ADAM is a teenager studying in a neighbourhood school. His family is not well off. His father works as a cleaner and Adam is on a financial assistance scheme.
Under this scheme, his school fees are paid for, his textbooks are provided free and he is given pocket money. One would expect him to be grateful for this opportunity to continue his education, yet he spends most of his afternoons hanging out at his void deck or playing games on the computer at home.
He does not care or realise that using the computer adds to the cost of electricity. Needless to say, he did not perform well in his studies, although he was expected to, based on his PSLE results.
There is more than one Adam in our society. They are so used to receiving financial assistance from the Government or various organisations such as the Town Councils, HDB branch offices, schools or the Community Development Council, that they have come to expect help as part of life.
The saying "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime" comes to mind when I encounter teenagers like Adam.
Why is he wasting this opportunity while others in a similar situation are working hard to get out of the poverty cycle?
Why does he not feel embarrassed or ashamed that he has squandered it?
Why does he think handouts are a right and not a privilege?
Maybe we should approach this problem in another way. Financial assistance, if not devised carefully, can be reduced to becoming a mere handout.
Such assistance is the beginning of a complex process that can help someone like Adam break out of the poverty cycle — but it is not a sufficient condition for this to happen.
Perhaps, we can learn from a less-developed country such as Bangladesh and see how it has managed to break the poverty cycle for so many families.
The Grameen Bank (GB) provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh. No bank in Singapore will even consider this option as the poor cannot provide any collateral. But it is precisely these people who need a helping hand.
At GB, loans are provided collateral-free and the bank views credit as a cost-effective weapon to fight poverty. GB believes that if financial resources can be made available to the poor, with terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, they will be able to break out of the poverty cycle.
Every year, the bank's staff review the cases and check whether the socio-economic situation of its clients is improving. It also evaluates the poverty level of borrowers using 10 indicators, which range from whether a family uses a sanitary latrine to whether they are able to put their children through school.
Similarly, appropriate indicators for Adam to achieve could be drawn up, so he continues to receive financial assistance. The concept of the handout scheme could be redesigned so that he is taking a loan from the Bank of Society — that is, he would be expected to return the loan but this need not be in monetary terms alone. He could do community service during his free time or aim to produce good results in his examinations.
The same amount of money, when given out as financial aid, might rob a person of his dignity and develop the handout mentality.
But when it is converted into a loan, a sense of responsibility and accountability would be tied to it. Recipients would then have to ensure the opportunity that society has given them is not wasted.
Tragedies in the news often pull on the heart-strings of many Singaporeans and many have been motivated to donate money to the needy.
But are we just giving them fish, or making an effort to teach them how to fish?
This article was published in TODAY on 31.10.2006
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Two images sprang to my mind when I read about the decibel that Wee Shu Min has created recenty. She had commented on blogger, Mr. Derek Wee’s views on the anxieties of Singapore workers. He was worried about competition from foreign talent and the lack of job opportunities for older workers in Singapore. He has implored the Singapore government to understand Singaporean’s predicament.
In his comments on his daughter’s action, her father, Mr. Wee Siew Kim supported her basic point that a well-educated university graduate who works for a multinational company should not be bemoaning about the Government and he should get on with the challenges in life. As a parent, he confessed that he may not have inculcated the appropriate level of sensitivity. This led me to think of two famous parents who did took the effort to make sure that this type of insensitivity will not take root with their children.
The first was Princess Diana who made clandestine visits to terminally- ill AIDS patients. She would turn up unannounced, with stict instructions that these vsists be hidden from the media . At times, she would bring her sons along as she felt that there was a need for them to connect not only with the common people but with those who were disadvantages.
The second was a photograph of our Prime Mininster as a young teenager who had accompained his father MM Lee to visit Pulau Ubin. I remembered him holding an umbrella standing next to his father.
