Cattila

What is Her Journey?

Thu, 01 Jul 2021 12:21:28 +0800

Brief Intro

HER Journey is a community-based initiative to advocate for and inform women working as Foreign Domestic Workers (FDW) in Singapore. Focusing on addressing FDWs’ labor relations and rights issues, we also strive to reshape public perception.

As a grade 10 student, I joined the Her Journey GC (student-led initiatives we call Global Concerns). Her Journey isn't one of the most popular GCs in school without lots of member and more willing to join. It was founded in 2019 by a grade 11 student.

What Her Journey attracts me the most is the energetic atmosphere it has. The level of involvement of her journey's members. At the start of grade 10 there is less than 15 students in the GC, yet everyone has a role. We have Cathy in charge of updating aesthetically designed posts on Instagram, Karen and Mercy sharing our ideas to more in the college, Callista reaching out to the FDW organization and their volunteers, communicating with the FDWs conveniently with Bahasa, the mother language of all of the workers. Thanks to those raising awareness for the FDWs, more members joined and our GC gradually expands.

Initiatives in progress

What makes a GC amazing? Talks at the assembly, sausage sizzles for fundraising and fieldtrips some GCs organise to visit the organisation aided by them, it is the number and effectiveness of these activities, I used to thought, that really help a GC to make a change and gain its popularity. Her Journey gives me an eye-opening variety and creativeness of projects a GC can have or be planning to do.

Empathy Challenge

Empathy challenge (find out more on our website) is a card game that simulates the common challenges FDWs experience in their migration journey. In the game, players roleplay as FDWs and employers, and negotiate solutions to the challenge cards. In the process, player's understanding of NGOs are deepened.

Her Journey Podcasts

Podcasts (find out more on our website) is our second initiative, updated once a month in the "Podcasts" section on the Her Journey website. Aside from recorded interviews, it also includes our own commentaries regarding labor rights issues. They are intended to give FDWs a voice and shed light on conflicts in employment relationships.

Know Your Rights

Our third initiative is a YouTube video series titled ‘Know Your Rights’ (find out more on our website), which are educational videos targeted at FDW viewers. We illustrate and explain legal information using real life cases handled by NGOs.

In collaboration with local NGOs, the above initiatives are carried out in the past two years, and we have received positive feedback from hundreds of FDWs, the national trade union, and partner NGOs.

Other Projects in Plan

Moving Empathy Challenge onto the web is one of our long-term plans. Without the need of actual cards in hand and volunteers explaining the rools, an online version of Empathy Challenge improves the accessibility and convenience of the original card game to a large extent. The project will be put into action at the start of the school year 2021 - 2022.

We are always thinking of creative and interactive ways to raise awareness and to deepen people's knowledge of the life and situation of FDWs. An interactive video is one that we will start working on soon.

An interactive video is a type of media that gives the viewer the ability to interact with the video content itself. We get the inspiration from the Chinese video platform Bilibili, which offers a tool that enable content creators to create interactive videos easily. Content creators on Bilibili create awesome works with the tool such as games and quizzes.

With interactive videos, we would be able to link video clips together with certain logics such that the audience will have an immersive experience, experiencing scenes in the daily lives of FDWs, every choice they make will lead them onto completely different results and plots. This could be a short-term solution for the online version of Empathy Challenge before the final program is coded.

Description No.1

Wed, 21 Apr 2021 22:14:58 +0800

[0500/02/SP/20 1]

Describe an occasion when a group of people are eating together.

The sun is buried in the layer of cotton clouds, which softly wrapped around it and absorb all its shafts of light of late afternoon. The sky with no sun has faded into a harmony of light-grey and calming pale blue, as if marking the end of a busy day. Between bundles of bushes and closely-planted evergreens, there was a clearing, an area cleared of any large-sized trees, carpeted with shades of fresh green – newly-grown dewy grass, slightly wet from the fog that starts to retreat back into the woods as the sun descents.

