Zonta International’s chapter in Singapore has made a difference in many teenage girls’ lives by supporting them financially as well as emotionally. The growing pile of thank-you notes is testimony to the club’s dedication. By Anita Devasahayam (Author). The late Pari Viswalingam would have been proud. Project Pari, an initiative of Zonta International which is named in her honour, has provided aid for 71 secondary school girls across 10 schools in Singapore since its launch three years ago. Viswalingam had served as a home economics specialist in the Ministry of Education and was a dedicated volunteer at Zonta’s Singapore chapter. Project Pari was granted IPC status last year that enables tax deductible donations. Lawyer Tan Ter Yee, who is also a board member of the chapter, explained the group dynamics: “We are a group of busy professionals and executives who are passionate about advancing the status of women in Singapore.” A helping hand The chapter’s on-going initiative Project Pari provides financial aid to underprivileged teen girls. The aid recipients come from families that appear financially sound but in reality are not. “These girls have fallen through the cracks because their families do not qualify for financial assistance from the Government,” Tan said, adding that school principals help identify the girls in need of aid. Among them is Leia (a pseudonym) whose father abandoned the family of four when her mother fell ill and was unable to work. Left with no income and siblings to care for, Leia did not let her dire situation affect her studies and remained determined to go against the odds. There is also Hanna (a pseudonym), an orphan who lives with her 67-year-old grandma. Although she and her 20-year-old brother receive a monthly allowance of S$500 from their uncle, it is a continuous struggle for the family of three. Hanna’s good conduct and excellent academic record earned her S$200 from the Edusave Good Progress Award, allowing her to see the possibilities of a promising future. Added Tan, “Our target is 10 girls for 10 schools, covering the girls over the four- to five-year period of their school life. We have to make sure that we have the funds and pledges to support them and the activities we conduct. This works out to S$60,000 a year needed for the initiative.” She explained that S$300,000 is needed for all five years if the students start in Secondary One and are in normal stream. Above that, activities and workshops costs are kept at a minimum of S$5,000 with trainers and speakers working pro-bono. She said that recipients are typically from single-parent homes or had a parent in jail, while others bore costly medical expenses that drained their finances. She cited, for example, Ivy (a pseudonym) whose family of five lives on S$2,500 a month, an income that must support both parents who are stricken with kidney failure and require dialysis that costs a total of S$1,000 a month. Through the initiative, Ivy receives a monthly pocket allowance of S$50 for meals as well as transportation. Tan added that common problems faced by the girls include poverty, limited education opportunities and lack of role models to mentor their future. Project Pari’s activities go to the heart of these problems. “We also conduct life skill programmes every year to help instill a sense of self-worth among the teenagers,” she said, adding that the girls also learn about personal hygiene, etiquette, interview skills and financial management. For instance, last year, the teenagers visited a Chinese tea house to learn about Oriental tea culture. Fraught with challenges However, the initiative was not all smooth sailing initially. Tan cited manpower shortages and the process of conducting background checks on potential candidates as key challenges. Members relied on their own personal networks to identify the schools with underprivileged girls before contacting the principals directly. “We had volunteer members go to the schools and visit the girls during the week. This initial hands-on work was quite draining as all our chapter members are professional and executives who have busy work schedules,” she added. But despite these challenges, the Zonta Club of Singapore is determined to help the girls “be the best that they can be”. “Our goal is to see Project Pari grow from strength to strength so that we can reach out and empower even more girls in the future,” Tan said. This story was first published in SALT (www.salt.org.sg), an e-magazine by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre. Additional info provided by cataloguer: The article is accompanied by two photographs consisting of a man conducting a workshop as part of the activities organised for the teenage girls under Project Pari's auspices and a group of girls at an outing to a Chinese tea house.
