Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Helping Hand - Uniquely Singapore Experience



“Welcome! Please take a seat”, said a man in a very humble voice dressed up very simply in a white Helping Hand T-Shirt and a pair of blue jeans as we entered the main convention hall of the organization. “You are late” , he continued as he briefed us the portion of the talk we missed. We were given a magazine of the foundation and a handout of the talk by a boy sitting outside the hall who was in his teenage and probably a former drug-addict as was any other volunteer working in that organization . The man, Mr. Robert, was somewhere in his middle age and as he mentioned, had spent a better part of his life, an astonishing period of 24 years of his life, in prison!

The organization building was originally a school which was donated for this cause. The talk being given to us was on different types of drugs available and its various affects on human body and brain. It was indeed very informative and shocking at the same time how these drugs worked and why are they so addicting to people. He told us about the deadliest of the drugs the heroin, cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy, rohypnol, upjohn, ice, inhalants et cetera et cetera. It was indeed very saddening to know that these drugs are freely available in the night party circuit.

People who are not able to get these drugs in Singapore due to legal restrictions easily get these in the neighboring countries like Malaysia and Hong Kong, where the laws are much more relaxed. As Mr. Robert told us the scene in the hallowed lanes where it is very common to find drugs, we were terrified. As mentioned, even the police feared going to those lanes. They feared getting deadly diseases which might spread to them if they go close to the drug abusers.


The people there are all drowned in various moods of euphoria experiencing a high, taking more and more injections unknowingly ruining their own lives. It is a terrifying scene. But then many of these people are not blessed with a loving and caring family like most others. Like Mr. Robert himself told us the prime reason for people taking up drugs is to cope up with their stress . Such people are also prone to committing crimes to fulfill their needs which are always increasing.

Robert himself told us he was a gangster before joining the Helping Hand foundation and tried drugs just for the kick it gave him of getting a new high. The same old cigarette didn’t seem to work anymore. He needed something more strong,powerful,something that could make him feel good about himself. In short, he needed drugs and it all started with a cigarette.

I think psychedelics play a major part in what we do, but having said that, I feel that if somebody's going to experiment with those things they really need to educate themselves about them. People just taking the chemicals and diving in without having any kind of preparation about what they're about to experience tend to have no frame of reference, so they're missing everything flying by and all these new perspectives. It's just a waste. They reach a little bit of spiritual enlightenment, but they end up going, 'Well, now I need that drug to get back there again.' The trick is to use the drugs once to get there, and maybe spend the next ten years trying to get back there without the drug.

The Helping Hand has been working for about 21 years now. It has been in inception since 1987.


It is primarily a self-help organization where the drug abusers help each other get rid of this habit. They organization the sports themselves, various social activities, celebrate various festivals and do trips for fun. They also help the organization raise funds by doing various chores like making furniture, picture frames and house removal/relocation and moving services. As Robert showed us around the place, we were literally awed by the amazing work that the people there have been doing. This was what is called living with a pride. Though we were not allowed to meet any of the persons/ex-criminals going through rehabilitation, we could well sense the pride in their eyes as we saw them work. People seemed far happier. Residents are taught to earn an honest living with the use of their hands. Their hands once used to harm themselves and others, are now offered as useful instruments of work in various services.

Residents are given spiritual knowledge so that they can identify themselves to their inner being and open eyes to God, get morally oriented which I think is quite useful when a person is under deep stress and has to deal with the pressures of the society, their family and others. Helping Hand being a half-way Christian organization teaches Christianity i.e. the bible mainly and practices prayers in churches.

Inhabitants are also encouraged to have some sort of physical activity while they’re staying there in the form of various sports, each day. They even hold various competitions amongst themselves .This keeps them pumped up throughout the day and helps them deal with the rehabilitation in a better way as by the time they seek rehabilitation help, they have already done a lot of damage to their body and immune system.

The other major problem faced by the organization is the reabsorbance of the residents back into the society. During the tough times that they had faced, many of them tend to become anti-social and find it difficult later on after the program to get absorbed back into the society. Some who are lucky enough to change themselves may even find problems getting absorbed into the society because many a times the society due to its narrow mindedness or fear may abandon such people and isolate them. In either case, the person has an increased tendency to go back to drugs once again. To take care of this aspect, residents are encouraged to take up social activities like volunteering, going to social gatherings, making friends, and taking up jobs and other such activities so that they can easily open up to society and vice versa.

After all the discussion, I really found a change in my attitude towards these needy men. They had nothing in common but ill-fate. There is a need to help these people get out of this trap and become law-abiding citizens of Singapore and become fruitful to the nation as well as themselves and their families. More and more talks should be held with the community leaders to seek additional views to improve the situation among the respective community groups. Such sessions will allow leaders to come together and discuss ways to bring down the level of drug-abuse in their communities. Such meetings have given fruitful results so far.

The Malay community, for example, wants to intensify efforts to reach out to high-risk Malay students. They call for the introduction of religious studies in schools and more active role for mosques in the anti-drug efforts. There is a strong support for tougher punitive measures for drug abusers. They also suggest that inmates on the Day Release Scheme should do community work in mosques. On the other hand, the Indian leaders want anti-drug messages to be included in the religious preaching at Hindu temples. The abuse of "Ecstasy" pills is noted to be predominantly a problem for the Chinese. Here, the strategy is to de-glamorize the drug and highlight the foolishness and futility of taking these pills.

The analysis of the suggestions clearly highlights the wishes of the different communities for greater involvement in the fight against drug abuse.

The Helping Hand is unique in the sense that everyone, from Executive Director right down to the Residents, is an ex-addict. As such, they understand the problems that are involved . They constantly strive to address these issues as effectively as they can. Their foundation is their strong Christian beliefs and the transforming power of their lord and saviour,Jesus Christ . A measure of their success would be to see their residents finish their programme and go out into the world, successful in what they want to do, happy in life and walking closely with God.

I would like to end this paper with the following quote which beholds a message for today’s youth :

Today’s students can put dope in their veins or hope in their brains .It’s their choice. If they can conceive it and believe it, they can achieve it. They must know it’s not their aptitude but their attitude that will determine their altitude.

---- Jesse Jackson, American Civil-Rights Leader, Baptist Minister, Politician