Sudden health scare prompted tuition centre founder to help needy kids
Ms Cleophina Chan is the recipient of the Star Customer Award — which recognises members of the public who have made significant contributions to Singapore — at the Public Sector Transformation Awards Reception at the Resorts World Convention Sentosa on Wednesday, July 4, 2018.
SINGAPORE — Five years ago, Ms Cleophina Chan was a busy career woman who spent her waking hours juggling her work as the founder of a tuition centre with her family of six.
But a life-threatening illness proved to be a wake-up call for the 46-year-old, as what she initially thought was a bout of dengue fever turned out to be a bacterial infection. Complications from the condition saw her contracting rheumatic fever, which caused long-term damage to her heart.
As a result, she could no longer do strenuous exercises, and could need a heart valve transplant in the future.
That proved to be a life changing moment for the mother-of-four, as she realised she wanted to do more with her life.
Urged on by her husband to tap into her passion for teaching, she started offering free tuition classes to underprivileged children at Kebun Bahru
The BlackBox Learning Centre founder also set up a peer mentorship programme for needy youths, and roped in volunteer mentors to help out. The project now has 20 beneficiaries from the neighbourhood’s rental flats, and it plans to reach out to another 20.
Ms Chan’s work saw her winning the Star Customer Award — which recognises members of the public who have made significant contributions to Singapore — at the Public Sector Transformation Awards Reception at the Resorts World Convention Sentosa on Wednesday (July 4). She was among 400 winners honoured at the event.
WAKE-UP CALL
Like many Singaporeans, Ms Chan said her pre-illness life was focused on her business and family.
While not a materialistic person, she said it was “easy to fall into the trap” of pursuing material wants such as cars and property.
In April 2013, she came down with a sore throat, fever, and rash. After brushing it off as dengue, she collapsed suddenly three weeks later as she was leaving home for work in the afternoon.
Medical tests revealed that her heart was beating irregularly 33 per cent of the time. The condition puzzled doctors initially, and when they diagnosed her with acute group A streptococcal infection, it had already caused complications.
The damage to her heart valves left her with heart palpitations and breathlessness.
Seized with a greater urgency to do more with her life, she started by fostering dogs. In 2016, she embarked on her project to help underprivileged children.
However, “not everything was hunky dory” for Ms Chan at the start, as she found her enthusiasm dampened by the youths — some did not turn up for classes, and others showed reluctance or disinterest when they did. “Some even looked angry, like I was forcing them to be there,” she said.
But she persevered, as she knew free tuition was not the only way to help the children. Character building, support, and providing them with “peer role models” was also important, and they could “show there are people who care”, she said.
After putting word out on her peer-mentorship programme, she received overwhelming response, including current and former students from her tuition centre. Her own children, who are now aged between seven and 15, are also involved.
To give them a space of their own, the mentorship sessions are held at a cosy study room at the Kebun Baru Community Club that is decorated with hoodies of the local universities, and a large map of the world to inspire the children.
Last November, they organised a two-day youth camp for some 70 children from low-income families with the help of youth volunteers from BlackBox.
Volunteers pitched in to help, as a vendor taught wushu, while a public relations firm helped conduct lessons on entrepreneurship. The Meridian Junior College football (MJC) team was roped in to teach football, while a School of the Arts student and National Junior College students held dancing lessons.
Recalling how some mentors had difficulty getting the youths to pay attention, Ms Chan said the upper primary boys were transformed when they were put to work doing football drills.
“You should have seen their faces, they had that passion and fervour when playing football… It shows you cannot just write children off because they are not good at the one thing adults think they should be good at,” she said.
TRUE MEASURE OF SUCCESS
Looking back on her health scare, Ms Chan said she is blessed that she is still able to live a normal life.
This, despite having to deal with the fear of cardiac arrest, and heart palpitations which can strike anytime.
“I have to tell myself not to keep feeling for the skipped beats of my heart…Just keep busy and not think about it,” she said.
Through her project, she has seen the impact of her team’s work on the youths, and she is happy to have inspired a sense of volunteerism among her youth mentors.
She often wishes that she had done this earlier, as she added: “We need to do more, and there’s so much more we can do. But I’m often afraid I would step on someone’s toes because I try to push things through.”
She is looking for corporate sponsors so that they can offer more activities, including robotics and coding workshops, e-scooter safety awareness and obstacle riding courses, as well as drama and cooking workshops.
The fulfilment Ms Chan feels is exemplified by a 17-year-old — who only started primary school when he was 12 — who attended the tuition classes right before his N-level examinations.
After passing his exams, he had sent her a touching WhatsApp message telling her how grateful he was, and that he would succeed in life and give back to society.
She added: “That was the (true) measure of success. This is why we go through all the pain. It’s something money cannot buy.”
