While most primary schoolers might toy with playing house, Nurin Emelda Putri Abdullah (far left) tends to four very real dolls – her four younger siblings.
The eldest of five shoulders several big responsibilities to help her housewife mother and her GrabFood driver father, Mr. Rohyzad, the family’s sole breadwinner.
During Circuit Breaker, while her mother also recovered from her pregnancy, big sister Nurin stepped in as a primary caregiver, giving the young ones showers, ensuring they ate their meals, and keeping them entertained. With both parents occupied, her father struggling to make ends meet, and a newborn in the home, there was little time or attention for extras – or Nurin to get some of the help she needed.
This included the help she received with reading and writing through SHINE’s Actualizing Learning Potential Promoting Social skills Programme (ALPS) Elementary programme, which she had been enrolled in since mid-2018 when her parents realized she was struggling.
Before the Circuit Breaker, Nurin would faithfully make her way to our SHINE centre at Hougang, sometimes on her own when her parents were too busy to take her. However, the Circuit Breaker ended physical classes, where she had been making steady progress. Unfortunately, the family didn’t own a laptop or device for Nurin to do Home-Based Learning with her school, let alone ALPS.
Thanks to YOU, Nurin got help – through a programme made possible by SHINE’s donors, we could loan the family a tablet with a data subscription for both HBL and continue with her ALPS sessions online. She received weekly scaffolded assignments and had weekly calls with our Learning Specialist Ms. Lim Suyin. Meanwhile, the family received grocery vouchers to help with day-to-day costs.
Said Mr Rohyzad: “We can have proper meals, and Nurin has been able to keep learning despite the Circuit Breaker. I am grateful for the kind souls that were are able to help. Thank you for going the extra mile to help.”
Your help makes a difference. To find out how you can support our work to empower children, youths, and their families, donate to our projects at www.giving.sg/shine
Like our Stories?