Lesson 1  : A picture paints a thousand words

1) Group reflection : to reflect about poverty in Singapore.

Despite being one of the richest country in the world, Singapore still faces the issue of poverty. Nearly 400,000 people are living in poverty in Singapore. Results from a recent survey showed that they have only $5 a day after paying for installments, utilities, school, rent, loan and healthcare. An interviewer, a single mother of 6 children, said that it is still a struggle for her to raise the children even after the government has aided them financially. She has to work at least 4-5 jobs a day to support the family. She states that even though the government have shown that they have been trying to help these families, however, most of Singapore's spending will go to funding for the elder generation, as known as the "pioneer generation", for their hard work and contribution to the nation in the early days.  In Singapore, if you take the Mass-Rapid-Transit (MRT) or visit the hawker centre, there are many elderly selling things like tissue papers. Of course, amongst those who sell these items for a living out in the streets, there are some who are not really in need but trying to gain money through this manner People, ranging from middle-aged to the elderly, are seen selling out in the streets and in hawker centre.  This can prove that sometimes the poverty in Singapore is due to the laziness of people not finding a job or the inability to find a job. Due to the increasing amount of foreigners trying to find a job in Singapore, Singaporeans are now unable to find jobs as the number of job availability are decreasing due to the increasing number of foreign competition. As a result, Singaporeans have to find a lower income job even though they hold a certain degree. When they get a lower income job, they have lesser money to spend on their daily necessities, thus falling into the "poor" category.

(Warning: blur video, do not go full screen)