In the middle of the clearing there is a ring of irregularly shaped rocks, circling an area that is covered with a thick layer of ash from the burning of a bonfire here a long time ago. Around the ring, three or four lay-down logs were laid, surrounding the ring of rocks, as if being put there on purpose, yet there are no other products made of artificiality here, nor any traces of humans. Somewhere in the woods, the lovely chirp of birds echos into a moving song among the trees.

The ... of a car engine gradually crescents, as if coming closer and closer. The land underneath the clearing slightly shakes as the car approaches the clearing. A white figure of a car appeared between the trees, behind it there is a narrow road that is hardly noticeable. With a sudden sound of braking and the noise made by the friction between the wheels and the carpet of grass, a young girl in her early twenties stepped down, on her hand is a basket filled with raw pieces of chicken and pork and two bottles of unnamed sauces. Looking around, her sight falls onto the pale blue sky, the evergreens, the thick bushes, the logs. As the ring of rocks eventually enters her bright, maroon colored eyes, her sight softens. The place hasn't changed much.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, the moist air with the fragrance of the grass carpet, the mix of rain and dew on every leaf of the evergreens, the aroma of the wet, dark brown bark on their trunks. As the soothing air travels all along her throat into her chest, the recollections buried deep in her heart for years, the scenes she thought she has long forgotten, emerges one by one in her head, as fresh as new.

There is the noise of wheels crashing against twigs and grass coming towards the way of the clearing, a second one behind, then another. Soon, the edge of the clearing is parked with cars. Several young men and women carrying baskets and bags full of food ingredients wave with delight, their eyes seems brighter than ever. Some of them rush towards their old classmates, calling out the names in their memories for the first time in years followed by deep hugs.

The light from the softly glowing sun fades, the forest area is within the embrace of the dark-blue evening sky. The breeze between the woods lovingly strikes on the cheeks of the group of young people, who laid out the ingredients and prepared for the barbecue on a flat rock. The night falls and the clearing is completely without the lighting form the sun. The bonfire was lit, and everyone sit in a circle, each holding a metal skewer full of food brushed with sauces and honey. A few drops of the sauce drips down into the flame underneath the metal rack, which results in the flame growing high all in a sudden, as if being attracted by the delicious food and attempting to have a taste of it first. The girl holding the skewer cried and quickly takes it further away from the fire, "It's alright it's ok, hold it a bit higher" the boy next to her hand her some tissue paper, while the other two sitting on the same log burst into laughter. The mysterious dark clearing is enlightened with the pleasant air filled with joy.

Soliloquy in Romeo and Juliet

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 22:39:49 +0800

In the following soliloquy from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is awaiting the arrival of her love interest, Romeo. Read the soliloquy carefully. Then write a well-organized essay in which you analyze how Shakespeare uses elements such as allusion, figurative language, and tone to convey Juliet’s emotions.

In the extract from Act 3 Scene 2 from the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare describes the scene where Juliet is waiting for the arrival of Romeo in the Capulet's house. Shakespeare shows Juliet's anticipation for the sexual aspect of love and for Romeo by emphasising on her impatience for the night to arrive faster and her extreme admiration towards Romeo's beauty. Furthermore, by conveying Juliet's thoughts and emotions, Shakespeare highlights her naiveness through her idealistic, romantic imagination of love.

To start with, Shakespeare illustrates Juliet's extreme urge and anticipation to meet Romeo. This is clearly reflected in her eagerness for the arrival of night time from line 1 to line 4 in the scene. By alluding to and personifies the sun as Phoebus Apollo, the sun god in Greek mythology, who is able to command the sun to either rise or set, Juliet is expressing her yearning for the day to pass and the night to arrive.

