SINGAPORE: It was 2012 when Steven Goh, a financial adviser then, was waiting for a client at a Housing Board void deck, and from nowhere an elderly woman approached him.
“Eh, boy … can you come to my house to take a look? I need your help,” he recalled her telling him.
Initially, he thought it was a ploy to get money. But when he stepped inside her flat, he found it filled wall-to-wall with metal junk, much like a “karang guni’s” storeroom. All she wanted was help with clearing it out.
So he posted a call for volunteers on Facebook, and a group soon rallied to the cause.
“(Decluttering her home) was even more tiring than a normal workout in a gym,” Goh recollected. “But … that sincere ‘thank you’ from her (was something) I never got before.”
Steven Goh did not know how to say no to the elderly woman.
That moment lit the spark for Helping Joy, founded by Goh as a volunteer group dedicated to decluttering for the elderly.
Week after week, the team have rolled up their sleeves and sorted through belongings — restoring order and, in most cases, dignity. “When (the beneficiaries) see a very clean house, it makes them feel normal again,” said the 46-year-old.
Today, Helping Joy is a charity with more than 300 volunteers and takes referrals from social workers, senior centres, hospitals, Members of Parliament and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).
Beyond cleaning, its volunteers befriend elderly residents, provide free meals and even make “final journey arrangements” for some.
Around the same time Helping Joy was taking off, Alaric Tan was grappling with drug addiction. In February 2016, he was arrested and sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre for six months.
Alaric Tan is in recovery from drug addiction.
While that period of abstinence helped him realise recovery was possible, the turning point came when he hosted a recovery meeting despite having relapsed. “I was paranoid,” the 46-year-old recalled. “I was feeling very ashamed of myself.”
To his surprise, the participants reassured him that they believed he wanted to quit, that he was a good person and that he could break his 20-year addiction.
“I felt so safe and happy for the first time in my life that I just never had the craving to use drugs again,” said Tan, fighting back tears.
That was in 2017, on July 7, which became the official opening date of The Greenhouse, a recovery centre he founded in the following year.
A recovery group meeting underway in The Greenhouse.
It offers free and anonymous counselling, and its 12-step programme encourages clients to understand the cycle of addiction, with relapses regarded as part of the recovery process.
“To come to our centre and receive care for free from strangers shows you that the world isn’t what you think it is,” Tan said.
The Greenhouse has assisted over 400 clients in the past six years and runs a counselling training programme that has even benefitted professionals from the MSF.
Goh and Tan are just two of the many figures in the CNA series, Extraordinary People, which honours unsung heroes who go the extra mile to uplift communities in need. Here are three inspiring storylines not to be missed.
Goh helping to declutter a home.
Over the past 13 years, Helping Joy has transformed around 400 homes. It provides support to more than 800 elderly individuals across Singapore and relies wholly on donations to keep going.
Refurbishing a home typically costs between S$3,000 and S$5,000. At times when money is short, however, Goh and his crew will either repurpose second-hand furniture from their centre or dip into their own pockets.
In the lean periods, Goh sometimes wonders, “Am I very stupid to be doing this? Is it a waste of time?”
But he is always reminded of the true value of his work. “Money is important, but it’s not everything,” he said. “The genuine support and the kindness people are giving … we can’t buy with money.”
Goh and the crew from Helping Joy refurbishing a flat.
Caregivers Alliance Limited (CAL) is another non-profit organisation devoted to a community that often goes unnoticed: carers of individuals with mental health issues.
CAL programme manager, Faiza Sanip, 55, began volunteering for the organisation during the pandemic — having started her own caregiving journey in 2014 when her second son, then 18, was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“When we started seeing the symptoms, I was in denial,” she said. “He had this blank look on his face, and he was totally not functioning.
“He looked like he was lost within himself. And I felt like I’d lost my son.”
Faiza felt that way for years, not fully understanding the illness and not knowing where to turn for help as such mental illnesses were not talked about openly.
Faiza Sanip gave up her career in education to care for her son full-time.
She felt as many other carers have felt — alone, with no one who could understand what they were experiencing. Then in 2020, she found an online course in English for carers. It was the lifeline she had been looking for.
When a programme manager approached her later about an opening for a full-time position at CAL, she knew it was her calling.
“At that time, we didn’t have programmes in Malay that talked openly about mental health issues … for caregivers of persons with mental health issues,” she said.
Besides leading CAL’s caregivers-to-caregivers training programmes, she introduced its first Malay-language course and is dedicated to raising mental health awareness in the Malay/Muslim community.
