room
ITE College Central (Bishan Campus) and an individual sponsor - for the adoption of the Library
Singapore Malays Football Club - for the adoption of field and possible adoption of the street soccer court
NParks - for the landscaping and beautifying of the entrance area
MWH still needs your support for its shift to the new premise. We are still far off from reaching our financial objective of $1/2 million. There is still plenty of rooms available for adoption and abundance of opportunities for you to help these children in every way possible. MWH accepts donations in cash, kind or volunteer service. Do contact me for details, I'll be delighted to attend to your enquiries.

If you have missed last month's update, our heartiest congratulations to:

Nisa bt Majeed (Rahmatunnisa Abdul Majeed)
Nisa is presently appointed as the Acting Superintendent of MWH wef 1 Jul 09. She will be assisted by a team of capable and dedicated staff , which include the Head of Operations, Assistant Superintendent Rahim. He overseas all operation aspects of the Home. The Head of Rehab is Senior Social Worker Mardiana. Her team consists of 5 social/case workers. You can do it, Nisa!

Peter Gould
Peter is the designer for MWH book cover. He has recently won the ISNA's 2009 poster & branding competition and his work was exhibited at the ISNA convention in Washington DC in Jul 09. He had completed a series of events during his tour to UAE, UK, USA, Spain from 15 Jun to 15 Jul 09. All the best, Peter!

http://www.azaan.com.au/

Tasneem
Volunteer Tasneem is opening the 1st halal Swedish restaurant - Fika Swedish Cafe and Bistro at corner of Arab Street (257 Beach Road) in end Jul 09. Do check it out. Way to go, Tasneem and Fika!

http://www.fikacafe.com/

Till we meet again, have a fun and fulfilling week ahead:)

Chapter 12 : MWH new premise in Bedok North

Current state

Artist impression of new premise

Muhammadiyah Welfare Home (MWH) is a gazetted children’s Home of the Ministry of Community, Youth & Sports (MCYS) since Dec 1989. The Home takes care of about 70 male children, most of them come from broken families. They are between 10 and 17 years of age and are ordered by either the Juvenile Court or MCYS to reside in the Home for 2 to 3 years.

In the last quarter of 2009, the Home is moving to its new premise at former Min Xin Primary at Bedok North St 3. We are in the midst of renovating the new site so that it would be conducive for the children to stay and undergo rehabilitation in the Home. With this move, MWH is exploring expanding its social services and increasing its intake to 100 children in the future.

To fulfil this aim, MWH still needs to raise an estimated $500,000 in cash or kind to fund the renovation and restoration works of the Bedok site as well for the furniture and fittings for the new premise.

------------------------MWH Book Project 2009--------------------------

A volunteer driven effort.

MWH book 2009 titled 'MANY ROADS HOME'

- dedicates a voice to the young protaganists (mostly former children of MWH) who have overcome adversity and endured several painful knocks of blunders and struggles during their adolescent years.

- features the unsung heroes (volunteers, agencies and corporations) who have, in one way or the other shaped the lives of the children. It is hoped that the collection of their human stories could inspire, touch someone's life and be a rallying point to others. The books are expected to be published in Sep 09. All proceeds from the project will be chanelled directly to the Home to support the above cause.

Chapter 11 : May 09 update

Volunteer involvement:

To date, we have 93 passionate volunteers working in this project - 45 local professionals from the government/private sectors, 45 local students and 3 foreign professionals (from Australia, UK, China).

Slighly over 30 volunteers are involved in the writing, illustrating and designing of the book. A volunteer is developing the project website and another will be checking the accounts. The rest are in the events/marketing team.

We are collaborating with 5 schools and their involvement as such:
Ngee Ann Polytechnic - participating in events
Raffles Junior College - book writing, illustrating
ITE Bishan - participating in events
Lasalle School of Filming - developing the corporate video for the Home and project
Temasek Junior College - fund-raising activities
There is a possibility for corporate/organisation volunteer involvement as well.