In the scene, Shakespeare also conveys Juliet's impatient and frustrated while waiting for Romeo. By doing so Shakespeare is also reflecting on the inexperience of Juliet. By metaphorically describing love as a mansion, Shakespeare shows Juliet's frustration at having to wait for her wedding night. By representing her husband, Romeo, with the "mansion of love", Juliet is conveying the idea that Romeo is as important and precious to her as a luxurious and beautiful home. Her anticipation for Romeo is clearly shown in her readiness to "possess'd it", to consummate her marriage to Romeo. By further expressing her dissatisfaction of only getting married and her strong wish to "enjoy" the mansion of love live or act as a wife, Shakespeare highlights Juliet's frustration from waiting and her impatience for the night with Romeo. Through such characterisation of Juliet, Shakespeare is indicating that Juliet's impatience, frustration and anticipation of Romeo and the night are because of her inexperience as a wife, as an innocent child in the area of love. With this Shakespeare is reminding readers that Juliet is still a young girl at an age of 14 and is not yet completely mentally mature. This is possibly a factor to her impulsivity when she was married to Romeo not long after they met, when she later threaten the Friar with her life to come up with a plan to save herself from being married to Paris, and at the end when she kills herself not long after Romeo's death with a stab.

Moreover, Shakespeare suggests Juliet's extreme admiration fascination of Romeo's beauty, and at the same time . She seems almost equally as superficial as him and as eager to experience the physical side of a relationship. An initial key point is how Juliet likens Romeo to a force so bright that if you “cut him out” he would make the night sky blaze. And she extends the metaphor making out that people will be so struck by this splendid night that they will prefer night to day; she is clearly infatuated with his beauty and her hyperbolic imagery in which she obsessively dwells upon his literal brilliance intensifies this notion. Furthermore, the idea of Juliet's innocence and impulsivity is again reinforced by Shakespeare with her imaginative language, the "little stars", "heaven" and the lovely night are as if the imaginary world of a young child, indicating Juliet's naive and immature thinking, emphasises the fact that she could not wait to grow up and experience what the adult world has to offer.

To summarise, Shakespeare indicates Juliet's eagerness and longing for the lovely night and the beauty of Romeo through descriptions of her thoughts and emotions in detail, with the use of allusion, personification and various figurative language. He is ultimately conveying that Juliet is still a young, immature and naive figure. These are the factors that lead to Juliet's impulsivity at the key turning points of her life, and are the factors that pushed her to the final tragedy.

Sunset, lake and pier

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 18:07:57 +0800

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IGCSE Geo Revision – Tourism

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 17:25:51 +0800

7 Mark question – A “For-Everything” Case Study

Name of location: The Maldives

The Maldives lies Southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 700 kilometers from the mainland. It is a small island nation in South Asia in the Arabian sea of the Indian ocean. It’s made up of a chain of 26 atolls spanning around 298 square kilometers. It has a population of 540,544 and 142,909 for its capital city, Malè, in 2017.

Tourism is one of the most important industry in the Maldives, accounting for 30% of the Maldives total GDP and 90% of its tax revenues. Every year, 1.5 million tourists go to Maldives and Maldives earns a total amount of $2 millions USD from tourism. Most tourists go to Maldives for the water sports there such as snorkelling, scuba diving, sailing and kayaking. At the same time, Maldives also offers a biodiverse environment for visitors to explore.

There are many human attractions and physical attractions in Maldives. Human attractions include:

Dive clubs
Spa’s
Commercial Districts providing entertainment/shopping
Fish Market (In Malè)
National Museum (In Malè), displays antiques from Maldives Buddhist era

Physical attractions in Maldives are mainly its beaches and wildlife. On its beaches, there are:

Peaceful with sounds of the sea waves
Palm trees
Species of fish at the shore (also applies to wildlife)
Atolls/lagoons
White sand
Good weather/tropical

And the wild life (natural environment) exploration activities there are mainly explored with snorkelling or scuba diving activities:

Coral reefs
Whale sharks/manta rays
Turtles

Tourism has both positive and negative impacts on Maldives. First of all, tourism brings many benefits. Firstly, it generates employment for the tertiary sector in the country – it brings in about $600 million a year and it also accounts for 90% of the government’s revenue. Secondly, through working in the tourism industry, local people can learn new skills and languages. Fourthly, when tourists spend money in local businesses, the multiplier effect takes place. In this way tourism generates 60% of all foreign currency earned. At the same time, infrastructures in Maldives are developed. The natural environment might be better preserved as they are attractions to the tourists.

