Celebrate Wellness@Changi Simei

CHANGI SIMEI, SINGAPORE, 21 MARCH 2010………Each year more than 300 women died from advanced stage of breast cancer and breast cancer is the most common cause of death among women in their 50 to 69 years of age. There is a 1 in 17 chance of developing breast cancer for women and what is worst is that some women found out their conditions at the terminal stage of their illness. Unless there is a miracle, it is unlikely that their medical conditions can be reversed. 

Medical evidence showed that breast cancer is a 100% treatable illness if detected in its early stage. The early detection will increase the survival rate thus reducing the numbers of fatalities. Today, early detection is done through mammogram screening which is available at almost medical institutions including polyclinics. Studies have shown that mammogram can help women to detect breast cancer especially when the growth cannot be felt by hands. Inspite of the known fact of cure in its early stage, statistics from the MOH (2007) also showed only 4 in 10 women aged 50-69 have had undergone mammogram screening in the last two years. Therefore 60% of the women aged between 50 to 69 years of age are subjecting themselves to a higher probability of risk. The question is why don’t women take action to protect themselves?  

As a male, I don’t have ready answers. Perhaps, I can make an educated guess. Many women may be aware of the mammogram screening but the issues lie with the management of time, attitude and costs. With a changing lifestyle and more demands placed on women in the family and career, more women are putting priority on family and career first, they may have forgotten about the mammogram screening. Next is the attitude of “it won’t happen to me” thus further delaying the mammogram screening. The final challenge is the high costs involved in each screening. Each mammogram screening can cost up to $100 and some may not be able to afford the costs.   

Realising these issues, the government through its women MPs have worked with the various community partners (Singapore Cancer Society, Health Promotion Board, People’s Association WIN Council, Great Eastern Life Assurance Co Ltd, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Tsao Foundation and the Singapore Totalisator Board). Collectively, they rolled out an initiative known as Celebrate Wellness’ to promote healthy lifestyle among women.   

To implement the Celebrate Wellness initiative, there is a need to generate awareness through a publicity and educational campaign. Roadshows have been organised to educate women on health related issues such as mental wellbeing, physical activity, healthy eating and the early detection of breast cancer to avoid unnecessary pains and sufferings.   

On 21 March 2010, the roadshow was hosted in Changi Simei Community Club for women in South East district. During the road show, a variety of health activities such as healthy cooking classes, mental health workshops and exercise sessions were conducted. During the launched of the road show in Changi Simei, Ms Jessica Tan, Member of Parliament for East Coast GRC reiterated that health and wellness is important in life and she encouraged women to make health screening as an integral part of their lives. She added that by staying healthy, it was not just for the women but also for the family. She also said that life will lose its meaning without health when she recounted her recent experience when she was down with flu. I cannot agree with her more.Without health what is the use of being “rich and wealthy” and lying on the bed?   

To encourage women from the higher risk group (50 to 69 years of age) to take the difficult first step towards screening, Singapore Totalisator Board is providing a one-time subsidised mammogram screening at $25 to this group of women at the participating polyclinics. The $25 is a quarter of the current cost of screening of $100. As mammogram screening is not a one time affairs, to encourage women to go for the 2nd mammogram (only qualify if the 1st mammogram screening is done at the participating polyclinics) which is two years later, the 2nd mammogram will also be subsidised $25 through the generosity of the Khoo Teck Puat Foundation. Women who are eligible for the further subsidy will be receiving an invitation letter with more details.   

During the roadshow in Changi Simei, a slew of health and wellness-related activities such as mass workouts, programmes on mental well-being like good sleep ans stress management, beauty and self-esteem etc, culinary workshops, testimonial sharing by a cancer survivor and many other exciting activities. What’s more, women can also register for other fun and informative health courses which will be conducted after the roadshows (details available at the CC) as follows.   

a. 3 Apr 2010 (12 pm to 1.30 pm and 2 pm to 3.30 pm) – Mental Wellness Workshop on getting good sleep and stress management @ Changi Simei CC (Free)   

b. 5 Apr 2010 (9 am to 11.30 am and 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm) – Supermarket Tour on General Healthy Eating @ Eastpoint Mall Fairprice Supermarket (Free)   

c. 12 Apr 2010 (9 am to 11.30 am and 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm) – Supermarket Tour on Chronic disease Management @ East point Mall Supermarket (Free)   

d. 26 May 2010 and 18 May 2010 (7 .00 pm to 9.00 pm) – Nutritious Recipes Made Easy @ Changi Simei CC (50% discount in course fee ie $12 (Passion Card Member)/$20 (Non Passion Card Member) This is one of the excellent initiative being rolled out to step up efforts to fight against breast cancer so that few women will die.   