According to MM Lee from his book Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Idea, he explained that when he took office as the Prime Minister, he and his wife chose not to move into Sri Temasek which was the official resident. His children was still young then, age ranging between two to seven. He felt that it would be a very bad thing for his children as they might get an inflated idea of who they were, what they were with all the servants around and the gardeners. As parents, they have tried to make their children have a sort of normal environemnt which was equal to the kind of life he led before he was the prime minister.
I can only postulate at the possible reasons why the internet community is so disappointed with Shu Ming. Coming from an elit school, being a Humanities Scholars with the poetntial of winning a scholarship to study overseas and coming back with a job awaiting for her in the prestiges Administrative Services, one wonder if she would be formulating policy that would take into consideration all strata of society.
Prince William was expected to be king and thus his mother made an extra effort to ensure that he knew how to buy a hambruger, a bag of sweet or even take a ride at a theme park.
As for PM Lee Hsian Loong, I remebered reading an article a few years ago about him waiting for his son to come back from a ruby tour in South Africa. What struck me was the last paragraph where the reporter said that our PM was waiting in line at the MacDonal counter to buy food for his son.
As for Shu Ming, perhaps a possibility could be for her to attend some of the meet-the- people session that her father, a memebr of the Ang Mo Kio GRC conducts every Tuesday. From there, she could learn how her father plans to build an inclusive and caring community, where he reaches out to his residents in need and lsiten and channel feedback on issues and needs to the government.
To those who are given more, more will be expected from them. Shu Ming has been blessed with a gift for writing and an ability to perform well in school. All she needs to do is to develop that sensitivity that Derek Wee has for those who have given less in society. In all probability, she would be placed in a position where she will be able to make a difference in people’s life. Will she takes up this challenge in life? Can she take this brutal truth ? Only time will tell
This article was not published in TODAY
In his comments on his daughter’s action, her father, Mr. Wee Siew Kim supported her basic point that a well-educated university graduate who works for a multinational company should not be bemoaning about the Government and he should get on with the challenges in life. As a parent, he confessed that he may not have inculcated the appropriate level of sensitivity. This led me to think of two famous parents who did took the effort to make sure that this type of insensitivity will not take root with their children.
The first was Princess Diana who made clandestine visits to terminally- ill AIDS patients. She would turn up unannounced, with stict instructions that these vsists be hidden from the media . At times, she would bring her sons along as she felt that there was a need for them to connect not only with the common people but with those who were disadvantages.
The second was a photograph of our Prime Mininster as a young teenager who had accompained his father MM Lee to visit Pulau Ubin. I remembered him holding an umbrella standing next to his father.
According to MM Lee from his book Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Idea, he explained that when he took office as the Prime Minister, he and his wife chose not to move into Sri Temasek which was the official resident. His children was still young then, age ranging between two to seven. He felt that it would be a very bad thing for his children as they might get an inflated idea of who they were, what they were with all the servants around and the gardeners. As parents, they have tried to make their children have a sort of normal environemnt which was equal to the kind of life he led before he was the prime minister.
I can only postulate at the possible reasons why the internet community is so disappointed with Shu Ming. Coming from an elit school, being a Humanities Scholars with the poetntial of winning a scholarship to study overseas and coming back with a job awaiting for her in the prestiges Administrative Services, one wonder if she would be formulating policy that would take into consideration all strata of society.
Prince William was expected to be king and thus his mother made an extra effort to ensure that he knew how to buy a hambruger, a bag of sweet or even take a ride at a theme park.
As for PM Lee Hsian Loong, I remebered reading an article a few years ago about him waiting for his son to come back from a ruby tour in South Africa. What struck me was the last paragraph where the reporter said that our PM was waiting in line at the MacDonal counter to buy food for his son.
As for Shu Ming, perhaps a possibility could be for her to attend some of the meet-the- people session that her father, a memebr of the Ang Mo Kio GRC conducts every Tuesday. From there, she could learn how her father plans to build an inclusive and caring community, where he reaches out to his residents in need and lsiten and channel feedback on issues and needs to the government.
