happenings over the weekend

It was a good summit at the youth mentors' summit held at the ntuc auditorium. I guess, it is just another aspect of youth work, you need the volunteers and befrienders to provide guidance and direction to these youths before they run with the law. Was surprised to see zhenzhu as well, another 'worker' who is giving her time and energies to help the youths-at-risk. It is definitely an eye-opener to see Dr William Tan in person share about his sporting achievements, how he overcome the odds and achieve his dreams. It is an unbelivevble feat. Glenn Lim also shared about his work with at-risk youths, giving a framework and some tips at working with them. I liked his philosophy when he shared that he is not interested in just getting these youths to conform to mainstream society as much as helping them achieve their dreams as well, to dare to stand up for what they believe in and be leaders in their own rights, positively guide them to realise their potential despite of all the wrongs they have committed in the past. That is certainly some words of wisdom.

Hopefully, some of us can do that also in our community, with a good intent, come together to want to bless our nation and other parts of the world with good tools to engage and develop youths.

Shared the joy with my colleagues of receiving an award for gd practices at the symposium for family violence last thurs despite being relatively a new worker. Even though there is much room for improvement in terms of internal processes, it certainly gives me the motivation to continue to work hard and give my best in my work, to be a true professional in due time. It is timely as well when we will be having 20th anniversary celebration next year. It is a good conference for me, at least I have a better understanding of the various agencies that are involved in advocating for child protection in our local context. Got in touch with my social work roots when I saw some familar faces be it my lecturers and peers who are still in the field. It is a tedious process to protect children who are being harmed, the courts and police has to play their part in ensuring the safety and coming in to prosecute against those perpetrators who have inflicted the harm. The school and community has a part to play as well.

I was alarmed by the article on sunday when it was reported that the teenage gal has committed suicide upon hearing the news that she has to go to juvenile court for a theft case that she has committed. It is such a tragedy that our youth would think of doing that at such a young age. It is a case for further pondering, are our youths built with the right kind of resilience and emotional stability to weather the storms that come their ways? I often thought of this, in my work with the youths, there is just this natural tendency for them to get whatever they want without bearing much thought to the process in this 'instant fix' and fast-paced society. They do not seem to cope well if they do not get what they want or learn well to understand that life is not always smooth-sailing; there are difficult times to go through, it is alright to fail and make mistakes. It is 'normal' and acceptable.