Caregivers Alliance Limited’s Malay-language caregivers-to-caregivers training programmes are now conducted at least once every three months.
For some individuals, using past pain to heal and help others is the common thread in their lives. Tan, for example, sees himself as a wounded healer: someone who converts one’s past struggles into support for others.
With help from volunteers, The Greenhouse has seen a success rate of up to 80 per cent for drug use recovery and abstinence, he said.
The centre was also an early adopter of trauma-informed care, which focuses on asking, “What happened to you?" rather than "What’s wrong with you?”
“That then eliminates a lot of the shame that they feel,” said centre manager Shila Naidu, “because then they know that ‘I didn’t actively choose to do this harm to myself’.
“With that knowledge, with new coping tools introduced, with a loving community around them, they can then make better decisions for their future.”
The Greenhouse centre manager Shila Naidu speaking during a panel discussion held by the centre on World AIDS Day last year.
Gopal Mahey, 42, is on a similar path. He leads group workshops thrice weekly for inmates in different clusters within Changi Prison. “We’re helping these individuals to become their own counsellors,” he said.
His journey as a wounded healer began when he was arrested in 2013 — and later charged with drug consumption and trafficking — despite being a counsellor working with inmates at the time.
“Talk about imposter syndrome,” he said wryly. “I’d go into the prison system, (while) actively using (drugs), and I’d speak about addiction.
“I’d have residents come up to me and say, ‘Mr Gopal, how come you know so much?’”
His incarceration had a profound impact on his family, including his counsellor mother and his wife — they had married 11 months before his arrest.
Gopal Mahey was arrested in December 2013 as he was leaving Changi Prison after running a workshop.
He missed pivotal moments, such as the deaths of his grandparents and the chance to bond with his newborn son.
After his release, he turned the page. He now works as a senior counsellor at the Centre for Psychotherapy and offers pro bono support to clients including those awaiting sentencing and neurodivergent offenders.
“I don’t just do this work because I enjoy it and it gives me … purpose,” he said. “I’m part of this population, and I can also love these people.”
Teoh Chin Sim, 60, has been working with another community. As Singapore’s first female sports and exercise medicine specialist, she has attended to the nation’s elite athletes for over 30 years.
Dr Teoh is a senior consultant at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
At the 2012 London Paralympics, serving as Team Singapore’s chief medical officer, she witnessed something truly moving: After a Paralympic swimmer finished about two laps behind the others, the crowd gave a standing ovation, cheering louder than for the winner.
“That kind of brought tears to my eyes,” recalled Teoh.
The experience ignited her passion for para-sports, which she described as focused on maximising what people have rather than what they lack.
Motivated by this ethos, she started the PlayBuddy programme in 2016 to unlock the potential of children with physical disabilities. It brings together more than 10 children and their families every Saturday to enjoy activities like taekwondo, football and bowling.
Since its inception, more than 50 families have benefitted from the programme, which has grown into a supportive community. “Their entire world may sometimes revolve just around that child, (with parents) taking them to school, … medical appointments, therapy,” said Teoh.
“So when they come together like this, parents talk to other parents who may have gone on a similar journey. … They kind of encourage one another, share stories and don’t feel so alone.”
Similarly, when Ronita Paul, 72, and Geraldine Lee, 66, co-founded Arc Children’s Centre in 2011, they were creating not only a daycare centre but also a supportive network for children battling cancer and other critical illnesses, along with their families.
“We never saw Arc as just an organisation or charity,” said Lee. “Arc is like a village.”
Before Arc existed, many of these children could only spend long hours in the hospital playroom, said Frances Yeap, a consultant in paediatric haematology and oncology at the Khoo Teck Puat – National University Children’s Medical Institute, National University Hospital.
“Because that was a safe area for them to be playing, where their parents were more reassured that there were no germs … (and) that other children playing around them also had a similar medical problem.”
To date, more than 300 children have walked through Arc’s doors. Beyond daycare, Arc hosts camps and events such as a year-end talent competition for children to showcase the skills they have honed at the centre.
“Arc is really like a sanctuary for these children to have some sort of normalcy in life,” Yeap added.
The five-part series Extraordinary People premieres tonight at 9pm, with new episodes in the same time slot until Wednesday. It pays homage to a successful, iconic documentary series of the same name, produced in the 1990s by predecessors of CNA’s current affairs department.
Continue reading...