To those who are given more, more will be expected from them. Shu Ming has been blessed with a gift for writing and an ability to perform well in school. All she needs to do is to develop that sensitivity that Derek Wee has for those who have given less in society. In all probability, she would be placed in a position where she will be able to make a difference in people’s life. Will she takes up this challenge in life? Can she take this brutal truth ? Only time will tell
This article was not published in TODAY
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Her Winter, His Spring
WHEN I read that Gina Lollobrigida, at 79, was to wed Javier Rigau, aged 45, I was happy for them. They have joined the club of older women marrying younger men.
These couples include Joan Collins, 73, and Percy Gibson, 41; Demi Moore, 43, and Ashton Kutcher, 28; and Madonna, 48, and Guy Ritchie, 38. I too belong to this club, although my husband is only three years younger than I am.
Society likes to accept the pretty picture of a relationship where the couple is of the same age or when the man is older.
When Woody Allen was involved with Soon-Yi Previn, who is 35 years younger, they made headlines not so much because of their age difference, but because of the incestuous flavour to the fact that she was his former lover's adopted daughter.
When Michael Douglas married Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is 25 years younger, the world laughed it off and accepted it as a May-December wedding.
It is different when the woman is older. The argument or the fear is that the man will leave the older woman for a younger one when she ages.
They fail to see that when a younger man starts a relationship with an older woman, he has already seen what she will look like when she grows older. Therefore, the relationship will probably be based on other criterion than looks alone.
When we first started to date, we also set tongues wagging. You see, I knew my husband when he was doing his O levels and I was waiting to go to university.
Everyone, from my parents to the nuns in the convent, was sure that our relationship was doomed to fail.
They could not understand what we could see in each other when our worlds were so far apart — he had yet to celebrate his 16th birthday, I was about to enter the adult world.
Many, including ourselves, were sure we would each find someone else in future more compatible. So, we did not commit to each other for three years.
Younger girls closer to his age were chasing him while I was keeping my options open for older men. But in the end, we chose to stay together as we could communicate well.
One day, a highly-educated girlfriend and I talked about her choice of a life partner. Her selection criteria were as to be expected: Someone of similar age, education and status. We explored the possibility of someone younger or older, but she felt it would not work.
Yet, another friend is waiting to separate from her husband even though they are of similar age, share the same interests and have similar social standing.
Instead of waiting for someone who fits our preconditions, why not be open to others around us? Had I been closed to having a relationship with someone as improbable as my husband, we would have missed out on 18 years of a happy marriage.
I have known my husband for 25 years and many people have asked us the secret of staying in love for so long.
Like Zoe Tay, I too swallow. Not any pills that will keep my skin smooth forever, but my pride, so that our relationship will be smooth-sailing.
Too often, it is tough for us to accept that we may be wrong when our spouse or partner corrects us.
Some of us like to have the last word. But many women do not understand that winning an argument might make us lose the battle to keep the marriage alive. Always try to consider if what our spouse says has a grain of truth.
Instead of asking what Javier Rigau sees in an older woman after being with her for 22 years, we could reflect on how they have managed to keep this relationship alive for so long.
I am sure it is not based on looks alone, even though Gina was once considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Some might say that he's in it for the money, but I would like to suggest that we apply Ockham's razor.
After shaving away all the unnecessary assumptions, the simplest explanation for this unlikely couple is this: Love conquers all things, even warts and saggy skin.
These couples include Joan Collins, 73, and Percy Gibson, 41; Demi Moore, 43, and Ashton Kutcher, 28; and Madonna, 48, and Guy Ritchie, 38. I too belong to this club, although my husband is only three years younger than I am.
Society likes to accept the pretty picture of a relationship where the couple is of the same age or when the man is older.
