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)