Yesterday saw another chapter of my friends’ life. They had packed and left for home. Looking through the glass doors, watching them walking towards the departure hall with 2 young children tagging along, makes me feel so proud of them. A young family striving for a better tomorrow, willing to uproot and take chances in a new place. Although things did not turned out to be expected, I believed together as a family, they had witnessed and learn things any other Singapore will never experience.
They arrived here 9 months ago with the husband working in an agriculture industry while the mother, as a full time homemaker and teacher giving home study for their two children aged four and eight. Although the contract was for three years, the Company was not ready for changes implemented by him and he was faced with a lot of resistance from his colleagues. He did a fine job by identifying the flaws and gave solutions. The problems that stops him from what he wanted to do was the management. They were afraid of changes and CORRUPTION was the main stumbling block.
The Organization was already going downhill, but the boss was too reluctant to accept the fact. The management was sucking up to much funds with corruptions. Collaborating with suppliers, making the differences, making unnecessary purchases that leads to huge wastage for materials. Bad storage methods of supplies leading to deterioration of supplies making it unusable.
After four months, the boss decided to reduce his salary drastically but yet, he struggled on to make sure that there is food on the table for the family. I felt it was so unethical for the boss to do such a thing. The family literally uproot everything from Singapore and then got these kind of treatment. How many people would tolerate this, making the bold move especially changes that will make an impact on the children’s life.
One thing admirable about them is their faith in God. Whatever storm that comes their way, they told me that they will always be in good hands. Everything happens for a reason. If this happens to a single, its not that bad. But for a family, this is a great challenge.
I guess everybody has to go through this kind of experience in a third world country. Working in Uganda, there are always two sides of it. Opportunities are indeed here but the price to pay is also high. Risk will always be there. One must really take a number of years of working here to understand how to calculate the risk. I know for sure if they were to take up any challenges here again, they would be much wiser not to fall into the same situation again.
Lesster Leow
