This is a picture of an aunty in Singapore, who is collecting trash from the dustbin to sell in a push cart. Back hunched all day long, just to collect the cardboard to sell for a meagre sum of money used for food. Seeing the hardships this aunty has to go through, we can help her by collecting metal cans and cardboards that we deem as rubbish. Collecting cardboards is not an easy job as one has to go through lots of rubbish bins to get them. It also requires them to travel quite a bit to be able to get enough money for the day. Hence, i think we should step up to help those who can’t catch up with the fast pace of society.
Mr Ang and his five children live in a simple home with no electronic household items. The sole breadwinner, Mr Ang, works as a driver to earn $800 a month. It is not easy to feed his big family. Hence, I feel that the government can help the poor in this area. For example, they can send people with low income and big families to courses to upgrade themselves so that they can find better jobs to provide for their family. Doing so will better the lives of the poor.
When we speak about Singapore being a first-world country, think again. It may not be so for Mr Ang and the aunty. After some ponder, Singapore does have poor people, and poverty is a common sight.
When we stand in the central business district, we may not realise that such things do happen. However, there are people who are having a difficult life in Singapore. Through the smiles of many people, we may not see their poor background, just like the family of eight here.
Their income solely relies on the father, and in my opinion, raising 6 children and taking care of their needs is no mean feat. I understand the difficulty all of them are going through, and I’m sure you will too. This might affect the children and cause them to be unable to buy essential studying materials for school, which may deprive them of the opportunity to learn!
I guess Singapore has thought about it all for our future generation. The ministry of the education has provided Financial Assistance Scheme in the school to help students from the low income family. In this way, all students will have an equal opportunity to learn, which is the best way to get out of poverty. They will be able to find a job that can support the family and they will not be poor anymore.
All five of us are in average families and we are blessed to be able to study in a comfortable environment. I feel that we should feel fortunate for what we have now. In this school, we have our books and even iPad to aid us in our learning. These things definitely do not come by easily. The ministry has even provided subsidies for students of low income families to continue their learning. This shows the presence of poverty in Singapore for these programmes to come in to our lives. We should therefore cherish what we have now and study well so as not to disappoint our parents, school and teachers for they have been the ones nurturing and guiding us throughout the years.
2 comments:
I knew there was poverty in Singapore but I didn't know that it was this serious. I think we must do our part by donating money for them, so that they can have better standard of living. We must really be grateful for what we have and value them. We mustn't complain about the preveilages we have because there are people cannot have it even though they want. -Yujung
Personally, i feel that we should appreciate and cherish whatever things we have before we lose them. We should feel fortunate to be born in a proper house with parents that have steady income.
-Yu Zhen
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