“Eh, boy … can you come to my house to take a look? I need your help,” he recalled her telling him.
Initially, he thought it was a ploy to get money. But when he stepped inside her flat, he found it filled wall-to-wall with metal junk, much like a “karang guni’s” storeroom. All she wanted was help with clearing it out.
So he posted a call for volunteers on Facebook, and a group soon rallied to the cause.
“(Decluttering her home) was even more tiring than a normal workout in a gym,” Goh recollected. “But … that sincere ‘thank you’ from her (was something) I never got before.”
Steven Goh did not know how to say no to the elderly woman.
That moment lit the spark for Helping Joy, founded by Goh as a volunteer group dedicated to decluttering for the elderly.
Week after week, the team have rolled up their sleeves and sorted through belongings — restoring order and, in most cases, dignity. “When (the beneficiaries) see a very clean house, it makes them feel normal again,” said the 46-year-old.
Today, Helping Joy is a charity with more than 300 volunteers and takes referrals from social workers, senior centres, hospitals, Members of Parliament and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).
Beyond cleaning, its volunteers befriend elderly residents, provide free meals and even make “final journey arrangements” for some.
Around the same time Helping Joy was taking off, Alaric Tan was grappling with drug addiction. In February 2016, he was arrested and sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre for six months.
Alaric Tan is in recovery from drug addiction.
While that period of abstinence helped him realise recovery was possible, the turning point came when he hosted a recovery meeting despite having relapsed. “I was paranoid,” the 46-year-old recalled. “I was feeling very ashamed of myself.”
To his surprise, the participants reassured him that they believed he wanted to quit, that he was a good person and that he could break his 20-year addiction.
“I felt so safe and happy for the first time in my life that I just never had the craving to use drugs again,” said Tan, fighting back tears.
That was in 2017, on July 7, which became the official opening date of The Greenhouse, a recovery centre he founded in the following year.
A recovery group meeting underway in The Greenhouse.
It offers free and anonymous counselling, and its 12-step programme encourages clients to understand the cycle of addiction, with relapses regarded as part of the recovery process.
“To come to our centre and receive care for free from strangers shows you that the world isn’t what you think it is,” Tan said.
The Greenhouse has assisted over 400 clients in the past six years and runs a counselling training programme that has even benefitted professionals from the MSF.
Goh and Tan are just two of the many figures in the CNA series, Extraordinary People, which honours unsung heroes who go the extra mile to uplift communities in need. Here are three inspiring storylines not to be missed.
Goh helping to declutter a home.
1. SUPPORTING THOSE WHO GO UNNOTICED
Over the past 13 years, Helping Joy has transformed around 400 homes. It provides support to more than 800 elderly individuals across Singapore and relies wholly on donations to keep going.
Refurbishing a home typically costs between S$3,000 and S$5,000. At times when money is short, however, Goh and his crew will either repurpose second-hand furniture from their centre or dip into their own pockets.
In the lean periods, Goh sometimes wonders, “Am I very stupid to be doing this? Is it a waste of time?”
But he is always reminded of the true value of his work. “Money is important, but it’s not everything,” he said. “The genuine support and the kindness people are giving … we can’t buy with money.”
Goh and the crew from Helping Joy refurbishing a flat.
Caregivers Alliance Limited (CAL) is another non-profit organisation devoted to a community that often goes unnoticed: carers of individuals with mental health issues.
CAL programme manager, Faiza Sanip, 55, began volunteering for the organisation during the pandemic — having started her own caregiving journey in 2014 when her second son, then 18, was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“When we started seeing the symptoms, I was in denial,” she said. “He had this blank look on his face, and he was totally not functioning.
“He looked like he was lost within himself. And I felt like I’d lost my son.”
Faiza felt that way for years, not fully understanding the illness and not knowing where to turn for help as such mental illnesses were not talked about openly.
Faiza Sanip gave up her career in education to care for her son full-time.
She felt as many other carers have felt — alone, with no one who could understand what they were experiencing. Then in 2020, she found an online course in English for carers. It was the lifeline she had been looking for.
When a programme manager approached her later about an opening for a full-time position at CAL, she knew it was her calling.
“At that time, we didn’t have programmes in Malay that talked openly about mental health issues … for caregivers of persons with mental health issues,” she said.
Besides leading CAL’s caregivers-to-caregivers training programmes, she introduced its first Malay-language course and is dedicated to raising mental health awareness in the Malay/Muslim community.
