IT USED to be known for its baby shows, dance competitions and weekend carnivals. But in a bid to be more in tune with the tougher times, the 42-year-old women's wing of the People's Association (PA) is switching its focus from leisure to programmes that help the needy.
Among its recent offerings - helping low-income women start their own businesses, providing free meals and food vouchers to the needy, and helping unemployed women with job searches.
Its latest project - to mentor little girls from low-income families - will be launched by Education Minister Ng Eng Hen tomorrow as part of celebrations for International Women's Day on March 8.
Last year, such programmes for the needy, implemented by the PA's 104 women's executive committees (WECs), helped over 4,000 people. The committees comprise grassroots volunteers.
'We want to focus not just on leisure and bonding, but also on programmes that bring about positive social change,' said MP Amy Khor, who serves as an adviser to the PA women's wing.
Helping young girls break free of the poverty trap is thus an important new focus. The mentoring programme seeks to do just that.
Eleven-year-old Sim Ai Chin, one of 20 children selected so far, is from a family of six who lives on the $1,600 her father brings home as a van driver.
She has already signed up for free tuition thrice a week. On Wednesday, her mentor Catherine Chua, a 60-year-old nurse, dropped in at her Sengkang home for the first time to get to know the family and lend a hand with her homework.
Trips to residential homes, hospitals and even a theme park are being planned. 'We want them to glimpse a wider world - and learn from it,' said Ms Chua.
While some of the WECs did have help-the-needy programmes earlier, the momentum has picked up recently. In December, the Tampines Changkat committee began a programme to help low-income women rent stalls at a neighbourhood weekend flea market and sell second-hand goods collected by the WECs. It has since been expanded to let women sell their own handicraft as well.
Madam Cindy Lee, 34, a divorced mother of two, came on board the programme last month, selling crystal jewellery. Pickings have been meagre so far - she made only around $200 in her first month - but she is not complaining.
'It's better than having no job at all,' said the former office assistant, who has been unemployed since last October.
In a separate programme by the Tampines North committee, low-income women are trained to begin home businesses in areas such as sewing, dress-making, catering or making wedding decorations.
Mother of five Hanita Rahim, 43, took a course over 12 weekends on making traditional Malay wedding decorations. Her tiny business is already thriving: She makes a profit of about $1,000 a month.
But the WECs have not quite forgotten their roots. 'We still hold baby shows,' laughed Ms Joanna Portilla, 37, who heads a 20-member council that coordinates activities of the women's wing islandwide. 'Only now, we get the dads involved by getting them to do the diapers on stage.'
This article was first published in The Straits Times.