However, at the same time, tourism also has lots of disadvantages. For instance, tourism activities are harming the natural environment — snorkelling and scuba diving are damaging the corals and the marine ecosystems. Also, the jobs of the local people are badly paid and some of them do not work in good working conditions. Most resort staffs in the Maldives are only paid $1500 SGD annually. Lastly, the narrowness of Maldives’ economy makes it highly vulnerable to external shocks beyond its control such as natural disasters, political strikes and steep rise in oil and gas prices or other commodities.

Tourism in the Maldives is managed in a few ways. Firstly, initiatives have been formed to reduce tourist numbers in groups, committing to long term plans that benefit locals by using local accommodation and so on. Also, the government states that for each island developed into a resort, one must be left as a reserve. Furthermore, recycling efforts are made within hotels such as the Furaveri Island Resort & Spa (Raa atoll) which has a water bottle plant on site, active for two years which recycles glass bottles for guests to use on excursions. There are strict fishing regulations enforcements to maintain fish stocks and preserve the reefs. At the same time, as the government is taking more initiative to support the sustainable tourism movement, tourists themselves are starting to become invested in sustainable tourism.

Analyse Mother to Son by Langston Hughes

Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:29:46 +0800

Mother to Son is a song written by Langston Hughes in 1922 during the Harlem Renaissance, the most significant art movement in black literature in the US, when African Americans and intellectuals related to black culture evolved, highlighting the ups and downs of African Americans and combat against racism in their literature.

During this great culture revolution era, African Americans finally got the chance to thrive, among which is the song, Mother to son, comprised of the monologue of an African American mother whose life was surrounded by misery encouraged her son to follow her, be optimistic and overcome all the hardships and surmount all the obstacles in life. The three main themes in the song are hardships, courage, and the role of a mother, and these are highlighted by Hughes through the song’s form and literary devices.

In the poem, Hughes highlights the inevitable hardship dealt in any individual’s life. The idea is shown by the use of symbolism and anaphora. The speaker mentioned the “crystal stair” at both the outset and the end of the song.

The crystal stairs symbolize the comforting life style, which the mother does not possess. This very idea is repeated in the close line when the speaker says
”and life for me ain’t been no crystal stairs”. using the same symbols at the beginning and closing lines, the speaker depicts a vivid image that African Americans are far away from obtaining the American life style no matter how hard they try, the beginning circles back to the ending. The technique of anaphora is used when the speaker repeats: “And splinters, / And boards torn up, / And places with no carpet on the floor—” The word “and” is repeatedly used at the start of each line, highlighting the adversities and various challenges in the life of the mother, each “and” introduces a new impediment, highlighting the never-ending sufferings in the mother’s life journey, as well as the hundreds of thousands of African American.

Image by Quotefancy

The song is written in free verse, without a particular rhyme scheme, stanza pattern or rules in the length of its lines. This could be a possible implication of the theme of courage. When one is courageous, with its perseverance, one could persistently break through all the difficulties hindering, restricting it from moving forward. Under the background of the song, the difficulties here could be implying poor living conditions, the “tacks”, the “splinters”, the “boards torn up”, the “places with no carpet on the floor”, but on a higher level, referring to racism, discrimination and inequality that are faced by African Americans in the early twentieth century. The theme of courage suggested by the free style of the song could be the fight against the dark elements and dangerous situations. It is the determination that the less privileged classes need in order to survive and achieve their goals.

Moreover, the poem presents the mother as a role model for the child. The mother and her son seem to be strongly bonded. The mother uses her life experiences to point the correct directions for her son and intends to prepare her son mentally ready for life, leading her son to a better future and to become a better individual.

As a conclusion, through a monologue of a representative African American mother in the song, the speaker has effectively reflects the situation of African Americans and their difficult fight against discrimination and racism. It plays a key role in the artistic movement in Harlem during the 1920s.

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Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:18:41 +0800

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