Though I may not benefit from the initiative, nonetheless, I will support the initiative and to ensure my wife does go for the mammogram screening for the good of the family.

Project Excel in Changi Simei

望子成龙 (wang zi cheng long or to become a dragon),  望女成凤 (pan nu cheng feng or a phoenix) (both are mystical animals symbolising  power and intelligence and respect)  is a Chinese saying which echoes the aspirations of many parents since ancient times to see their children succeed and in a class with no competitors. I have not come across parents who deliberately want their children to fail instead of be the best as they can be.  In a perfect world, the saying can be a reality. However, we don’t live in a perfect world as our world is fraught with many challenges and equality which may not exist.

The inequality is attributable to many factors which will not be dealt with in this blog. Suffice to know is the  “have” and “have not”. The “have not”  are generally the economically not well off struggling to live from hands to mouths. They have little to provide for their children even though they desired their children to become a dragon or phoenix as in the Chinese saying.

These are the children who are likely to fall through the cracks and once fallen, these children may not acquire the skills and the proficiency required to live a comfortable adulthood. These children are likely to end up in the same poverty cycle as their parents have live through before. Do we want to see such history repeats itself where in Singapore our people are our precious asset capable of competing with others out in the world for a piece of pie. The answer is obvious and we need to tap the potentials of these children through education. 

Our education is very competitive in view of the meritocratic system put in place. With meritocracy, children will need to compete for a place in universities or other institution of higher learning. The keen competition breeds kiasuism with parents sending their children for tuition classes or enrichment classes in order to give them additional help. Parents who are economically well off are not bothered by the costs as long as their children excel in their academic pursuits. A survey on 150 students carried by Straits Times (22 Mar 2010) showed that 85% of them have 4 hours of tuition a week and 60% have spent more than $200 a month on the extra help. With extra help, these children may do well to meet their parents’ aspirations.

Conversely, children from the lower-income families may suffer in view of the family environment.  These children may want to excel and to help these children, the Changi Simei Citizens’ Consultative Committee (CCC) through its Community Development and Welfare Fund Committee organised a Charity Concert to raise fund in 2006 to initiate Project EXCEL (Excellence for short). We started our community works in 2007. Since then,  the  CCC has organised highly subsidised tuition classes for these students. We started small in 2007 with a class progressing to running classes for primary 5 and 6 students in 2009. The CCC will continue to run these classes as long as we can touch these students to make a difference in their lives. 

In the 2009 PSLE cohort of 18 students,  7 of these students gained admission into Express stream, 8 of them were placed in Normal Academic and 3 went to pursue their foundation skills in the Normal Technical class. The CCC was encouraged by these results and one of the student scored 246 points. A couple of others also crossed the 200 points. All students graduated and move on to secondary education.

A meet the parents’ session was organised for parents and students from the 2009 and 2010 cohort on 21 March 2010. The objective of the session was to extend our congratulations to the 2009 cohort for making the extra efforts to attend classes and for doing well in their grades. In fact, their tutors commented that the cohort was motivated to learn from them. To encourage  them to continue to excel, each student in the 2009 cohort received a Parker pen.

As part of the programme, Heidi Toh, a top student in 2009 shared her experience and her journey to her success in PSLE. One advice she gave was the need to start early instead of proscrastinating as though time was with them. Heidi also shared on her goal set during a similar meet the parents’ session held  in 2009.  In the last session in 2009, all students were asked to set what they hoped to achieve in the tuition classes and sealed it in an envelope to be safe kept by the CCC. These envelopes were returned to the 2009 cohorts to make comparison on their goals and how they fared in PSLE. Though some were upset as the goals were not realised, nevertheless, they were happy of their results. For the 2010 cohort, they too would set their goals and seal in their envelopes. The 2010 cohort was also encouraged to emulate the 2009 cohorts through a motivation talk.