When Woody Allen was involved with Soon-Yi Previn, who is 35 years younger, they made headlines not so much because of their age difference, but because of the incestuous flavour to the fact that she was his former lover's adopted daughter.
When Michael Douglas married Catherine Zeta-Jones, who is 25 years younger, the world laughed it off and accepted it as a May-December wedding.
It is different when the woman is older. The argument or the fear is that the man will leave the older woman for a younger one when she ages.
They fail to see that when a younger man starts a relationship with an older woman, he has already seen what she will look like when she grows older. Therefore, the relationship will probably be based on other criterion than looks alone.
When we first started to date, we also set tongues wagging. You see, I knew my husband when he was doing his O levels and I was waiting to go to university.
Everyone, from my parents to the nuns in the convent, was sure that our relationship was doomed to fail.
They could not understand what we could see in each other when our worlds were so far apart — he had yet to celebrate his 16th birthday, I was about to enter the adult world.
Many, including ourselves, were sure we would each find someone else in future more compatible. So, we did not commit to each other for three years.
Younger girls closer to his age were chasing him while I was keeping my options open for older men. But in the end, we chose to stay together as we could communicate well.
One day, a highly-educated girlfriend and I talked about her choice of a life partner. Her selection criteria were as to be expected: Someone of similar age, education and status. We explored the possibility of someone younger or older, but she felt it would not work.
Yet, another friend is waiting to separate from her husband even though they are of similar age, share the same interests and have similar social standing.
Instead of waiting for someone who fits our preconditions, why not be open to others around us? Had I been closed to having a relationship with someone as improbable as my husband, we would have missed out on 18 years of a happy marriage.
I have known my husband for 25 years and many people have asked us the secret of staying in love for so long.
Like Zoe Tay, I too swallow. Not any pills that will keep my skin smooth forever, but my pride, so that our relationship will be smooth-sailing.
Too often, it is tough for us to accept that we may be wrong when our spouse or partner corrects us.
Some of us like to have the last word. But many women do not understand that winning an argument might make us lose the battle to keep the marriage alive. Always try to consider if what our spouse says has a grain of truth.
Instead of asking what Javier Rigau sees in an older woman after being with her for 22 years, we could reflect on how they have managed to keep this relationship alive for so long.
I am sure it is not based on looks alone, even though Gina was once considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Some might say that he's in it for the money, but I would like to suggest that we apply Ockham's razor.
After shaving away all the unnecessary assumptions, the simplest explanation for this unlikely couple is this: Love conquers all things, even warts and saggy skin.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
It's the maid's job.
A TUTOR was giving tuition in a home when she observed that her student did not flush the toilet after he used it. His father said it was the maid job's to flush the toilet.
In another incident, a group of Secondary 1 students were washing up after going sailing. The teacher observed that one student did not turn off the tap after using it. His explanation was that at home, it was the maid's job to do so after he had taken a bath.
And of course, some of us have come across young National Service recruits who do not know how to lace up their boots because they have never learnt how to put their shoes on.
Surely, I joke?
No, the stories are true.
While a maid is a lifeline to many families, perhaps it's time to ask if things have gone over the line.
Many women continue to go to work because the maids have taken over the role of a homemaker. Sometimes, the maids take over the home so completely that family members do not know where things are kept.
Some maids have also taken over the role of bringing up the children, so much so that the kids are traumatised when the maid is sent away.
Where do we draw the line? Should the maid be expected to flush the toilet after we use it? What about waking her up at 2am, as some have been known to do, to make supper for a hungry family member?
Sometimes, we forget that the maid is also a human being in need of encouragement and dignified treatment.
A local pastor was asked to leave a church after advocating that the faithful give their maid a Sunday off as it is a day of rest.
But unless we change the way we relate to our maids, we are in real danger of producing a generation of children who are selfish and look down on the littlest of menial jobs.
An indication of this trend can be observed in many classrooms in Singapore. In the past, classes had a duty roster whereby students took turns to do cleaning jobs — be it sweeping or clearing the rubbish bin.
