By the time he was 18, Mr Daren Kwang Poh Chun had slept for months at the school campus because he could barely afford food, let alone rent. Inspired by the care he received from his social worker, he is giving back as a successful professional in the same field.
Mr Daren Kwang, a 29-year-old social work er who received the support of the Mapletree Youth Resilience Programme. For many youngsters here, life revolves around fretting over grades, exams, hanging out with friends and heading home after school.
In the years that followed, he repeatedly ran away, feeling like there was “no place” for him in his troubled family home. He was studying to become a medical social worker, inspired to do so by his own social worker, who stuck with him through long and difficult years as an outsider and helped to turn the young man's life around.
His circumstances had led him to fend for himself on the streets as a child. And a singular, steadfast act of care would later become a turning point in his life. “I was arrested and I had nobody to call – no family,” he said. “I called my social worker, who came in a personal capacity. At that moment I cried because I was really touched.”
Mr Daren Kwang with his social worker Ong Teck Chye at his Specialist Cadet School Graduation ceremony. Home life was always tumultuous for young Daren, who recalled being “passed around” since he was around five years old, in between his mother's multiple marriages. Soon after, he started taking shelter at random venues to avoid his hostile stepfathers, rotating between sleeping at shops and friends’ homes.
When he was 16, while serving his final sentence in an institution, he began to reflect more on his childhood and ponder existential questions.“He gave me an answer that resonated with me at that point of time, and he told me that life is just to experience,” Mr Kwang said. Today, Mr Kwang's family tree and dynamics remain “rather complex”, with limited contact with his four step-siblings from different sets of parents.
Still, turning over a new leaf and reintegrating with the “outside world” was an isolating experience, especially when finding support from peers. Many of the friends he had during those difficult times – when he occasionally became involved in scams and gang activities – remained in institutions or continued to commit crimes.
“The first thing they would say was, ‘So what scam are you into now?’ They were asking me, 'So now you found a way to scam government money, ah?'” Paying for rent in Singapore is no small sum even as an adult, so I’ve heard from many friends and seniors. I therefore had to ask, how much did he pay for rent as an 18-year-old?
The Stories Behind: The troubled teen who spent her youth running from the law but now runs a chain of beauty salons “Initially, everyone looks at me, people think I would make a very good youth worker. The truth is that doing youth work really brings up a lot of emotions in me, something that I have to work on.”
Youth Second Chances Youth Offender
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