For the parents, I had shared with them a couple of rules to partner the CCC’s effort to help their children to prepare for their PSLE.  During the session, I had also drove home the point on parents’ responsibility in their children education instead of transferring that responsibility to the CCC. Parents were reminded that the CCC could pitch in to help their  children and to succeed, but they should complement the CCC’s efforts by supervising their children and to ensure that they attend tuition classes. The parents were told that it is hardwork will see their children breaking the poverty cycle.  

The meeting of parents and students of both cohorts was a good exercise to lay the ground rules and to set expectations. The CCC will continue to help these children to level them up to the challenge of the society.

Holi…A celebration of the Festival of Colours in Changi Simei

It was a humid and hot afternoon on 21 Mar 2010. The weather did not deter residents especially from the Indian community to stay away from Holi celebration at Simei Park. At the peak of the celebration, more than 200 residents of all races had gathered at the hard-court of the Simei Park to indulge in the drenching and smearing of colour at each other. Ms Jessica Tan, Member of Parliament for East Coast GRC later join in the Holi celebration with residents.

What is Holi or the Festival of Colours about? I asked the Chairman of the IAEC. He explained that Holi  is a festival celebrated in March or April depending on the Hindu calendar. It is a festival for people to congregate to welcome the spring and win the blessings of Gods for good harvest and fertility of the land. Holi is the second important festival of India after Diwali. Well from my participation in Holi, it was truly a festival of colours which also reflects the pulse of life. Colour powers were flung into the air or rubbed onto faces or mixed them with water and using coloured water to drench each other. All these were done with laughter on friends and loved ones, senior or juniors in the social hierarchy also received the same treatment during Holi.

During the celebration,  I saw drenched and coloured residents running around the park trying to get the upper hand from their friends in order to drench them. There were also friends who formed groups to “target and drenched” their victims all for the fun of it. I was one of them with coloured powers on my face in the true spirit of colours celebration.

The Holi Festival was organised by our Indian Activities Executive Committee  (IAEC) for the second time since 2009. Well done to the organising committee.

It was a good way to spend the morning and learning the culture of our neighbours.

Fun Together at Changi Simei RC Zone 2

I have missed a couple of excitements in events organised by the Changi Simei Grassroots Organisations last weekend and also missed the regular blog posting as I was out of the country. Nonetheless, this Saturday and Sunday activities were  equally exciting as the grassroots organisations put in place programmes to bring residents to have fun together.

On 20 March 2010, Changi Simei RC Zone 2 organised a Block Party cum a crime prevention exhibition,  one of our platforms to create opportunities for residents to meet and besides saying “hello’ to each other, to have fun together. It was great to see residents, the young and old coming out from their homes to join the RC. What was significant in Zone 2 Block Party was the collective effort byRC’s  members building their own games for children.  Members spent 6 weeks thinking, designing and finally building the games from the materials they had bought.  Their efforts reduced the operating expenses of subsequent Block Party as these games could be modified to keep the games interesting. Many children pitted their skills to win prizes. These games looked easy to win but when you played the games, you would experience a high degree of difficulty. But somehow, there were winners too.  

To complement the works of the Police, the cadets from the National Police Cadet Corps of Changkat Secondary School also played their part by spreading the message on “No Crime Does Not Mean No Crime”. While I was there, a few cadets responsible for different aspect of crime “targeted” or rather approached me to share the different crime prevention measures that I should be aware of and to take the necessary precautions to protect my self and my property. These cadets did a marvellous job in engaging residents on crime prevention. I am sure they too have a good time.    

Besides the centralised block party, RC Zone 2 also drives the organisation of floor parties to encourage neighhours living on the same floor to start conversations among themselves. The floor parties bring back memories of the old kampong days where neighbours knew each others well even to the extend of knowing their likes and what would irritate them. I came from that generation but by the late 70s, when these kampongs were dismantled to make way for redevelopment,  the once united in spirit and closed relationships between neighbours started to decline.  By the turn of the century, neighbours are now strangers and to some complete strangers.