Ask any teacher now and likely, he or she will tell you that it is getting tougher to make students do these simple tasks. Sometimes students retort: "Why should I?"
Once I heard this argument from a student. He said that since his father pays income tax, the school can employ cleaners to clean the classroom.
When our three teenagers were growing up, we did not have a maid till they were in primary school. They were sent to a daycare centre where they learnt to bathe themselves. They had to pack their towel and a change of clothes every day, and they even had to make their own breakfast.
Even now, although we have a maid, we still train our kids to look after the youngest, a one-year-old.
They know how to bathe him, change his diapers and make milk for him. They know how to cook and wash plates and if the maid were to pack up and go, they would be able to look after the house.
The maid is our helper who is there to make our life more comfortable; she is neither a surrogate parent nor a slave.
Unless we learn to treat her with respect, our children will not be able to learn to show respect to others.
Do we want to turn our children into little emperors?
This article was first published in TODAY on 17th October 2006
In another incident, a group of Secondary 1 students were washing up after going sailing. The teacher observed that one student did not turn off the tap after using it. His explanation was that at home, it was the maid's job to do so after he had taken a bath.
And of course, some of us have come across young National Service recruits who do not know how to lace up their boots because they have never learnt how to put their shoes on.
Surely, I joke?
No, the stories are true.
While a maid is a lifeline to many families, perhaps it's time to ask if things have gone over the line.
Many women continue to go to work because the maids have taken over the role of a homemaker. Sometimes, the maids take over the home so completely that family members do not know where things are kept.
Some maids have also taken over the role of bringing up the children, so much so that the kids are traumatised when the maid is sent away.
Where do we draw the line? Should the maid be expected to flush the toilet after we use it? What about waking her up at 2am, as some have been known to do, to make supper for a hungry family member?
Sometimes, we forget that the maid is also a human being in need of encouragement and dignified treatment.
A local pastor was asked to leave a church after advocating that the faithful give their maid a Sunday off as it is a day of rest.
But unless we change the way we relate to our maids, we are in real danger of producing a generation of children who are selfish and look down on the littlest of menial jobs.
An indication of this trend can be observed in many classrooms in Singapore. In the past, classes had a duty roster whereby students took turns to do cleaning jobs — be it sweeping or clearing the rubbish bin.
Ask any teacher now and likely, he or she will tell you that it is getting tougher to make students do these simple tasks. Sometimes students retort: "Why should I?"
Once I heard this argument from a student. He said that since his father pays income tax, the school can employ cleaners to clean the classroom.
When our three teenagers were growing up, we did not have a maid till they were in primary school. They were sent to a daycare centre where they learnt to bathe themselves. They had to pack their towel and a change of clothes every day, and they even had to make their own breakfast.
Even now, although we have a maid, we still train our kids to look after the youngest, a one-year-old.
They know how to bathe him, change his diapers and make milk for him. They know how to cook and wash plates and if the maid were to pack up and go, they would be able to look after the house.
The maid is our helper who is there to make our life more comfortable; she is neither a surrogate parent nor a slave.
Unless we learn to treat her with respect, our children will not be able to learn to show respect to others.
Do we want to turn our children into little emperors?
This article was first published in TODAY on 17th October 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
A Clear Solution to a Hazy Problem
"Tigers and elephants are fleeing the burning jungles. Birds are falling from the murky skies. School children are fainting at their desks. Ships are colliding at sea.
"As a filthy haze from vast Indonesian forest fires continues to darken the sky across seven South-east Asian nations, illness, ecological destruction and economic hardship are growing... "
After reading the above extract from The New York Times, you can be forgiven for thinking it describes the haze we have been experiencing over the past few days.
In fact, this article was published on Oct 26, 1997. Nine years have passed and the solution to this ecological disaster still seems hazy (pun intended).
After surviving the 1997 haze, we should have put in place a set of protocols agreed upon by Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to prevent this from recurring.
