Experiential Learning Journey at Jalan Kukoh

Often, when people think of Singapore and even when I look around, all I see is a concrete jungle with malls that are consumerist havens, sprouting out at every little corner of this island. On some end, I feel, it has clouded my view of Singapore as a city state with a diverse range of people who come from various income brackets. I am guilty of often forgetting that the poor are so hidden from our direct view that I think that my world consists of the young and the old alike who are able to live comfortably.  My time in Sociology, however, has shown me a side of Singapore, that I feel many people often have forgotten about in the midst of their everyday life. That is the side of Singapore wherein people struggle to make ends meet while living along side the richest, sometimes just a road or two away. Inequality in Singapore has become a rising topic in politics because the rising costs coupled with the ever-so gloomy economy has pushed a fair number of people into the category where they struggle to put food on the table. With that in mind, I wanted to understand more about poverty in Singapore by actually experiencing how poverty looks like.

Our group decided on doing a walk from Tiong Bahru to Jalan Kukoh, the poorest neighbourhood in Singapore. I was excited to go on this journey as I've not been to Jalan Kukoh, despite hearing and reading about the rental flats and how the neighbourhood houses Singapore's poorest. In line with the concept of experiential learning, exploring the physical and tangible aspects of what has been taught in the classroom helps to develop new insights that supplements and builds on existing knowledge. I felt that walking through the various neighbourhoods and opening up my 5 senses to the different stimulants would add another, more realistic dimension to what I had read about in the past two years doing Sociology in NTU. We first started walking through Tiong Bahru from the MRT station and past the iconic older HDB blocks and then past the 'hipster' areas that house cafes and other shops catered to young people. I noticed how the older looking blocks had been upgraded and had been painted to give it a new lease of life.

We then walked towards Outram Park and finally turned into Jalan Kukoh. Not having exposed to how the blocks and the neighbourhood actually looked like, I imagined the place to be extremely run down and the blocks to look visibly old. I was shocked to see that the blocks looked like any other older HDB blocks from the exterior. Living in poverty in my mind looked very different from theses blocks. As we walked further in, we saw that there were many shops downstairs but it was interesting to note that many of them were vacated. Perhaps, many of them felt that they were not getting enough business to sustain themselves in a place like Jalan Kukoh. I also smelt a stench of urine and garbage as we walked through the block, that I have not smelt before in other estates.

Approaching the lift lobby, I observed that there were a few security cameras and signages reminding people not to urinate along common areas. That made me wonder if people who lived in such flats were uneducated as they had to be reminded to be have in socially appropriate ways. There were also advertisements at the lift lobbies and lifts to remind people to stay away from loan sharks, which points to a probable social problem of gambling and borrowing money through illegal forms. As we walked upstairs to the basketball court, we noticed that it was newly renovated with even a USB charging port hand cycle. This made me wonder if the residents had much use for this if their priority was making ends meet.

We climbed up the stairs to the higher floors to look at the variety of houses in the block. What I noticed was that many of the staircases were not well maintained and looked very dirty and some even had a pungent smell of urine. We then walked to one of the other blocks that was a little further in, which we found a row of one-room flat units on the ground floor. As we walked through the ground floor, I noticed that many of the houses were very cluttered and did not look very clean. The house grills looked old and there was not much furniture in the house; mainly tables, some chairs and mattresses. I also noticed that there were bicycles parked outside of the homes with Grabfood and Deliveroo delivery bags stacked, which meant that these people relied on such means to makes ends meet.

According to Kolb's Experiential Learning Model, after the concrete experience and setting the stage of what happened comes reflective observation, where one analyses the experience. Looking back at the experience of the walk through Jalan Kukoh, I understand why many in Singapore forget that poverty exists (1984). The blocks at Jalan Kukoh are on top a hill that overlooks the Clarke Quay area. If one visits Clarke Quay just for a night out, they will most probably miss the sight of these HDB blocks as it is so well hidden from sight. It makes me wonder why poverty must be hidden in Singapore and if it should even be hidden in Singapore. Perhaps, it is hidden to give a perspective of a clean and green, prosperous society to the world out there, but I challenge that notion and ask is it then giving a very pretentious image of Singapore?

I feel that I can learn from my experience by being more curious about the social issues that affect my society. I had an overwhelming sense of myself just living in the 'privilege bubble' for many years and I felt rather shameful for not understanding the plight of other people in my society. I can apply my learning when I choose to do more volunteer work with the disadvantaged in terms of having more empathy for them and choosing to see the other perspectives of everyday life.

To bring in the concept of active experimentation, I feel that this experience has given me a nudge to be more understanding of the various needs of people in my society (Kolb, 1984). I hope to work more with the disadvantaged in close proximity, through various ways such as tutoring or even helping to make their home environment more desirable.

Citations:

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.