 

For my generation who once lived in kampongs, we understand the benefits that can be derived from neighbourliness which resolve differences through openness and the spirit of “give and take”. Conversely today, neighbours lodge complaints on their neighbours at government agencies, neighbours call the police for whatsoever issues that they don’t like what their neighbours are doing. Neighbours simply making a nuisance but without coming out with practical solutions. Neighbours get angry and irritated easily instead of keeping their cool and neighbours apportioning 100%  blame on others except on themselves in situation create by them.   

The floor parties are intended to allow neighbours to know each other. It is not a total solution but at least administer “panadol” for a start. I believe that friendships can be cultivated through floor parties and it can proliferate among neighbours. I like the idea of one floor connecting to other floors and soon we will have an enlarged network of neighbours to bring back the old kampong spirit, to brings back smiles to create a kinder and gentler environment to live in…. that the spirit of Changi Simei and hopefully residents share the vision of an inclusive society in Changi Simei.

We are neighbours….Keep Simei Clean (Part 2)

Is the lack of litters bins the root cause to littering? Yes, said some but my response would be “the presence of litters bins is not an end to littering. It is individual’s attitude and behaviours that make the difference”. Perhaps, it is culture that drives attitude and behaviours is to be blamed. Perhaps for Singaporeans, it is our adopted mentality of “catch me if you can” to challenge the authority to impose penalties on them that is the main culprit.

One thing, I am for sure is that when caught in the act for littering by NEA officers, the commonly used defence would be “this is my first time”. Well, I leave it to your judgement as I have heard this once too many times.   

When I was in Japan in 2006, I noticed the “cleanliness” culture of the Japanese. I saw a woman feeding her child who had created a mess in the public area. I would have envisaged that woman after feeding her child would just get up and walk away leaving the mess to the cleaners to clean. However, it was not scripted the way I had envisaged. I was too quick to make the conclusion. That woman cleaned up the mess before leaving the public area. She was equipped with a small broom and a dust pan which she took out from her bag. The same scene was repeated many times in other areas by other Japanese and I could only infer  that the Japanese are very conscious of their living  environment and they also have the heart of others by not creating inconveniences to users of public areas.  If this scene was played out in Singapore, perhaps my script would come into reality. Singaporeans would look left and right, front and back and said to themselves, “no body is watching” before they walked away.

Similarly in the United States where I was outstationed many years back, my American colleagues were very conscious on littering and the green culture. Not only they didn’t litter and when they see someone disposing  garbages into the wrong bin intended for other trash, they would come upfront and advised that person to use the bin inteneded for its purpose.  The Americans possessed the morale courage to do what is right by creating awareness. On the contrary, Singaporean will generally resign to fate that we cannot do anything or this is not my problem. I am not saying that in every corners in the United States are very clean, at least the neighbourhoods where I have once lived and worked are well kept with less anti social behaviours.

This cleanliness culture is evidently lacking in Singapore. In Singapore, it is common to see motorists discarding their cigarette butts on roads, it is a common sight at our beach parks where beach goers throw paper cups, tissues, leaving food waste behind etc. Such inconsiderate attitude needs to be reined in or before soon, we may be back in the pre 1960s where our streets were very dirty and filthy.

Back home, our reputation of being a clean and green garden city is under threat with a new generation of Singaporeans. Our parks and recreational facilities are no longer in the pristine condition with an increasing occurence of anti social behaviours. It is an eye sore to see trashes strewn all over. 

Nearer home, the HDB town. Residents  are also beginning  to use the void decks as their dumping grounds. It is uncommon to see disused refrigerators, broken TV set, cupboards, boxes etc besides lift lobbies and staircases. These discarded items are complemented by cigarette butts, plastic bags, tissue paper, bottles, drink cans, wrappers, flyers from letter boxes etc. Some residents also turned common staircases into temporary lavatories to ease themselves. I even have reports of residents throwing sanitary pads out from their windows narrowly miss hitting other users outside the void deck. At times, it landed on the window ledge of the lower units which is a sore eye. Once, I saw an uncle who emptied the contents in the trash bin on the floor, picked whatever he had found and wanted but left the trash on the floor and leave.    