Roadshow/fund-raising activity:

On 30 Apr 09, Temasek Junior College (TJC) students will be having a fund-raising event in their school compound, through sale of T-shirts, handphone chain and other merchandises. All proceeds will be chanelled to the MWH book project. The students aim to raise some $750 from this effort.
Income / Expenses (as at 21 Apr 09)

We sent out 80 appeal letters to the Home's regular donors in Mar 09.

Received $34 600 in cash/pledges from 13 individuals, 7 of which are from the Appeal letters.
Received 19 GIRO pledges during Welfare Fiesta event in Mar 09, $270/mth
Received $1400 from sale of merchandise during Welfare Fiesta event in Mar 09
Spent $1270 on project expenses (since Sep 08)

Total income = $36 270 - $1270 = $35 000
At this juncture, we have covered the cost of printing of books and professional fees. All income coming in now will be chanelled directly to support MWH renovation cost.

Future plans:

To confirm Patron for project by Jun 09
To follow book publishing schedule closely so that the book can be published by Sep 09
To ensure best quality of writing, illustration and design for book
To continue to have roadshows to promote GIRO pledges and MWH book project awareness at least once a month
To approach corporations for sponsorships for MWH new site from May 09 onwards

Tribute to volunteers and the Good Work in this project

Hi everyone,

It's been a challenging, yet very fulfilling in our efforts to do this Book project for MWH. A learning experience for us indeed - every single day when meeting up with new people and getting in touch with our former residents, staff, volunteers and well wishers. We are so grateful to be given the opportunity to discuss and explore the different aspects of the project with such wonderful and passionate people. Thank you!

We have had several milestones in this project so far.... meeting with many volunteers who are very warm and forthcoming to be part of this Book Project. We met up with Ms Zuraidah Abdullah (CEO), Mr Halim, Ms Haslinda and Ms Hafiza from Mendaki and they are full of support for us. Meeting up with Mrs Morene Sim and her colleagues from Student Care Centre and they share so much experience with us in producing a book with a lot of take aways :). Great contact from Peng Yen. We also had a meeting with Mrs Cheah, Principal of Commonwealth Sec and they are proud that one of their students cum our former resident would be featured in the Book! :). Juniper, you took time off from lecturing to be with us :). Not forgetting, our dedicated and wonderful group of volunteers writers who had sacrificed time for meetings and discussions to write the stories. Great effort and committment.

Students from RJC (Yuhui and Yusnelly and the gang), former students from RJC (Natalie and the gang) and ITE Bishan (Mrs Tahir {Suhailah}, Bavani, Jacky and the gang ) are great in their support for the writing team and events team. One former Nanyang High Girls students, Amanda is helping to develop the website, purely voluntarily. Red Ink Communications with Hongyin leading, are starting to do the illustration and design of the book with students from RJC too. Stephanie and Jamie, 18 stories should come in by the first week of April :) Zheng Kai and the gang from LaSalle School have come forward to work on filming our Mountbatten premise, former residents , staff, volunteers especially those featured in the Book. We plan to work on MWH Corporate video, in particular featuring the evolution of the Book Project. Filming should start in May 09. Our Management Committee has been so supportive to us on this Project, thank you, Chairman Ustaz Hussain.

For everyone's update, we participated in events to promote the inception of the Book Project, through Youth Got Heart at Bishan Junction 8 organised by RJC on 28 Feb 09 and our very own MWH Charity Fiesta on 28th and 29th Mar 09. Great job by events team led by Ruhainah and the gang !. Significantly to Aishah and Sophiawati for your wonderful effort to decorate and design the "Gigantic Book" for the Opening ceremony. Coincidentally, it was our last Welfare Fiesta at our Mountbatten premise and it was so nostalgic. Good work Resource Development Unit of MWH :), Zul and the gang. Not forgetting Akhtaar who squeezed time to give a brief speech during the opening ceremony despite being busy with his debut magazine launch on the same day.

