Poverty in Singapore

This is a picture of a old man sleeping by the lobby of a HDB. He does not have many necessities and fixed lodging.

This is a picture of a woman sleeping on a public bench under a HDB flat at night. This is an indication that poverty is still present in this prosperous country.

Kheng Lon-

I believe there are multiple social centres within the country to help these people? As Singaporeans I also know for a fact that we can get many advantages over foreigners in buying houses. Therefore I only feel that being poor and homeless should only be legitimately applicable to foreigners. This country does seem to help it's people who have pledged loyalty much more than the strangers of the land.

Jing yan-

What about the jobless or bankrupt businessmen? There is intense competition in the job market,where good jobs are fought by a vast amount of applicants who have obtained high credentials over the years of education in famous universities. Many people despite with above average achievements still do not get a job. This contributes to "poverty" in Singapore,but these people also go overseas in search of new opportunities. So the people who are really poor are the ones who are unable to leave Singapore to discover their future.

Claudia-

I would beg to differ on Jing yans point of view. One detail that really caught my attention was that the person in the picture is an old lady. I have not seen any form of true poverty in Singapore but I have never seen any source showing that youths or what Jing yan mentioned as people who are waiting in  the employment line actually succumbing to the pressure if society. Most of the people displayed in pictures describing poverty are old and probably unemployed persons. 

Hong yang-

I would like to add on to Claudia's point,the contributing factor to poverty is also the lack of education. The government has provided funds to help the needy and make sure they recieve education until the age of 15. However in the past,there were no such help from the newly formed democratic government and therefore some people are unable to receive education. The people are either doing low skilled and paying jobs or jobless. This can only be possible in the past,thus the old are a big part of poverty.

Emily-

I would want to make a comparison with one of the richest countries of the world America. America despite being the largest economy in the world has a higher population percentage of poor people, but why? Why are still so many people spending their nights on the streets of the bustling city and people still begging for money? I think that this is because of the lack of help from the government and the social help available,shelters are still plentiful but far away. The economy is so prosperous,they should solve the poverty problems as soon as possible.

Rainbow Duckies group shot and holiday reflections

LEFT TO RIGHT:

HONG YANG 
The december holidays were a blast. I went to china for about a week or so. I visited the famous mountain "huang shan" and stayed there for 3 days and 2 nights. The mountains had a wonderful scenery and fresh air to breathe. Three days trekking up many different mountains and admiring seemingly endless valleys. The air was really cool and comfortable but soon it became freezing. I enjoyed my holidays the end.

KHENG LON
  During the holidays, I went to Xiamen in china, mainly to visit my father's realtives in Kinmen. As it was December, the place was as cold as 5 degrees celcius. However, I still enjoyed myself thoroughly as I went to some of the places of attraction such as Gu Lang Yu. During the last few days, we went to take a long ferry ride to small kinmen to visit my relatives. The people there led simple lives and were very happy to see us. I really enjoyed my trip in China.

CLAUDIA 
  Over the course of the december holidays, i've had alot of fun yet at the same time i learnt to manage my time well. I was able to go out pretty often but also complete all my work. I went out with many of my friends and bonded more, growing closer to each other. We also had a couple of class trips that helped us grow closer as a class. 

GLADYS
 During the holidays, I did not go overseas. I had many trainings during the holidays to prepare us for our nationals this year. We aim to get the championships this year and we trained very hard.other than training, I went out with friends to watch movies and do homework. I also went to several class outtings and I really enjoyed it!

EMILY 
During the holidays I did not go overseas. I had alot of trainings to prepare for the competition this year and I could not miss any trainings. I did went out with friends however and although trainings are tiring, it is worth it and i hope that we could be champions this year. 

JINGYAN
I went to Tokyo during the holidays. As my relatives were there, i did not have to worry about lodging. They were great hosts and were like our tour guides, bringing us to places and eating good food. As they could converse in Japanese, we had no problem with communication. We went to the Tokyo Sky tree, various temples and Tokyo Disneyland. There was also a theme park which was built on water and required several trips of the metro subway to get there. It was a long ride but worth our while as there were not many people there and the queues were short. The rides were even more exciting than those of Disneyland. I enjoyed my time there very much.