These anti social behaviours do affect our lives and affect the individual. It is also a health hazard as receptacles thrown into the open can collect water and breed mosquitoes……. and we have dengue fever and others would suffer the pains.

Why do people treat the common areas into dumping ground? Is it due to our education system that does not teach civic consciousness, the “kia su” syndrome that I have paid the cleaners or the lackadaisical attitude of the new generation? Besides Singaporean, I can also attribute the foreign work force may have also played a part in littering in view of their different social norms? These are perhaps probable reasons and not the root cause. 

What is the root cause to our littering? My personal view is the negative thoughts of “bo chap” of Singaporean that some one will pick up their liters as they have contributed to town council service and conservancy charge. Such negative thoughts cannot be overcome overnight. Once I saw a woman cleaning the birds’ waste on her car with tissue papers. She threw these tissues after wiping her car and I had counted at least 6 pieces. Noticing that some one was watching her, she decided to pick them up otherwise, she would not even bothered. Such don’t care attitude seems to be prevalent. Just to share, our town council spent almost half a million dollars to clean and maintain the cleanliness of our  estate.  Could we have used less of the fund for other more meaning works? It is possible if all residents take an active action to keep their neighbourhood clean. Many clean neighbourhoods will make a clean Simei estate and reduce the costs of cleaning.

The onus of keeping our common properties clean is not just the responsibility and duty of cleaners. Everyone of us has this social responsibility to keep our common properties clean where others can enjoy and relax. I am sure we don’t deliberately create a mess in our homes and why can we adopt the same attitude to keep common areas clean?   

Over the years, our government held anti littering campaigns, impose fines and corrective work orders as deterrents, it seems that these measures do not have lasting effect. We easily forget especially after the campaign. After the campaign, we play hide and seek with enforcement agencies to catch us. According to  NEA, last year, the agency issued 27,600 summons to litter bugs up from the 20,500 in 2008 with two third Singaporean and one-third foreigners being the culprits. These litter bugs appear in court and pay a penalty of $300. Perhaps the $300 is too small a figure to deter littering judging from the increase trend in numbers of litters bugs.

The trend in 2010 will go higher if we continue to adopt the so-called successful campaign formula of the past, my personal view is that we are not going very far as we stuck on with these stale and unimaginative campaigns after campaigns. After a while, a quantum fine imposed lose its effect. We need to run some thing different that focus on individuals’ mindset to own their common properties to motivate them to change and play their part. We should also increase the quantum of fines.

We are Neighbours…keep Simei clean (Part 1)

I could not remember the year the Keep Singapore Clean Campaign was started…I think in the late 1960s. What I could recall was  my school organised a Keep Singapore Clean Poster and Slogan competition with prizes to be won. Then, our form teacher told us that  “all must participate” . What etched in my mind was not the prizes to be won but what could we do to keep Singapore clean as we went on to design our posters and slogans for the competition.  Till this day, I still put sweet wrappers in my pocket to dispose them when a bin is found or to bring home for disposal to avoid littering. 

After many years, well, we are still running the keep Singapore Clean Campaign but with a brand new name “Clean and Green Singapore”. Nonetheless, at the local level, the Changi Simei Citizens’ Consultative Committee, its Residents’ Committees (RCs)  and  East Coast Town Council organised events to support the national cause to keep Singapore clean and green on a daily basis. 

For our efforts to keep the estate clean, our RC Zone 2 won acolades at the national level in the last two years. The latest award at SE District was for Best Team Effort Award ie for leading in the residents in its effort to go green.  RC Zone 2 also came in 1st in the inter-zonal competition on estate management among the 4 RC Zones in Simei. In addition, our three others RCs, RC Zone 4, RC Zone 1 and RC Zone 3 also clinched all the Best Improvement Awards among the 16 RCs in East Coast Town in 2009 competition. Well done.    

        

In the competition on collecting recyclable materials, our RCs also did extremely well in East Coast Town. RCs in Changi Simei won all the three top awards. Of the 16 participating RCs in East Coast Town, RC Zone 2 won the top award with RC Zone 1 and RC Zone 3 came in 2nd and 3rd respectively. In between our 4 RCs, we collected 174 tons of recyclables materials in Year 2009. 