If you manage to catch the media buzz on Obama look-alike, it was our event on 28th and 29th Mar 09 !... promoting the inception of the book project by MP for Marine Parade GRC, Dr Fatimah Lateef. Rosna was interviewed too :) by the media. Iqbal, great idea to bring Obama look alike to Singapore. Photo taking of Obama Look Alike with Whitehouse backdrop at $10 each for charity was wonderfully done by Nasir and his assistant Abdul Rashid. Hey, we are glad to have some sponsors for the Obama look-alike trip to Singapore, Arief Ang from Waroeng Penget, Hamzah Mohd for getting sponsor for the hotel and the 2 'guides' for "Obama", Iqbal and Rahim. For some, they manage to catch a photo with "Obama' at Mustafa Centre :).

We are also heartened to receive calls from companies and individuals enquiring on this project. We really hope the financial support is going to be just as great as the support we have received so far for the writing and events team.

The team is definitely planning and looking forward to have road shows and events every month to promote the book, leading to its launching in Aug/ Sep 09 :) ie the soft launch and the official launch itself. Volunteers, do come forth with ideas and support in the events that we could organise , we would be glad to listen and discuss. On top of all this, we are looking forward to have our first Advisory Meeting on the Book Project on 17 April 09.

Will keep you posted with more meaningful and exciting updates on this project :)

Cheers

Update on Progress of Our Writing Team

Hi everyone,

We are blessed with a group of talented and dedicated volunteers for this team :)

Right now, 14 volunteers has been matched with a former residents; each one is crafted with a unique story angle. So far, we have managed to trace 17 former residents who are willing to work together with us. We have also gotten Jaime and Stephanie to be on board the project, as our editors.

As one of our aims is to highlight the multi-hands approach by our Home, we are actually connecting with the agencies, ministries and institutions and individuals who have significantly shaped each of the lives of the former residents. We are in the process of getting connected to MCYS, the Juvenile Court and even a Judicial Official to be part of our book.

Will keep everyone posted on the progress. I hope to get in touch with the other former residents real soon for the rest of the matching and get the 20 draft stories ready :). Happy Writing.

Chapter 10 : Proposed Project Timeline

Writing & Publishing :

---------------------------
No. Task Date Due (09)
---------------------------

1 1st briefing for volunteer writers 10 Jan
2 Submission of 1st draft, drafts are returned if more info is needed 28 Feb
3 Collection of 2nd drafts, additional writing, photographs/visuals Apr
4 Drafts returned to writers for sign-off & de-brief sess May
5 Final editing, proof-reading, design & layout Jun
6 Printing Aug

Marketing :

--------------------------
No. Task Date Due (09)
--------------------------

1 1st team meeting 25 Dec 08
2 Submission of marketing proposal 5 Jan
3 Approval by MWH mgt committee Jan
4 Approach all Malay MPs, supporters of MWH for initial support - media coverage Feb/Mar
5 Develop project website Feb/Mar
6 Approach corporations, individuals for sponsorship Ongoing
7 Signing of MOU (corporations, individuals) - media coverage Jun

Events mgt :

--------------------------
No. Task Date Due (09)
--------------------------

1 Ist team meeting 10 Jan
2 Outreach to public during MWH charity event Mar
3 Create awareness through mailers, posters, exhibitions, blogs, facebook Aug
4 Book launch - media coverage Aug
5 Book reviews/talks Aug - Dec
6 Gala dinner/charity auction - media coverage Oct/Nov
7 Outreach to schools/community-based org/public Ongoing

Chapter 9 : Pointers for volunteer writers

We are delighted to have Jamie Koh and Stephanie Ho from the History Workroom, to work with Nisa to oversee the publication of the book. I have shared with you about our wonderful encounter with them earlier in Chapter 5. You can go to http://www.historyworkroom.com/ if you want to know more about these 2 warm, enthusiastic and committed ladies and their extensive work.

Here are their pointers for our volunteer writers before they embark on their writing journey for the book:

Writing the lives of other through;

- a life story through anecdote, incident, interview and description

- story of particular turning points in the person's life

• Interview

Interviews are one of the best ways to gather information when writing the stories of another person.

