I studied under the candlelight and spent many nights taking care of my sick mum

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

6 years ago on this date, I remembered having to vacate the HDB flat I lived in at Sengkang with my mum. I was 18, still schooling and was given a monthly allowance by MOE; she was ill and unemployed for the longest time. The the both of us had no place to go. We eventually agreed to mutually separate; we had to find different respective friends who could give us shelter separately, whether it was for a day, a week, a month, a year, whichever would suffice.

She found a friend she could live with for a few months so I was relieved. On my end, I had friends here and there who offered shelter, offered sleepovers, and on some unlucky days when they couldn't, I would spend most nights staying up at beaches or void decks with my bags of unwashed and unused clothes and cheapskate art materials plus my crumpled assignments, looking for a plan, in hope of another saviour to take me home. I seeked help from MPs, from different Family Service Centres, different Homeless Shelters, however they could only help so much.

Prior to the days when I had nowhere to go, I couldn't do my assignments, I had no money to get materials, didn't even eat or sleep properly, as such I ended up skipping school very often. I even skipped exams. I was already bonded with MOE's 9-year teaching contract at that point, however my absenteeism and grades were horrendous. I couldn't graduate after my 3rd year of study at NAFA. So I had to retake a hell lot of modules. My allowance from MOE was being rescinded. I had to pay for the modules I had to retake, and having no allowance forced me to work 2 jobs while schooling.

See more at I studied under the candlelight and spent many nights taking care of my sick mum


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.