Gerard Ee – The Bukit Ho Swee Community Service Project | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Gerard Ee, long-time executive director of the Bukit Ho Swee Community Service Project, takes us back to the 1980s when the project was known as Nazareth Centre. He talks about how he and his team of volunteers worked hard, and successfully, to keep the children and youth of Bukit Ho Swee socially engaged and out of trouble. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/xHDduycS1Do Part 2 | https://youtu.be/y8LmSCCX_uQ 00:00 Introduction 02:23 Kampongs as communities 08:35 Getting into Social Work 11:48 Nazareth Centre 20:41 Keeping the Kids Out of Trouble 32:30 Success of the Project 35:51 Beyond Social Services I’m Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com if you have any of these stories to share: • Old places or kampongs. • Communities – their way of life & culture. • Childhood & schools. • Work or business. Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551786759344 Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lks992002 Chronicles Research & Education is my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ Caveat: this is above all a podcast based on personal memory. As has been well-documented in oral history, memory is not always reliable and what is recalled here should not be taken as fact. However, as Alessandro Portelli noted, the subjectivity of oral history is also its great strength, and what is inaccurately remembered may point to how deeply meaningful the past is to people. #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore