Habitat-Barclays push for better living conditions for Singapore’s elderly

Find out how the collaboration between Habitat for Humanity and Barclays is helping alleviate the poverty issues in Singapore.

Habitat for Humanity International believes everyone in Asia Pacific deserves a place to call home, and turns such expectations into reality by transforming lives through the provision of safe, decent and affordable homes. For 35 years, Habitat for Humanity has been a catalyst for such transformations, often achieving great success by working with like-minded partners.

Humble beginnings
In 2008, Habitat for Humanity in Singapore initiated a creative way to get people involved in achieving this vision through the Bare Your Sole walk. Yong Teck-Meng, National Director for Habitat for Humanity in Singapore, recalls that they wanted to do something unique and different and so they came up with the concept of people walking barefoot to remember those who have no homes. The first walks were relatively small scale, with only 350 - 400 participants. That was until one of Barclays’ senior management staff, Mark Stafford, joined the walk and was impressed with the concept. Stafford then proposed a collaborative effort with Habitat for Humanity which was realized in 2010. “Barclays’ participation brought the event into a quantum leap kind of situation,” says Yong.

He reveals that being an international corporation with experts in communications, events, and branding, Barclays has helped to dramatically increase the number of participants from 700 to 3,000. In 2012, the event reached 5,000 participants. Now on its fifth year, Habitat for Humanity and Barclays held the 2.5/5km Bare Your Sole walk at Gardens by the Bay East, Tanjong Rhu, to help raise funds for Habitat for Humanity Singapore’s local home cleanup program, Project Homeworks. Barclays is Habitat for Humanity Singapore’s key partner. Yong notes that “it is in the bones of habitat to collaborate.” 

Project Homeworks
Yong notes that Habitat for Humanity builds houses for the poor all over the world, except in a few locations like Singapore. “Singapore is the only country in the entire world without poverty housing, as declared by the United Nations in the year 2008. So there’s nothing to build here but our focus has always been about living conditions. We just believe that people made in the image and likeness of God shouldn’t be allowed to live like animals anywhere in the world,” he adds.

Though there are no people living in tent houses, trailers, or slums in Singapore, Habitat for Humanity Singapore discovered there are a lot of elderly people living in flats that are not so hygienic because they are not insane enough to be in an asylum somewhere but they are not normal enough either to upkeep themselves.

“Although the flats were physically well-constructed by the very efficient government, they live in terrible conditions. Some live in houses that are bug-infested, they have rotten food, and they can look terrible,” says Yong. Project Homeworks does different things to improve this including fumigation to kill bugs, changing furniture, general cleaning and whatever it takes to make sure the elderly pool live as decent human beings.

So what exactly is the significance of walking barefoot for the poverty issue in Singapore? According to Yong, they believe walking 2.5 - 5km without shoes is an experience that is unique enough to prick Singaporeans’ conscience and make them think about the issues of poverty. Along the way, Habitat puts up posters and educational banners to tell people about poverty.

“So while we are focused on Project Homeworks, we are happy if at the end of the day, people decide to do something for someone, whether or not it is with Habitat. And who knows, among the people who walk, if people would be inspired to think further, just a little bit more, how to make our world a better place,” he reckons.