This was partially achieved when the Asean (Association of South-east Asian Nations) Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution was signed in 2002. Its objective is to prevent and monitor haze pollution as a result of land and/or forest fires which should be mitigated, through concerted national efforts and regional and international cooperation.
The problem is that as of August 2005, only seven out of the 10 member countries have ratified the agreement. Indonesia, where the fires originate, has yet to ratify the treaty. If nothing more is done, the same excerpt quoted above might be used to describe the situation five, 10, even 15 years later.
Apart from the short-term effect of the haze where the effect on human beings is most noticeable, the haze also has long-term serious consequences.
According to Mr Klaus Toepfer, the United Nations Environment Programme's executive director, a study by 250 scientists released in 2002 showed that "the thick brown haze which forms over much of Asia during the tropical dry season could have profound effects on human health, crop yield and rainfall patterns in the Asian region".
It is reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the tropical Indian Ocean surface by as much as 10 per cent, with a larger percentage reduction over the Indian subcontinent.
Up till now, the haze has been dealt with as a national problem of Indonesia. It is easy to point the finger at corrupt local officials who turn a blind eye to allow plantation owners to continue clearing their land by setting fire to it.
Similarly, it is easy to send satellite photographs of the hotspots and expect Indonesia to take action against the plantation owners, or to offer fire-fighting equipment.
Perhaps there is a need to change the way the haze problem is approached. As the Asean agreement so aptly indicated, the haze does not respect national boundaries. It goes where the wind blows. Hence, the ownership of this problem should not rest on Indonesia's shoulders alone.
But what can we do as we do not wish to intrude on Indonesia's sovereignty?
Perhaps a fund can be set up to provide plantation owners and farmers with incentives to clear the forest in other ways. An educational campaign could be embarked on to get farmers to look beyond their individual needs to the collective need of Asia.
This would be difficult. But if an effort is not made to change mindsets, the haze problem will continue. The recurrence of the haze has shown that this crisis cannot be solved at the individual or national level alone.
Are we ready to play a more active role, or do we continue to be content to breath in air with a PSI that exceeds 100, as it did on Saturday?
The choice is clear.
"As a filthy haze from vast Indonesian forest fires continues to darken the sky across seven South-east Asian nations, illness, ecological destruction and economic hardship are growing... "
After reading the above extract from The New York Times, you can be forgiven for thinking it describes the haze we have been experiencing over the past few days.
In fact, this article was published on Oct 26, 1997. Nine years have passed and the solution to this ecological disaster still seems hazy (pun intended).
After surviving the 1997 haze, we should have put in place a set of protocols agreed upon by Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia to prevent this from recurring.
This was partially achieved when the Asean (Association of South-east Asian Nations) Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution was signed in 2002. Its objective is to prevent and monitor haze pollution as a result of land and/or forest fires which should be mitigated, through concerted national efforts and regional and international cooperation.
The problem is that as of August 2005, only seven out of the 10 member countries have ratified the agreement. Indonesia, where the fires originate, has yet to ratify the treaty. If nothing more is done, the same excerpt quoted above might be used to describe the situation five, 10, even 15 years later.
Apart from the short-term effect of the haze where the effect on human beings is most noticeable, the haze also has long-term serious consequences.
According to Mr Klaus Toepfer, the United Nations Environment Programme's executive director, a study by 250 scientists released in 2002 showed that "the thick brown haze which forms over much of Asia during the tropical dry season could have profound effects on human health, crop yield and rainfall patterns in the Asian region".
It is reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the tropical Indian Ocean surface by as much as 10 per cent, with a larger percentage reduction over the Indian subcontinent.
Up till now, the haze has been dealt with as a national problem of Indonesia. It is easy to point the finger at corrupt local officials who turn a blind eye to allow plantation owners to continue clearing their land by setting fire to it.
