Good morning, everyone

Aim: To announce that the Lighthouse recently secured 5 copies of “This Is What Inequality Looks Like”. Written by Teo You Yenn, it depicts the lives of low-income Singaporeans.

Why You Should Read It: A chapter titled Everyday Lives uses photos to describe vividly the living conditions of Singaporeans living in rental neighbourhoods. A stench that lingers in the air, cramped corridors, graffiti, negative messaging in the form of loanshark-related posters pasted on the lifts. Many NorthLight students face these conditions, day in day out.

How I Responded To It: Curious, I got one student who’s living in Jalan Kukoh - one of Singapore’s poorest neighbourhoods - to draw a map of his neighbourhood. During his spare time, he indulges in two of his favourite leisure activities - fishing and soccer - both of which are marked with an asterisk. (Pls see attached pict - I got his permission to share.)

Yesterday, I asked him what he likes most about Jalan Kukoh. His exact words: “The place the people got many lah” This may read obscure but I knew he meant “I have many friends there” as I have often observed him salam-ing his neighbours. He also belongs to a neighbourhood team called the Pekik Warriors; they competed in the Yiolympians Kids Soccer Fiesta organised by Yio Chu Kang Community Sports Club last weekend. Jalan Kukoh is obviously a close-knit and tight community.

Fun Aside: I happily pointed out to him that he spelt “place” correctly. This January, he couldn’t even pronounce it. (And yes, I remember this because I was reeling in shock that he couldn’t pronounce this High Frequency Word.) I hope he will eventually believe in the Growth Mindset.  

Call To Action: I’ll let everyone know when these 5 copies are available for borrowing! In the meantime, if you want to find out more about the book, let me know and I’ll be Glad to send you actual readers’ reviews.