An eye-opener

The realisation that this community of people is hardly spoken about and is ostracised by mainstream society brought about great discomfort within me. Yes, the community I was newly exposed to did not conform to the expectations of mainstream society. But never did I imagine that there would be such a stark contrast between the bulk of the population and the lower income families.

In the course of my work, I understood that we are not the experts of our service users’ worlds. We have no right to tell them what they should do and what they should not. We may be there working with them, but we do not know what it feels like to be in their shoes. But we do have the knowledge of being able to guide them to their dreams or goals.

Coupled with the knowledge from my understanding of CLCP and the SALT process, community work became clearer to me. To be able to appreciate a community as it is, is a very humbling experience. Doing so allows me to better understand people as to who they are and why they do what they do, without stigmatising or labelling individuals and communities. Most importantly, the personal growth I have felt by working with and understanding communities is something I feel I may otherwise not have gained.