Log 5: Part 2 of Interviews

This afternoon, our team went back down to the shelter to conduct the second round of interviews with Sofia and Dany. 2 of our group members also had a more intimate conversation with Kim to better understand her story and situation.

Upon arrival we were warmly greeted with "hello!!!!!"s from the girls at the shelter.

"Eh how are you! Have you had your lunch yet? Please guide me with the interview ah, I will be very open! Just go ahead and ask me any questions you want," said Sofia. The interview began with a very joyous atmosphere which, later on turned into a more intimate and emotional one. She provided us with a deeper understanding of how important it is to have a support group when you're facing many challenges. Through our very resourceful Linda, she and Dany found out about the financial assistance schemes in Singapore and were able to apply and receive aid that helped to alleviate their health problems and daily needs. Through this session, we learnt that Sofia was suffering from Type II Diabetes and as a result, constantly felt pain in her hands. Moreover, she told us about how she had been suffering from insomnia for over 5 years. This helped us gain insight on why she found it difficult to secure a job despite being presented several opportunities from the SSO. Which thereby, allowed us to explore the possible solutions to this problem. After Sofia, we interviewed Dany. Upon first meeting Dany, you would be amazed by how optimistic and chirpy she is. Throughout the interview, she was smiling and always choosing to see the brighter side of her situation. However, as the interview went on, she revealed to us the horrific abuse that she had to face in her life. This is further elaborated in her story,

We were extremely touched and grateful that she was so vulnerable and willing to share with us her pains - it must have taken a lot to be brave enough to share wounds that were so deep and personal. After wiping away our tears, we then followed up a bit more with Kim. Our session with Kim was very fruitful and we were really happy because we got to build stronger ties with her while Linda was very adorably washing the laundry at the back (and standing in the kitchen quietly because we were accidentally blocking her pathway but she was too shy to say hahah!)

After which, we realised that Dany had so thoughtfully bought us all drinks. We were so moved by her kind and generous gesture, even though she was the one who already gave so much of herself to us! At the end of the session, we could sense that the girls had opened their hearts even more to us and that surely melted ours. We are very excited about this friendship - Linda had even texted us after, wanting to arrange a fun day out together. We very much look forward to that.