Charles Handy said that “The best learning happened in real life with real problem and real people and not in classroom.” I feel like this quote aptly summarises my internship experience in university. I had the opportunity to work in HealthServe. It is an organisation that seeks to meet the needs of the migrant workers in our community through the provision of medical care, counselling, case work social assistance and other support services. I was with them as a Casework Intern in 2019 and as a Communications and Engagement intern in 2020. In addition, I also had the opportunity to have a short internship with Trampolene in 2021. Trampolene is a research & technology organisation that provide solutions that seeks to bring change and positive impact to the lives of the underprivileged, disadvantaged, and vulnerable. In specific, I got the opportunity to work as a Job Coach for young adults with special needs in Trampolene.

These internships helped me realise my passion for community service. It first started in the internship with HealthServe as a Casework Intern. I worked closely with the Migrant Worker community in Singapore. I did simple things like translations, case intake and accompanying our migrant brothers around places in Singapore. It was an opportunity to witness their plights so up close. It made me realise that I was very sheltered from the real world out there and that I took so much for granted. It showed me that I had a lot of misconceptions about our migrant brothers. It also taught me that life is just not fair. These men who work so much harder than any of us, sacrifice so much are yet stuck in a life with so much pain and get so much less. After the 3-month stint, I went back as a Communications and Engagement Intern when Covid hit in 2020. This was probably the more emotionally taxing round with HealthServe, because it was very tough seeing the way the brothers were treated during the pandemic. They are often the main breadwinners of their families back home, and they had it very hard because many lost their jobs in the pandemic. They could not even go back to their country to make some form of living for their families. In addition to this they were shuttled from place to place sporadically for quarantine and testing purposes by people who did not speak their language. During this period, I manned the hotline on weekends, and received messages like “sister, here very difficult, I am going crazy” really broke me. While the news glorified that these workers got to stay in hotels and eat hotel food during quarantine, they failed to show how much they struggled because this was not the conditions they are used to. They were not used to staying in aircon rooms and eating continental food three times a day. Like any of us, when they were unwell, all they wanted was the comfort of home and home cooked food. While difficult, it was an eye-opening experience. It was disillusioning and showed me what the world is truly like. While I witnessed a lot of injustice, I also got to see a lot of good. Many people, from very different walks of life, put their own struggles aside and came together in the form of volunteers and donors to help our migrant brothers. I saw that sometimes tough times bring out the best in humanity as well.

Similarly, my internship with Trampolene broke a lot of the stereotypes I had in my head about individuals with intellectual disability. It taught me that we need to look beyond what appears to be, so that we can truly appreciate someone for who they are. It taught me to be observant and patient. And above all it taught me the power of being calm when incidents occur. Initially when our trainees threw tantrums, I would get frazzled along with them (which did not help the situation). I learned how to stay calm and think clearly in stressful situations.

It was from these internships that I learned to be more perceptive to the people around me. When I started to see the people around me, I guess inevitably I saw their pains. So HealthServe was my first attempt in trying to do more for the people around me. While I really don’t think I am doing enough for the community now, I do try my best to put aside some time to serve the people around me. It made me more patient. It showed me that there are people who have it hard and taught me to see the silver lining in every situation. It also showed me what I am working for. Initially studying was just for grades, to make my parents happy. But these experiences taught me that with education I can help so many more people and do so much more for the world.

Submission by:

Priyadharshini D/O Chockalingam, Year 3, PSY (2nd major in Biological Sciences)

TOPS Day -10

The test line on the COVID-19 ART test cartridge was an alarming deep red. My weeklong overseas research trip to Ipoh with NTU-USP (called Travel Overseas Programme for Scholars, or TOPS) was in 10 days. If I test positive on the COVID-19 PCR test before the trip, I cannot go. Hoping for some assurance, I scoured the internet for answers. COVID- era air travel was already cumbersome in itself; navigating the unwieldy bevy of rules and requirements regarding post-recovery travel made me even more apprehensive.

Disheartened but not discouraged, I contacted my NTU-USP peers whose TOPS plans were made uncertain by COVID, too. Together, we discussed a plan to overcome this – take a COVID-19 PCR test first, then consider an ART if we could confirm that the “recovered travellers” concession applied to us. A sense of hope sparked amongst us. “Stay Positive, Test Negative” was our philosophy, our mantra, and our Telegram Group name. If I could just stay positive, maybe everything would turn out well.

TOPS Day 0

My PCR test did not turn out well. As I had not yet recovered for 11 days, the “recovered travellers” concession did not apply to me either. It was now official. I would miss TOPS 21/22 in Ipoh.

With a heavy heart, I confessed my predicament to my peers in NTU-USP. A few others from the stay-positive-test-negative gang were in the same boat. We wished our peers safe travels and wondered how best we could support our peers’ research from Singapore.

In my TOPS Pre-Trip Projection, I had promised myself I would be open-minded towards the unexpected events faced in this trip and grow as a person from it. I took solace from the fact that, overseas fieldtrip or not, I had attained my TOPS objectives regardless.

TOPS Day 1

Watching my NTU-USP peers’ Ipoh escapades on social media was bittersweet. On one hand, everyone had made it to Ipoh safely and were enjoying their trip and research, which we never took for granted, especially for pandemic-era travel. On the other hand, the thought of what could have been nagged louder at the back of my mind. Oh, if I could just not have taken that PCR…

Stay Positive, Test Negative.

Wait a minute. I can just take an ART test instead, right? Today was my 11^th day of recovery, so I qualify for the concession. No, that wouldn’t work. All Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights were probably fully booked and far too pricey.

Wait – how about a non-VTL flight? It should be cheaper and have vacancies, and as a recovered traveller, I am exempted from mandatory quarantine even if the flight is a non-VTL, right?

There was a lifeline. I rushed to take a supervised ART – negative! I took the plunge and booked a non-VTL for the next day. It felt too good to be true – after all that, somehow, I would still make it.

Sadly, it was another false dawn. The airline sent me a pre-departure checklist which contained an obscure traveller pass needed to enter Malaysia for non-VTL travellers. Reading the online government portal issuing this pass felt like a dagger to the chest – the approval period for the pass was “up to 14 working days”.

I felt dejected. A final nail in the coffin for my TOPS journey; maybe it was just never meant to be.

TOPS Day 2

“Zaheen, your mom told me you’ve been stressing out about some overseas trip. Where was it again?”

“I’m sorry Dad, it’s 2 am and I need to sleep. I don’t think I’m going anyway.”

“Hmm… I found a VTL ticket to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. You sure you don’t want to go?”

“What?!”

I ran to check. It was true – departure time was 7 am, and the ticket price was reasonable.

“Are you crazy? This flight is in 5 hours. I have nothing prepared at all.”

“I don’t need to be crazy; you do. Are you crazy?”

Stay Positive, Test Negative.

I was.

All I could remember about the flight to KL was showing papers, napping, beautiful dawn skies, then napping again. I probably confused the airport doctor by fist-bumping the air when my on-arrival test was negative. The treacherous bus trip from KL to Ipoh probably deserves a blog entry of its own.

I made it to TOPS in Ipoh in one piece. Entering the hotel for the first time felt surreal. My NTU-USP peers helped me settle in immediately, and I began my research proper the next day.

It was not over yet. I still had peers in Singapore eager to follow my path. However, this time, they knew, it was never really about the testing negative. It was always about the staying positive.