Her Heavy Shoulders

On Friday whilst selecting children books for display at my storytelling session in the library, I chanced upon my student counselee. He was very excited for me to meet his grandmother. So I invited grandma and her 3 grandchildren to attend my storytelling session. After the session we chatted at length. I think the lady should be about my age though she looks rather haggard. A roundish woman she walks with a heavy drag on her feet. Her faint smile which reveals some missing front teeth emotes a mixed sense of weary resolve. I have spoken with her on the phone a couple of times before to find out the conditions of my counselee. She would pour her heart out giving me the impression that she needed someone to talk with. That day in the library she again lamented about her estranged relationship with her daughter, the mother of my counselee. MCYS has taken the children out of their mother's care after discovering they have been abused by their step-father; and grandma was appointed the guardian. Grandma works part time at MacDonald and strives to give the children the best care and guidance possible having in her own words failed in bringing up her daughter properly. Grandma is most concern with the poor academic performance of my counselee. Indeed the boy's form teacher has also shared with me that he is completely not motivated in his studies. I can feel grandma's helplessness and mine as well in not being able to do much, as in getting the child to be more interested in his studies (although his presenting issue for counselling was more about his emotional state than his academic performance). As I watched grandma rounding up the 3 boys amongst the book shelves to leave for home I can feel the weight on her shoulders carrying the responsibilities of bringing up yet another set of young children.

Reading Saturday Straits Time's special report on various categories of people who fall through the cracks of the social safety net in Singapore, I find the circumstances of the families described similar to that which many of the students in my school are in. Sometimes when discussing with the teachers about the struggles that a particular child is facing, the teachers will inevitably tell me there are other students in their class with even more adverse home environment.

Unless more resources are channelled to help these groups of people I think it is an upward struggle for the children to break away from the trap of poverty and adverse family conditions.