Caregivers Alliance Limited’s Malay-language caregivers-to-caregivers training programmes are now conducted at least once every three months.
2. EX-OFFENDERS AS WOUNDED HEALERS
For some individuals, using past pain to heal and help others is the common thread in their lives. Tan, for example, sees himself as a wounded healer: someone who converts one’s past struggles into support for others.
With help from volunteers, The Greenhouse has seen a success rate of up to 80 per cent for drug use recovery and abstinence, he said.
The centre was also an early adopter of trauma-informed care, which focuses on asking, “What happened to you?" rather than "What’s wrong with you?”
“That then eliminates a lot of the shame that they feel,” said centre manager Shila Naidu, “because then they know that ‘I didn’t actively choose to do this harm to myself’.
“With that knowledge, with new coping tools introduced, with a loving community around them, they can then make better decisions for their future.”
The Greenhouse centre manager Shila Naidu speaking during a panel discussion held by the centre on World AIDS Day last year.
Gopal Mahey, 42, is on a similar path. He leads group workshops thrice weekly for inmates in different clusters within Changi Prison. “We’re helping these individuals to become their own counsellors,” he said.
His journey as a wounded healer began when he was arrested in 2013 — and later charged with drug consumption and trafficking — despite being a counsellor working with inmates at the time.
“Talk about imposter syndrome,” he said wryly. “I’d go into the prison system, (while) actively using (drugs), and I’d speak about addiction.
“I’d have residents come up to me and say, ‘Mr Gopal, how come you know so much?’”
His incarceration had a profound impact on his family, including his counsellor mother and his wife — they had married 11 months before his arrest.
Gopal Mahey was arrested in December 2013 as he was leaving Changi Prison after running a workshop.
He missed pivotal moments, such as the deaths of his grandparents and the chance to bond with his newborn son.
After his release, he turned the page. He now works as a senior counsellor at the Centre for Psychotherapy and offers pro bono support to clients including those awaiting sentencing and neurodivergent offenders.
“I don’t just do this work because I enjoy it and it gives me … purpose,” he said. “I’m part of this population, and I can also love these people.”
3. EMPOWERING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES, ILLNESSES
Teoh Chin Sim, 60, has been working with another community. As Singapore’s first female sports and exercise medicine specialist, she has attended to the nation’s elite athletes for over 30 years.
Dr Teoh is a senior consultant at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
At the 2012 London Paralympics, serving as Team Singapore’s chief medical officer, she witnessed something truly moving: After a Paralympic swimmer finished about two laps behind the others, the crowd gave a standing ovation, cheering louder than for the winner.
“That kind of brought tears to my eyes,” recalled Teoh.
The experience ignited her passion for para-sports, which she described as focused on maximising what people have rather than what they lack.
Motivated by this ethos, she started the PlayBuddy programme in 2016 to unlock the potential of children with physical disabilities. It brings together more than 10 children and their families every Saturday to enjoy activities like taekwondo, football and bowling.
Since its inception, more than 50 families have benefitted from the programme, which has grown into a supportive community. “Their entire world may sometimes revolve just around that child, (with parents) taking them to school, … medical appointments, therapy,” said Teoh.
“So when they come together like this, parents talk to other parents who may have gone on a similar journey. … They kind of encourage one another, share stories and don’t feel so alone.”
Similarly, when Ronita Paul, 72, and Geraldine Lee, 66, co-founded Arc Children’s Centre in 2011, they were creating not only a daycare centre but also a supportive network for children battling cancer and other critical illnesses, along with their families.
“We never saw Arc as just an organisation or charity,” said Lee. “Arc is like a village.”
Before Arc existed, many of these children could only spend long hours in the hospital playroom, said Frances Yeap, a consultant in paediatric haematology and oncology at the Khoo Teck Puat – National University Children’s Medical Institute, National University Hospital.
“Because that was a safe area for them to be playing, where their parents were more reassured that there were no germs … (and) that other children playing around them also had a similar medical problem.”
To date, more than 300 children have walked through Arc’s doors. Beyond daycare, Arc hosts camps and events such as a year-end talent competition for children to showcase the skills they have honed at the centre.
“Arc is really like a sanctuary for these children to have some sort of normalcy in life,” Yeap added.
The five-part series Extraordinary People premieres tonight at 9pm, with new episodes in the same time slot until Wednesday. It pays homage to a successful, iconic documentary series of the same name, produced in the 1990s by predecessors of CNA’s current affairs department.
Continue reading...