Similarly, it is easy to send satellite photographs of the hotspots and expect Indonesia to take action against the plantation owners, or to offer fire-fighting equipment.
Perhaps there is a need to change the way the haze problem is approached. As the Asean agreement so aptly indicated, the haze does not respect national boundaries. It goes where the wind blows. Hence, the ownership of this problem should not rest on Indonesia's shoulders alone.
But what can we do as we do not wish to intrude on Indonesia's sovereignty?
Perhaps a fund can be set up to provide plantation owners and farmers with incentives to clear the forest in other ways. An educational campaign could be embarked on to get farmers to look beyond their individual needs to the collective need of Asia.
This would be difficult. But if an effort is not made to change mindsets, the haze problem will continue. The recurrence of the haze has shown that this crisis cannot be solved at the individual or national level alone.
Are we ready to play a more active role, or do we continue to be content to breath in air with a PSI that exceeds 100, as it did on Saturday?
The choice is clear.
Sunday, October 8, 2006
SOMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON
Recently, I gave birth to my sixth child, Anicius, by caesarean at Gleneagles Hospital. When I awoke after the operation, my husband broke the bad news that our child had been warded in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU)because of a
lung infection.
I was depressed,as I did not wish my newborn son to spend his days in a cold, sterile environment. When I gave birth to my five other children at a restructured hospital, my experience of the nursery was not a happy one. Often, newborns were left to cry as there seemed to be too few nurses around. The nursery was quite an uninviting place and parents were not allowed in.
What a surprise it was when I entered the NICU at Gleneagles for the first time.
I saw Fish come alive — that is to say, the Fish! philosophy is practised in this unit.
The philosophy comes from a book by writer and film-maker Dr Stephen Lundin, inspired by the author ’s visit to Seattle ’s Pike Place Fish Market. The market is famous for being madly successful thanks to its fun, bustling, joyful atmosphere and great customer service.
The Fish! philosophy advocates an innovative work environment where a playful, attentive and engaging attitude leads to more energy, enthusiasm, productivity and creativity.
The NICU was decorated as an aquarium, with cute little fish hanging from the ceiling and pictures of fish plastered on the wall. Music from Gold 90.5FM was always playing. The visual and audio environment is meant to stimulate the development of premature babies.
In the course of more than 10 days in the NICU,I had the privilege to observe the staff constantly practising the four principles of the Fish! philosophy.
The first principle is: Play. I have seldom seen other nurses play with the newborns as much as those at Gleneagles. They constantly tease, joke and talk to the babies, more often than not calming a crying baby in the process.
The second principle is: Make their day. As is the policy in other NICUs, only the parents of the children warded there are allowed in. But, knowing that grandparents, siblings and other anxious relatives are also eager to see the latest additions to their families, the nurses came up with a simple solution.
They take digital photos of the babies and print out copies to pass around to relatives. They even footprint each baby and turn it into a cute little poster, complete with stickers and stars. It is simple actions like these that make the parents ’ day.
The third principle is: Be there. The nurses don ’t just make time for the new-borns, they also keep an eye on the parents. They pay attention to make sure the mother gets enough rest and that she is
not too tired from looking after her child.
The last principle is: Choose your attitude. It is stressful working in the NICU. Nurses spend long hours in a pressure-packed environment and have to respond to every beep from the machines monitoring the patients.
It is easy for a nurse to become task-oriented and overlook the fact that she is dealing with human lives. Yet, I observed that the nurses’ attitude towards these babies was one of hope and joy.
They truly believe that their patients will get better, and this hope rubs off some-how on these fragile newborns.
Singapore has placed a premium on training its workforce. For example, teachers must undergo 100 hours of training every year.
The civil service, through the Institute of Public Administration and Management, has invited many world-renowned trainers to Singapore.
Psychologist Daniel Goleman has espoused emotional intelligence here, motivational speaker Stephen Covey has advocated the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and education expert Dr Spencer Kagan is invited every year to conduct workshops on cooperative learning.
