Last weekend was an unusual one for me focusing on making a difference in people’s lives and trying to influence change even in my own little way.

9th April, Saturday we had the Newbies Session which was unusually full packed.  On average, we usually have around 30 attendees but the turn out on that day was around 200 people.  It was good that SSS was also present at the event so we were able to get a summary of our actual premiums, well for most of the attendees anyway given that the SSS team were overwhelmed with the number of attendees.

10th April, Sunday I attended the last module of the FINANCIAL LITERACY COURSE with ACMI conducted by Tito Ver.  This caters to our dear kasambahays (domestic helpers) who paid their hard earned money, or for some lucky ones their employers paid for their course fee, to attend a Financial Education Course.  After 5 sessions in 4 months, here is the second batch of graduates taught by TGFI SG financial literacy volunteers.  Though I attended a seminar with a different course provider that TGFI SG partnered with before but I felt that this batch were more focused in learning and working on the exercises.  It may also have something to do with the venue as it is more conducive for learning.

Three realizations I had on that weekend:

1. It’s ironic.  The seminars on Saturdays are free and some professionals do not want to attend the seminar with different silly excuses like no time, no money to invest, too far.  While the Sunday seminars have a course fee but the domestic helpers are willing to pay in order for them to learn about handling better their finances and how to become an entrepreneur.
2. The course for the domestic helpers covered the topic on re-integration.  It is a good topic that covers not only preparation in terms of financial aspect but it recognizes that with coming home permanently there is also an impact on relationships and the emotional aspect.  When my Dad retired in end 2003 after working for the longest time in Saudi Arabia, it was weird to have him around and we were not used to the new situation.  Nobody prepared him or us on this change given that when he left we were still small children and when he came back to settle down for good we were already working adults.
3. It was a very tiring weekend as I don’t normally go out the whole weekend but I felt a different sense of fulfillment to be able to have had the chance to see the different avenues that TGFI SG is spreading financial literacy and being able to give back to society.