by Calvin Tang, 21 years old Before attending the School of Witness (SOW), I was living what I perceived as the high life. I’d just finished a successful 2 years of NS and my years of schooling had also been similarly successful, full of scholarships and accolades. I had secured a place in university and […]
by Jonathan Mui, 21 years old I’m from a family of 4 with a younger brother and I’d just completed my national service. I grew up in a typical Asian family with meritocratic parents who wanted my brother and I to do well in school. My parents would often compare me with other kids in […]
by Trina Tan, 19 years old I am a cradle catholic and I used to love prayer, catechism and going for mass. But over time, I began to distance myself from God. Growing up, the amalgamation of subtle comparisons made by my mother that my brother was better than me, made me believe that I […]
by Isabel Tan, 19 years old From the age of six, I was made to play tennis and hated it for the most part —especially my parent’s disappointment when I lost a match, and feeling like I wasn’t living up to my father’s name and expectations. As the second oldest amongst my cousins and with […]
by Drew Joseph, 21 years old Rigid, demanding and strict. That was how I would describe our faith. I believed that our faith is legalistic because of the many rules we had to follow, and that hindered me from desiring to develop a personal relationship with God. I grew up in a loving Catholic family, […]
by Stefanie Bates (above image, second-from-right) If I were to describe my past, the words I would use includes condemned, shunned, alone, afraid, humiliated, hurt and shamed. In primary school, a group of girls in my class used to pull my hair and laugh at me. They told me I was really ugly, and that […]
by Elizabeth Fam (above photo, second-left), 19 years old Before coming to the School of Witness (SOW), I was a typical Sunday Catholic. I was distant from God and I didn’t understand the value of prayer as I didn’t think that it would help me in any way. I treated God like a vending machine […]
by Joanna Tan (above photo, left), 19 years old Life before SOW was repetitive, boring and mundane. I felt no purpose in my life and it seemed that everyone around me had plans for the future and were sure of what they want to do in the next phase of life. Everything felt like a […]
by Aaron Ching, 27 years old Before coming to the School of Witness, I always sought validation from others. This is especially so at work where I sought to gain the validation of my bosses and seniors by portraying myself as a “hard worker”. I also chose to bottle up all my frustrations and anxieties, […]
by Celeste Seah, 27 years old I am a cradle Catholic, am an only child and came back to the faith in 2016. Helpless. Fearful. Tired. Abandoned. Lost. Wounded. Unloved. Unworthy. These words describe my weary heart as I entered the School of Witness (SOW). A heart that became shy and timid because of an […]