Callie Yak

From reference from SGagainstpoverty, according to the Department of Statistics, 105,000 families in Singapore are earning on average $1,500 per month. Meaning that life is a daily struggle for about 387,000 Singapore citizens and permanent residents. After paying necessary utilities, schooling, housing rental, loan instalments and medicals, they are left with about $5 a day for transportation and food for each family member. How do they do it?  Hence, I decided to take on the challenge of surviving on SGD5 for my food and transport for a day. SGD5 for the Challenge As I come from a family of middle income, I challenge myself to follow my normal purchasing routine and lifestyle using only $5.  I feel that in this way, I can fully understand the less fortunate families in Singapore better. In Singapore, I feel that poverty is a rising problem amongst Singaporeans, it may be because of the rising cost of living in Singapore. Doing this challenge, I feel that this way we...

In Singapore, you may think that when you grow up everyone will eventually settle down with a 9 to 5 job typing their life away with reports on the computer. But did you know there are actually people with unconventional jobs? Their jobs are unusual and not like what you'd expect. What is unusual?  Well to me unusual jobs are jobs that not many people find mainstream. I'd call a doctor, lawyer, surgeon, dentist, accountant and lawyer mainstream as they are jobs that many people aspire to be. However, jobs like being a mermaid are unusual to me because you don't hear people going around saying that when they grow up they'd wanna be a mermaid! Kumarason Chinnadurai I've did my research and I've found a person in Singapore that I'd like to write about. This person holds an unconventional job of a drag queen ! Many of you may have heard of him or maybe even saw one of his stand-up comedies, he's none other than Kumarason Chinnadurai or also know a...

During Week 13, Singapore Polytechnic held the Home-Based Learning week. For my Active and Effective Citizenry module, I was tasked with self-learning on what is Money Management.  What I Know About Money Management Money management is about saving money and only spending it on things that are necessary Planning out the structure on how your money will be spent  Keeping records of your money flow What I want to Know About Money Management What does money managing really mean? Are they ways of managing money easily? Does money managing mean that we spend wisely? After going through the lessons, What I've Learned About Money Management Money management is about putting some money aside so that there are no debts It is about prioritising debts and own expenses Controlling the flow of money and where it goes to Summary My favourite reading video from the lesson from Institute for Financial Literacy, is the Envelope Budgeting System. I like th...

Change. Change is trying on different things. Change is when something is done the unusual manner. Change can be both positive or negative. In this context, it is to change/remove a bad habit. To initiate change there are different stages, precontemplation, contemplation, determination, action, maintenance and termination. Is change something expected from a citizen? Is it the job of the citizen to change themselves for the better to improve the country? How can such little action change a nation? Stages of Change Model  (By Prochaska & DiClemente, Johnny Holland, 2011) With reference from the Six Stage Change Cycle , Precontemplation is when one does not have the thought of removing their bad habit. They do not see their habit as negative or affecting them in anyway. They see advices that the people around them give as over exaggeration and tend to overlook them. Dr. DiClemente had referred the reasons to be in precontemplation with four "R"'s - relu...

Singapore has many historical and social memories that Singaporeans may not be even aware of. The National Heritage Board ( https://www.nhb.gov.sg/ ) plans to preserve and celebrate the shared heritage of Singapore's diverse communities by managing  national museums, heritage institutions, and setting policies relating to heritage sites, national monument and national collections. The National Heritage Board tries to connect the past, present and future generation Singaporeans through curating heritage programmes and presenting exhibitions.  Interested, I've decided to go on one of National Heritage Board's heritage walking trail to find out the deep heritage of Singapore.  The Sketch of the Royal Palace Together with a friend of mine, we set out to Fort Canning Park , once known as Bukit Larangan or "Forbidden Hill". I chose Fort Canning Park as it is rich in Singapore history and is deeply involved with how Singapore was formed back in the 1900s. ...