To play our part, the residents’ committee in Changi Simei set up collection points to recycle unused materials, clothings, news paper etc at the RC each month. For residents who are interested to keep the estate clean, please deposit your unwanted materials during these collection times.                                                                                              

      RC Zone 1 (Blk 108) – morning (10.30 am to 1.30 pm) on last Saturday of the month

      RC Zone 2 (Blk 133) – afternoon (9 am to 12 pm) on last Sunday of the month

      RC Zone 3 (Blk 155) – afternoon (2.30 pm to 5 pm) on first Saturday of the month

      RC Zone 4 (Blk 231) – morning ( 10.30 to 12 pm) on third Saturday of the month

I hope that residents can collaborate with the RCs to keep Simei estate a clean and green estate.

Entrenched Mental Model

Let me begin with a story. 

The story is about two men who fish for leisure and the catch will be cooked into palatable dish for a meal.  “Lao Fu Zi” is the elder of the two and the other is “Da Fan Shu”.  They are strangers to each other. 

One fine afternoon, both stood beside each other along a river bank. The spot where they stood was considered a good spot to cast their fishing lines. After some time, there was movement on the fishing line of Lao Fu Zi.  Lao Fu Zi without much effort reeled the fishing line and picked up the fish.  He took a measuring tape and measured the length of the fish. The fish was 1.5 feet long. Lao Fu Zi glanced at the fish and without much thought, released the fish back into the river. Da Fan Shu looked at Lao Fu Zi and he was puzzled at the action of Lao Fu Zi.  

15 minutes later,  Lao Fu Zi again caught another fish.  He reeled in the fishing line and released the fish this time smaller in size but was 1 foot in length and without hestitation, he threw the fish into the river. This time, Da Fan Shu stared hard at Lao Fu Zi. He was still puzzled on why Lao Fu Zi did what he did by releasing his catch back in to the river. Da Fan Shu waited patiently for any movement on his fishing line… but there was none.

Another 15 minutes had passed and luck was not with Da Fan Shu but Lao Fu Zi was again reeling in his fishing line and carrying out his routine of measuring the length of the fish. However, this time Lao Fu Zi decided to keep the smaller fish instead of releasing it into the river as in the previous occasions.

Da Fan Shu was totally confused on seeing Lao Fu Zi keeping the fish. He decided to seek clarification from Lao Fu Zi.

Da Fan Shu asked Lao Fu Zi on why he kept the smaller fish instead of the bigger fishes he had caught earlier?  

Lao Fu Zi explained that he had released the bigger fishes back into the river because their lengths could not fit nicely into his frying pan which had a diameter of eight inches. Thus he needed fishes which measured not more than eight inches.  

Think about the eight inches frying pan in this story.

The frying pan is fixed in size. We cannot change the size of the frying pan unless we replace it with a bigger frying pan. Similarly, our physical environment is which we live is also largely fixed and it cannot be easily change. We feel uncomfortable with the hot and humid weather, can we change  the weather? We cannot change the environment but we can design innovative solutions to overcome the hot and humid weather. The air conditioner is just one of the many innovative inventions.

In the story, can Lao Fu Zi keeps the bigger fish but slices the fish into two  to fit into his frying pan? The answer is obvious but he chooses otherwise. Think about it………….  

In our daily life, how many of us are like Lao Fu Zi with a fixed mindset. We feel comfortable to conduct our business in the way we are used to, we use traditions and customs to justify doing the same thing year after year, we frown and shake our heads in disapproval on innovative ideas departing from traditions and customs, we shun new thinking, we are afraid to speak up for fear of being admonished in public…… etc.  We prefer a status quo.

Our environment is constantly changing and to keep up, we have to review our traditions and customs. Blindly following them is no different from the approach adopted by Lao Fu Zi in the story of not wanting to find solutions to fit his frying pan? If we are fixated to old solutions, we are not going anywhere. We are only giving others an opportunity to level up with us and perhaps bypass us one day.

To move ahead, we need to be smarter and we cannot learn something new by looking at what we already know. We need to innovate and strategise to move ahead.

For people with a fixed mindset, please think again because as a community, we need to move as a team. We need to solve challenges as a team instead of creating own obstacles for the team along the way in view of old mindset.