Heartlanders and Heartbreakers

I spent the weekend freelancing for a WDA roadshow in Toa Payoh, with the aim of encouraging older/less educated Singaporeans to upgrade their skills to advance their career. I didn't know what I was getting myself into - and it was really tiring - but I came out of those 2 days with a sombre new perspective of what many Singaporeans are going through.

On the first day, after spending the first few hours doing mindless 'clicking' (a rather primitive way to keep track of the number of people visiting the roadshow), I was asked to distribute flyers promoting the event. As if that was not enough, I had to wear - yes, wear - a billboard while doing so. Something I never, ever, thought I would do in my life. Jin summed it up nicely: 'who would have thought that Simon Huang, [insert various "achievements"], would be doing this?'

The only way I got through it without dying of humiliation was the knowledge that I was superior to these people (if you're expecting me to be all PC fuggedaboutit) in intellect, looks, dressing, and in just about every way imaginable. I'm not saying that I deserve to be on this planet more than they do, but let's call a spade a spade yeah?

In any case, what I witnessed was heartbreaking. When told what the event was about, many people simply remarked that they were too old to find work, or that even with upgraded skills, they were unable to find employment. It got worse the next day, when I was asked to do surveying instead (to get feedback from members of the public who had participated in the roadshow).

It was a terribly long 4-page survey, and when I asked for feedback on what could be improved, one of the most common responses was that there should be more employers present (there were several but I suspect many were just there in name, to attract a larger audience but not to really provide jobs to these people). MANY people were looking for jobs and the paucity of options at the roadshow (which was also being promoted as a venue with employers looking to hire) was disappointing to them.

Most of the 35 people I spoke to on the second day had no more than secondary or lower secondary education, and when asked about what their current occupation was, a couple even laughed sheepishly, as if embarrassed of what they were doing. I felt like telling them there was really nothing wrong with being a childcare teacher or a factory worker. One should never have to be ashamed of making an honest living.

And the terrible thing is that, many WERE already working and trying to upgrade their skills, but the system is still not working for them. One older woman was telling me that she was unable to sign up for the subsidized training (one needs to pay $65 instead of the alleged normal price of $650) because she had already been working in the industry for more than a year. Why should that be an impediment? When she told me that she had been a member of the union for 10 years and asked what the point of being a member was when she was unable to avail herself of these type of benefits, all I could do was wish her the best and say 'I hope you'll find a way to take the course', knowing full well that she would probably be unable to.

So the roadshow that was supposed to help these people sieved out many to begin with. While I think its better to have such events than none at all, they could really have had their audience in mind when planning - all the flyers were in English, as were all the signs on the various booths, and the DJ was blasting top 40 hits from Umbrella to Touch My Body. It all seemed well-intentioned but ill-conceived.

One aspect of the survey required them to state whether they agreed (from a scale of 1 to 5) with a series of statements, with the purpose of determining their attitudes to retraining and the like. Many were of the 'When I upgrade my skills, I am able to stay employable/find a job/adapt to changes at work' variety, and most people I spoke to either agreed or strongly agreed with the statements - I sincerely hope that they are not disappointed.

Of course there were lighter moments. For example, a women who used the survey to complain about the government, her rant ranging from the sort of 'dangerous' jobs they were offering Singaporeans to the fact that all the good jobs were being given to foreigners. When I asked what attracted her to the roadshow, her response was along the lines of 'I want to see how low the government wants Singaporeans to go'. And the icing on the cake? 'Eh you don't need my name right?' Classic Singaporean - complains only under the cover of anonymity.

What else what else? The lady who had to tell me repeatedly how she was taking a degree in tourism from TMIS, the old man who would say the most random things when I asked him the set list of survey questions, and milled around the event for several hours, later coming back to me to give an example of how something should have been done (as if I was the Minister-in-charge).

It was an unexpected and revealing weekend. And damn I'm tired of writing - so screwed when school starts, which is very soon =S