As Resilience Trails gradually transitions from its pilot phase, we are happy to introduce Lydia, who is now taking on a new role as a Mentor Guide with Skillseed. Having been a dedicated Community Guide the past year, we recognised Lydia’s commitment to her role and noticed that there was room for her to develop her skills and for us to tap on her strengths. Embarking on this partnership has been a long-time coming, and we are so happy that she is here in the office supporting our work and that we are supporting her too!
Lydia’s main role as a Mentor Guide is to develop programmatic aspects of our trails, as well as to help us engage and grow the existing guide community. Here at Skillseed, she plays a significant role as she is able to give ground-up advice from her time working and volunteering in the Ang Mo Kio community. The authenticity of her own stories and lived experiences gives her an edge in her role as a mentor guide. As Lydia joins our Skillseed team, we spoke with her, her work buddy Hidayah, and our director Huijia, to reflect on the start of her new journey.
Lydia at the Skillseed office with our founding director, Huijia, on her first day
Speaking to Lydia
SS: Hi Lydia, we are so happy to have you here with us as you embark on your new role as Mentor Guide! How has the first month in Skillseed been for you?
I really enjoy this experience. The people are very welcoming, and I appreciate having a working environment with people that I can communicate well with. I think work is about trust - for example, I like that Huijia trusts me to work-from-home to get things done. This can only work if it is two-way and she trusts me with my tasks.
SS: It’s great to hear that you are adapting well to Skillseed. How is your current role different from your previous role as a Community Guide?
Previously as a Community Guide, a lot of things are done for me, such as the script and slides. After coming to Skillseed and starting my new role, I realised that there is a lot more that needs to be done behind-the-scenes. After taking on this new role, I realised that perhaps our Community Guides can contribute more, be more involved, and take on more ownership for their own trails.
Note from SS: Materials used in our Resilience Trails, such as our script and slides, are co-created with our Community Guides. We involve our Community Guides in multiple co-creation sessions to learn more about their experiences and stories, before co-developing trail routes and finalising accompanying materials. Find out more about our process in our previous article with our Community Guide, Alex!
SS: I understand that a big part of your current portfolio is to help onboard new guides to expand our Resilience Trails. What drives you to want to bring more Community Guides on board?
It is firstly a way of empowering them to do more. Secondly, increasing the financial support for them and thirdly, giving them the experience and opportunity as a guide, which they might not get elsewhere. This can potentially help them in their jobs in the future as well.
Note from SS: Most of our Community Guides are former or current beneficiaries of Allkin Singapore (formerly known as AMKFSC Community Services). Many of them live in rental housing and bear substantive caregiving responsibilities that hinder them from taking on full-time, permanent employment in their current circumstances. Yet, the need for flexible, home-oriented and high relative ROE (return on effort) employment is even more necessary for these individuals and their families who depend on them.
SS: From what you have shared, I am glad that this opportunity can be expanded to more guides. Could you perhaps share more about the process of onboarding new guides?
Sure! I have shortlisted a few guides from Allkin Community @ Ang Mo Kio 643 for the team to consider. During the shortlisting process, these are the things I look at: the stories they have shared, their characteristics, and where they are based in the neighbourhood. Ideally, they should be more spread out location-wise, so that the trails are more varied. Next, I wrote out an introduction for each of them with their background, their skills and assets, and their experience contributing to the community. I passed this information on to the rest of the Skillseed team for their reference. I have also spoken to each of the guides to gauge their interest in being Community Guides.
In preparing the new guides for trails, I gave them a rough idea of what to expect and the different types of groups that we lead on our trails. For example, when we have youths, we might need to be more hyped up so that we can engage them better. Some of our guides worry that they will forget what to say, but I encourage them that they’re doing fine and to just focus on sharing their stories, since the Skillseed facilitators will be there to support them on their trails too.
Note from SS: Allkin Community @ Ang Mo Kio 643 is a Community Hub managed by Allkin Singapore and opened in 2022. This is the second community hub that Allkin Singapore has launched, with the first Community Hub located at Blk 414 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10. The community hub is run by and for residents, where they can gather to do activities together.
SS: Thank you for sharing your expertise with us! I hope that your time at Skillseed will be a fruitful and meaningful one.
Next, we spoke with Hidayah, a senior member of the Skillseed team. She is also Lydia’s work buddy during this transition period.
Speaking to Hidayah
SS: Hello Hidayah! I understand that you are Lydia’s work buddy here within the Skillseed team. Given that you work rather closely with her, how has it been thus far?
Hidayah: It has been quite a pleasant experience - Lydia’s personality is quite friendly and outgoing, so it makes it easy to work with her. She is very open to learning so it wasn’t too difficult to onboard her at Skillseed. For example, a part of her portfolio is developing the wet weather plans for her trail and other trails. She took the initiative to go on Fazeli’s trail herself to check out and survey AMK-Bishan park, which is part of Fazeli’s trail. Hence I thought she is very forthcoming and open to contributing to the team.
SS: What unique perspectives do you think Lydia brings to the table, given that she is expanding her role from Community Guide to Mentor Guide?
Hidayah: Two main things: her own experience as a Community Guide and her knowledge of the Ang Mo Kio area. While working on the wet weather plans, there were times where we faced challenges in discussing matters with some of our other guides (due to conflicting schedules, for example), but the good thing is that since Lydia is a resident in Ang Mo Kio itself, it’s easier for her to touch base with the other guides who are fellow residents. She is our “on-the ground” team mate who helps to really facilitate not just the programmatic aspects of our Trails but also in building stronger relationships with the Guide community.
SS: It is helpful that her previous experience as a Community Guide has supplemented her current role. How else have you tried to support Lydia’s transition in Skillseed?
Hidayah: I am the main person in charge of introducing her to the team, and it is easy as we have already established a working relationship with Lydia. It helps that she has a very friendly and positive personality, so she is very approachable. One thing I tried to support her is interms of work processes. Our team uses Google Suites, which she has not used before so I helped her import her work to Google Suites at the beginning. I also shared with her about our work expectations, such as the pace of work and work processes.
SS: Thank you for sharing this information, Hidayah. It’s reassuring to hear that Lydia has such an understanding and approachable work buddy to guide her along her work and to welcome her to the team.
Lastly, we spoke with Huijia, the founding director of Skillseed. Resilience Trails is the brainchild of Huijia and she came up with the idea to expand Lydia’s role to Mentor Guide after interacting with Lydia.
Speaking to Huijia
SS: Hi Huijia, I wanted to speak with you today to find out more about why you decided to expand Lydia’s role from Community Guide to Mentor Guide.
HJ: Firstly, I felt that Lydia was (and is) a very dedicated guide on the ground. She has consistently tried her best, and has performed and carried out her role well. After getting to know her better, I learnt that she has aspirations to work towards home ownership for her family. In working towards home ownership, I recognised that she wants more stable forms of income, and that was something I took note of.
Through working with her, we also discovered that she was interested in nurturing and upskilling others. It’s one of her core strengths, because of her role as Programme Assistant at Allkin Community @ Ang Mo Kio 643. She is very people-oriented and has a large network of friends.
We have always planned for our Guides to progress in economic and social inclusion, whether externally beyond their role as Community Guide or within our programme itself, so we thought to give Lydia and us an opportunity to try out this role of a (paid) Mentor Guide in our programme.
SS: Thank you for sharing this, Huijia. You mentioned that Skillseed has never had the role of a Mentor Guide before. Could you share more about the genesis of this role?
In line with Skillseed’s values, we want the Resilience Trails to be co-owned. For the programme to be more nuanced and beneficial, we want the guides’ voices to be heard in the planning process. We mutually recognise that Lydia is a good fit for this role so we thought it would be good for her to be part of this organising team.
SS: I see, I now have a clearer understanding of Lydia’s roles and responsibilities. Perhaps you would like to share how the working relationship with Lydia has been?
HJ: The working relationship with Lydia has been premised on trust so far - there were occasions when she couldn’t make it to work due to unforeseen circumstances, and I appreciated that she did her best to inform us of what happened as soon as she could. She understood that mutual respect was important to us and how we worked. At the same time, she trusts that we are watching out for her and that we have greater plans for her if she continues with us. I sincerely hope that we can continue working together and building this relationship.
Lydia and Huijia featured together in a CNA documentary “Getting Real About Trust”
SS: It is heartening to hear of the relational trust between you and Lydia, and I am sure that will prove fruitful in the long run. I too hope that Lydia will continue to grow in her role as Mentor Guide, and be able to achieve the goals she has set out for herself. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.
If you might be keen to support Lydia and our fellow Community Guides in their journeys of growth, contact us at info@skillseed.sg to arrange a trail with us today!