Issue 16: Community Work in the Future
Issue 16: Community Work in the Future
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Pre-Panel Discussion
1. Do the youths feel that there is a need for Community Work in the Tamil community?
• The youths feel that Community Work is necessary in the Tamil community, as they felt that more could be done in certain aspects: Education, Financial Difficulties, Domestic Violence, Gang Involvements and Alcoholism.
• Although there are many youths interested in doing community work, not many of them know how to do it or where to start.
• Youths also claim that it is difficult to find like-minded individuals with the same ideology, similar skill sets and the passion to serve the same target group / beneficiary.
• Also, some youths feel that there are not enough Tamil organisations embarking on community projects for the Tamil community, thus there are very few avenues for them to volunteer at. Individual organisations such as SINDA, Narpani Paeravai might not have the resources to run such projects alone, so the youths felt that they could form hybrids within the community.
• They also feel that schools should be giving more exposure to students with regards to learning more about the different beneficiaries in the community.
2. What are some of the reasons cited by youths for not feeling for or engaging in community work for the Tamil community?
• Most youths, who do not engage in community work, cited time crunch as a major issue in view of their academic workload and co-curricular activities. However, other youths feel that time can be made for volunteering as long as good time management is upheld.
• Community work is not a priority for some of the youths. They do not fully understand the purpose of community work and the type of benefits that can be reaped.
• Although some youths express their desire to uplift the Tamil community, other youths felt that community work should not be restricted to a specific community. All races should be included.
• Some youths feel that community work should be performed based on needs in a vulnerable group e. g. elderly, people with special needs instead of being carried out within races. However, other youths feel that the vulnerable groups within our society can relate better to someone of their own race, making it easier for them to accept help.
3. What are the youth’ s opinions on emotive-based volunteering and skills-based volunteering?
• Skills-based volunteering can bring a lot of benefits for the beneficiary; however, a thorough needs analysis is first required, so that there is a proper match between volunteers and beneficiaries. For instance, the‘ Know the Law Now’ book engaged youths well-versed with translation from English to Tamil to translate the book, to bring Singapore’ s common law in a simplified fashion to those who do not read or understand English.
• Skills-based volunteering can become a challenge when the fields become too specialised. For instance, in SINDA Step Tuition, good teaching skills regardless of whether the tutor is MOE certified will allow the tutor to teach and benefit the students. However, if we would like to improve the health of diabetic / cancer patients, it may become too difficult to find volunteers with the relevant skills.
• Emotive-based volunteering is also very important as there is an esteem issue within the Tamil community, where they tend to refuse help from others. Thus, it is crucial that volunteers know how to approach these beneficiaries and render the service they require.