Teachers have also received training in using the Fish! Philosophy. However, being trained does not necessarily mean one puts the ideas into practice.
My NICU experience has prompted me to reflect on the training I have received in my career as a teacher. Most of the time, the concepts taught remain at the cognitive level.
But after seeing the Fish! Philosophy in action in the Gleneagles NICU, I now feel motivated to put what I have learned into practice.
This article was first published in TODAY on 29.8.2005
Recently, I gave birth to my sixth child, Anicius, by caesarean at Gleneagles Hospital. When I awoke after the operation, my husband broke the bad news that our child had been warded in the Neonatal Intensive Care unit (NICU)because of a
lung infection.
I was depressed,as I did not wish my newborn son to spend his days in a cold, sterile environment. When I gave birth to my five other children at a restructured hospital, my experience of the nursery was not a happy one. Often, newborns were left to cry as there seemed to be too few nurses around. The nursery was quite an uninviting place and parents were not allowed in.
What a surprise it was when I entered the NICU at Gleneagles for the first time.
I saw Fish come alive — that is to say, the Fish! philosophy is practised in this unit.
The philosophy comes from a book by writer and film-maker Dr Stephen Lundin, inspired by the author ’s visit to Seattle ’s Pike Place Fish Market. The market is famous for being madly successful thanks to its fun, bustling, joyful atmosphere and great customer service.
The Fish! philosophy advocates an innovative work environment where a playful, attentive and engaging attitude leads to more energy, enthusiasm, productivity and creativity.
The NICU was decorated as an aquarium, with cute little fish hanging from the ceiling and pictures of fish plastered on the wall. Music from Gold 90.5FM was always playing. The visual and audio environment is meant to stimulate the development of premature babies.
In the course of more than 10 days in the NICU,I had the privilege to observe the staff constantly practising the four principles of the Fish! philosophy.
The first principle is: Play. I have seldom seen other nurses play with the newborns as much as those at Gleneagles. They constantly tease, joke and talk to the babies, more often than not calming a crying baby in the process.
The second principle is: Make their day. As is the policy in other NICUs, only the parents of the children warded there are allowed in. But, knowing that grandparents, siblings and other anxious relatives are also eager to see the latest additions to their families, the nurses came up with a simple solution.
They take digital photos of the babies and print out copies to pass around to relatives. They even footprint each baby and turn it into a cute little poster, complete with stickers and stars. It is simple actions like these that make the parents ’ day.
The third principle is: Be there. The nurses don ’t just make time for the new-borns, they also keep an eye on the parents. They pay attention to make sure the mother gets enough rest and that she is
not too tired from looking after her child.
The last principle is: Choose your attitude. It is stressful working in the NICU. Nurses spend long hours in a pressure-packed environment and have to respond to every beep from the machines monitoring the patients.
It is easy for a nurse to become task-oriented and overlook the fact that she is dealing with human lives. Yet, I observed that the nurses’ attitude towards these babies was one of hope and joy.
They truly believe that their patients will get better, and this hope rubs off some-how on these fragile newborns.
Singapore has placed a premium on training its workforce. For example, teachers must undergo 100 hours of training every year.
The civil service, through the Institute of Public Administration and Management, has invited many world-renowned trainers to Singapore.
Psychologist Daniel Goleman has espoused emotional intelligence here, motivational speaker Stephen Covey has advocated the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and education expert Dr Spencer Kagan is invited every year to conduct workshops on cooperative learning.
Teachers have also received training in using the Fish! Philosophy. However, being trained does not necessarily mean one puts the ideas into practice.
My NICU experience has prompted me to reflect on the training I have received in my career as a teacher. Most of the time, the concepts taught remain at the cognitive level.
But after seeing the Fish! Philosophy in action in the Gleneagles NICU, I now feel motivated to put what I have learned into practice.
This article was first published in TODAY on 29.8.2005
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