Young Minds by AsiaOne - Dailymotion

AsiaOne

Young Minds is a series about youths in Singapore making an impact in their own unique ways.

Transcript

00:00I feel that a small interaction can have the most profound impact on someone's life.

00:05Hi, I'm Hazim. I'm the founder of The Signpost Collective,

00:08and we befriend the informal street sellers in Singapore.

00:15Hey, where's Hazim?

00:17Sorry, we're a bit late.

00:18No, it's okay. No worries, no worries.

00:19Yeah, I think I was just checking the database.

00:21I think we should just check in on Auntie Florence, her well-being, her family,

00:24and then afterwards just checking on Uncle C's housing situation as well.

00:28The Signpost Collective is a non-profit organisation

00:31that looks after the informal street sellers in Singapore.

00:33So currently, we look after 12 districts in Singapore.

00:36So for example, Clementi, Amokyo, Tempinis, Bedok, and other districts.

00:42We look after about 120 of them in Singapore right now.

00:46The Signpost Collective started in 2019,

00:49and it came about because I'm a very Kepo person.

00:53And I remember I was studying around Clementi Mall.

00:56I saw a lot of tissue sellers, and I realised that they were very familiar faces,

01:01but I was not familiar with their stories.

01:03And so I just went around asking about their lives,

01:06and realised that quite a few of them felt that they were unsupported,

01:09that they had no one to turn to, sometimes just by life circumstances.

01:14So there's this one very personal story.

01:16One of the street sellers, in fact, shared about his family,

01:21how he was supporting his kids through school.

01:23But unfortunately, his wife was laid off,

01:25and so he became the sole breadwinner while selling tissue.

01:29During that transition phase, it was a very, very difficult time.

01:32He just told me,

01:33Hazim, you're the only friend I can tell this to.

01:38And I feel that for a lot of street sellers,

01:41sometimes they don't really have anyone they can turn to

01:43to share their stories, to share their struggle.

01:47It makes a huge difference to relieve the burden that they feel alone.

01:51And yes, it starts with hearing.

01:58And seeing that there was this gap,

01:59a bunch of friends and I, we decided to start the Signpost project.

02:03And now, currently, as a registered entity, the Signpost Collective.

02:07So we act as a signpost for them.

02:10For any of the issues that they face,

02:12we befriend them, we communicate with them,

02:14and then we live with the relevant agencies

02:15to provide the relevant social support system that they need.

02:22So the Signpost Collective does runs,

02:23and runs basically as our own version of walkabouts.

02:26And we do these runs weekly, sometimes even twice a week,

02:30just to be able to get a sense of the issues

02:32and sentiments of our street sellers.

02:34Usually, what happens in our first conversation with a street seller,

02:38of course, is not to go into two personal issues,

02:40or even just to pry into their problems.

02:42It's really to get to know them, to make them feel comfortable.

02:45If they don't feel like talking that day,

02:46maybe they're in a bad mood, that's perfectly fine.

02:49More importantly is that they know that once a week,

02:52someone is out there checking in on them.

02:56Right now, we'll be meeting Aunty Florence with Nova for quite some time.

03:00In fact, she's not one of your usual tissue sellers.

03:02She sells artworks.

03:03And every time we meet her, she's always ready to greet us

03:06with her bubbly personality and all her good jokes.

03:13Hello Aunty Florence!

03:14Eh, hello my girl!

03:16Hey Aunty!

03:17Hannah is our volunteer from the Signpost project.

03:20She's been here at the West team for about two years.

03:23How are you with Aunty Florence?

03:24I'm fine. I'm good.

03:27You're painting a panda?

03:28Oh yes!

03:29You can see that I paint a mother,

03:31bear carrying a baby,

03:33and this one is another baby.

03:35That's very cute!

03:36Yeah.

03:37So the mother is concentrating on the youngest one.

03:40Then this one says,

03:41Hey, Mummy!

03:42Anything to help?

03:43No, I can help.

03:44I'm a je-jeh or koko.

03:47So my relationship with Aunty Florence is

03:51like family.

03:52Like she's always looked after me.

03:55She likes to give me life advice.

03:57She likes to tease me.

03:59Yeah, and at first she was kind of scary

04:01because she like always had a lot of opinions

04:03and a strong mindset.

04:05But then after a while,

04:06after she made enough jokes with me,

04:07I think we got close,

04:09and I really enjoyed coming to see her on my weekends.

04:15So I want to earn some more money,

04:17not because of my greediness,

04:19because I want to prepare for my retiree.

04:22I've not been working a lot.

04:24Only for seven years, officially.

04:26And then I got the CPF only for seven years.

04:30Then recently, I'm sick.

04:31I went for my operation, my scan.

04:34I have to pay $8,000 out for my pocket.

04:37As you know, I'm born here as a dwarf,

04:39and I use a lot of my hip, my hip muscle,

04:43my hip bones to walk.

04:45It's like wear and tear,

04:48and I have to go for my hip bone replacement.

04:50So during that period of time,

04:52I was in the hospital,

04:54and this poor girl couldn't find me.

04:57So she called me,

04:58and she realised that I was in the hospital,

05:00and she came to visit me with her friend.

05:03After that, it's like tsunami.

05:06One shot swept away all my saving.

05:10I don't want to rely on anyone.

05:11I want to depend on myself.

05:13Yeah, because I'm born in this way,

05:17I don't because look at me in this very useless kind.

05:21I think Auntie Florence has taught me a lot about

05:24what it means to be resilient,

05:25and what it means to face challenges in life head on.

05:28Because I think she's had a lot of challenges

05:31that she's faced very bravely.

05:32So I think that's something that I've taken away,

05:34and I've learned from her how to be brave,

05:36and how to be strong.

05:38She's such a lovely girl.

05:40I wish she was my daughter.

05:51Thanks for joining the regional quarantine meeting

05:54this afternoon, guys.

05:55In Woodlands,

05:56we have been seeing an increasing number of street sellers as well.

06:00So right now we have about 20 to 30 volunteers,

06:03and we have about 10 people in the core team.

06:06So we find volunteers through multiple channels.

06:08The first one would be formal volunteering organisations.

06:11Second, we also find volunteers through formal school partnerships.

06:15The third would be with public volunteers

06:18who will come and sign up through our website,

06:21as well as our other social media platforms,

06:22for example Facebook and Instagram.

06:24We definitely encourage a lot more volunteers

06:28to come and join us on our runs.

06:30To be doing this for over six years,

06:33in a world of uncertainty,

06:34there's sometimes that sense of hopelessness.

06:36But talking to the street sellers,

06:39and being able to do what I can,

06:41even if it's a little thing that I can help them with,

06:43at least we can be that one friend,

06:45or that one person they can WhatsApp through

06:46if they have any issues.

06:51So my hope for the Simples Collective

06:54is that we are no longer needed, right?

06:57That you no longer need an organisation to spur conversations,

07:00to look out for the informal street sellers,

07:03or the vulnerable elderly in Singapore.

07:05You rely on neighbours to do that,

07:09to build that sense of community,

07:11to build that identity,

07:12that everyone is truly looking out for each other.

07:15And it's these interactions that makes life feel worth living.

07:19It makes you want to hope for the next day,

07:22that the future will be a bit brighter.

Befriending 120 street sellers across 12 districts in Singapore | Young Minds

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