INDIA - Freelance artist Suresh Vanaz was so affected by Indian national Sakthivel Kumaravelu's death in the Little India accident that he visited the victim's village in India to help his family.
There, he pledged to Mr Sakthivel's mother: "I am your son now."
The death of Mr Sakthivel, who was killed in a bus accident on Dec 8, sparked the Little India riot.
Mr Suresh visited Mr Sakthivel's family at their village, Chattiram, 200km from Chennai earlier this month.
He had read about the foreign worker's family and was moved by their plight. The 35-year-old returned to Singapore last Thursday, after the 10-day trip to India, where he also visited his relatives.
Last year, Mr Suresh started a donation drive on his Facebook page and managed to raise about $8,000, including about $2,000 of his own money.
With the help of his uncle in India, Mr Suresh managed to locate Mr Sakthivel's family. Mr Suresh had been to India a few times since 2007, but he was shocked by the abject poverty of the Chattiram villagers.
The single-storey concrete house with two rooms and one bathroom, where Mr Sakthivel's younger brother lives with their mother, was uncompleted and bare.
Mr Jolovan Wham, the executive director of Home which supports migrant workers in Singapore, had also visited Mr Sakthivel's village in January with civil group Workfair Singapore.
He said of Mr Suresh's efforts: "Singaporeans may be politically apathetic but they are sympathetic to families in grief and very compassionate when it comes to responding to tragedy.""
What the man did is quite remarkable. He has committed to 3 years to fund the dead's mother and family.
Lessons for me are:
1. ABJECT poverty is a REALITY in many parts of the world. I am NOT SURE giving money to the abjectly poor will help them over the longer term or not depending on the root causes of the ABJECT poverty. Of course, saving lives in the short term by feeding them is something good to do!;
2. when bad things happened to some strangers, decent minded people won't celebrate that. Whoever does, must be pretty sick up in the head. Having said that, is overly enthusiastic reactions to 'help' that hard-luck stranger or his or her surviving family members a kind of sickness too? Alright, 'sickness' may be too strong a term. But how about 'over-reaction'? In this case, it is a not too short commitment of 3 years. What would that 'funding' or 'I-am-now-your-son's allowance' do for the aggrieved mother and her remaining family members? It is indeed mind-boggling and very commendable of the free lance artist to have committed that much;
3. similar outpouring of generosity, especially with donation of money, to 'hard-luck' stories in the past in Singapore. e.g. Huang Na, the little girl that was raped and killed, the 'fr free lance' working girl that drown at the multi-million Sentosa Cove bungalow, etc. Many of these stories and the protagonists also drew controversial comments and divided opinion about what do these mean? how effective are them - short and long term? etc.
For me, it is about personal imperative. IF you want to help a total stranger or his or her family members, go ahead. Better still if you don't care about the consequences of your 'money giving'. Just to feel good is GOOD ENOUGH. Fine. No issue at all!!
However, if you want to see specific desired consequences, simply giving money will be less effective for sure. What are the root causes? what can we do about these root causes? how do we achieve the stated SMART objectives? will just be some of the questions you MUST ask and ADDRESS.
There, he pledged to Mr Sakthivel's mother: "I am your son now."
The death of Mr Sakthivel, who was killed in a bus accident on Dec 8, sparked the Little India riot.
Mr Suresh visited Mr Sakthivel's family at their village, Chattiram, 200km from Chennai earlier this month.
He had read about the foreign worker's family and was moved by their plight. The 35-year-old returned to Singapore last Thursday, after the 10-day trip to India, where he also visited his relatives.
Last year, Mr Suresh started a donation drive on his Facebook page and managed to raise about $8,000, including about $2,000 of his own money.
With the help of his uncle in India, Mr Suresh managed to locate Mr Sakthivel's family. Mr Suresh had been to India a few times since 2007, but he was shocked by the abject poverty of the Chattiram villagers.
The single-storey concrete house with two rooms and one bathroom, where Mr Sakthivel's younger brother lives with their mother, was uncompleted and bare.
Mr Jolovan Wham, the executive director of Home which supports migrant workers in Singapore, had also visited Mr Sakthivel's village in January with civil group Workfair Singapore.
He said of Mr Suresh's efforts: "Singaporeans may be politically apathetic but they are sympathetic to families in grief and very compassionate when it comes to responding to tragedy.""
What the man did is quite remarkable. He has committed to 3 years to fund the dead's mother and family.
Lessons for me are:
1. ABJECT poverty is a REALITY in many parts of the world. I am NOT SURE giving money to the abjectly poor will help them over the longer term or not depending on the root causes of the ABJECT poverty. Of course, saving lives in the short term by feeding them is something good to do!;
2. when bad things happened to some strangers, decent minded people won't celebrate that. Whoever does, must be pretty sick up in the head. Having said that, is overly enthusiastic reactions to 'help' that hard-luck stranger or his or her surviving family members a kind of sickness too? Alright, 'sickness' may be too strong a term. But how about 'over-reaction'? In this case, it is a not too short commitment of 3 years. What would that 'funding' or 'I-am-now-your-son's allowance' do for the aggrieved mother and her remaining family members? It is indeed mind-boggling and very commendable of the free lance artist to have committed that much;
3. similar outpouring of generosity, especially with donation of money, to 'hard-luck' stories in the past in Singapore. e.g. Huang Na, the little girl that was raped and killed, the 'fr free lance' working girl that drown at the multi-million Sentosa Cove bungalow, etc. Many of these stories and the protagonists also drew controversial comments and divided opinion about what do these mean? how effective are them - short and long term? etc.
For me, it is about personal imperative. IF you want to help a total stranger or his or her family members, go ahead. Better still if you don't care about the consequences of your 'money giving'. Just to feel good is GOOD ENOUGH. Fine. No issue at all!!
However, if you want to see specific desired consequences, simply giving money will be less effective for sure. What are the root causes? what can we do about these root causes? how do we achieve the stated SMART objectives? will just be some of the questions you MUST ask and ADDRESS.
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