- Be well prepared. Find out as much information about your interviewee as possible before interviewing him/her.

-Prepare a list of questions, but be open-minded and flexible - you do not need to ask all the questions, answers to which may crop up when the interviewee is answering another question. The question should act as guiding and/or clarification points.

- Do not interrogate your interviewee. Treat the interview like a chit-chat session.

- Do not dominate the session. Let your interviewee talk. Guide the conversation back using your question-list if it is getting way off the mark.

- Do not expect to get all your information in one sitting. You may need to conduct 2 or 3 sessions with the interviewees. Each session should not last more than 1.5 hours.

- To help your interviewee remember, you may want to encourage his/her to look through old photographs, journals, letters, emails, school documents, reports, etc before the interview. You can also encourage your interviewee to bring some of those items to the interview. They may be more comfortable talking with some items in hand.

Some questions to ask if you are stuck:

1. What has been the biggest challenge in your life? How did you overcome it?

2. What are the challenges do you face today?

3. Who are the important people in your life?

4. What are your saddest moment? What was your happiest moment?

5. What are your aims in life?

6. What is the greatest achievement in your life?

7. What experiences have been important in shaping the kind of person you are today? How has your stay at MWH affected your life?

8. What are your talents? What are your weaknesses?

9. What is the funniest moment you remember?

10.What is the most embarassing moment you remember?

• Description

Details will greatly enhance your story. Description may be of the person's appearance, emotions, behaviour or quirks. You may also add descriptions of the environment. But use descriptions sparingly: do not spend half a page describing the clothes your interviewee is wearing or how s/he is fidgeting all the time. Pace your descriptions, where necessary, throughout the story.

• Anecdote & Incident

Anecdotes and incidents are good platforms to: start your story and show the personality of the interviewee. This information may come from your interviewee during the interview. It could also come from chatting with other people who know/have contact with the interviewee.

• Context

Another way of enhancing your story is contextualise. Talk to other people who may know the interviewee. In this case, you may want to talk to MWH staff and friends who know the interviewee to find out their impressions of the interviewee at different points in his/her life.

You can also contextualise by setting your story against a background. Highlight the significant contexts. For example, if you are writing a story on John Lennon in the late 1960s and 1970s, you can contextualise it on the socio-political situation in the US (where he spent most of his time then) - government suspicious of left-wing activities, anti-Vietnam protests, etc.

General writing guidelines

1. Show, do not tell (especially emotions)

2. Details

3. Story

4. Chronology - not!

5. Try to write as simply and clearly as you can

Confidentiality

In your story, check with your interviewees how comfortable they are with using their real names. If there are any doubts, use pseudonyms for your interviewee and the people they may refer to.

Visuals

Ask your interviewees if they are comfortable with providing photographs for their stories. The photographs do not have to be of their faces. It could be of a significant item or place. Alternatively, the interviewees may also draw or write poems/raps, etc.

I hope that the workshop held on 10 Jan 09 has provided an insightful experience for all. I specially thank the following individuals for taking time off to conduct/attend the session:

1. Jaime

2. Stephanie

3. Nisa

4. Rahim

5. Ruhainah

6. Kamaludeen

7. Juniper

8. Sharon

9. Peng Yen & son

10. Dora

11. Elaine

12. Renee

13. Akhtaar

I also wish to thank Juniper for his kind generosity - he distributed a copy of his self-published book titled 'My Students and I : A collection of warm stories' to everyone, including those who were unable to attend the workshop. Juniper has been a strong, dedicated yet humble volunteer of MWH for about 5 years. Juniper is known for his caring and kind-hearted gestures and I will never forget the 'epok-epok' or curry-puffs he brought for us each time he and his Ngee Ann Polytechnic students conducted their regular motivational talks to the residents of the Home. He is also among the first few volunteers I approached for advice on this project before it took off.

May God bless your thoughtful deeds, Juniper!