Tak Takut (Don’t be Afraid) Kids Club

A Community Space for Children

My mother told me not to tell anyone that we are from Myanmar.
She thinks people will hurt us if they know that."
-Sally Aung, 10 (name changed to protect privacy)

Tak Takut (Don't be Afraid of) Children Kids Club (TTKC) is a community children arts space situated in Boon Lay Green, where a large number of low-income and transnational families reside. This community space is set up by 3Pumpkins, a socially engaged non-profit arts company which is deeply involved in designing arts-based programmes that build resilience in communities. The objective of this space is to create a communal space that is opened daily to engage primary-going children to form positive social connections.

3Pumpkins has been engaging children in Boon Lay since early 2019 through our one of our community building programmes,Let's Go PLay OutSide! (LGPO!). LGPO! activates the public playground as a broad-based inclusive platform to connect diverse communities, targeting specifically at estates with rental flats where there are more vulnerable and under-reached communities. By leveraging on the playground as a natural social locus and establishing a regular weekly community routine through arts and play, the work not only strengthens community resilience but also plays the role of discovering issues pertinent to the communities; especially gaps that children fall through. LGPO! has been invited by South Central Community Family Service Centre to conduct bridging activities in Lengkok Bahru (Redhill)

"At first I thought you are a social worker coming to talk about my family problems. I was so surprised when you told me to let's go play outside." Shawn, 10

Children improvising a puppet show at TTKC under the guidance of facilitator Farez Najid.

While our playground programme has connected over 40 children to play regularly together (and amicably), it is important to have a permanent community space that is safe for the children to go to after school hours and especially during the holidays to form their own social connections and gain exposure through arts and play. Our facilitators are trained in either drama or visual arts education, and are committed to support children-led explorations. Daily activities in the community space include painting, drawing, playing music, building crafts, story-telling, and many more collaborative possibilities in creative arts.

TTKC is open on the weekdays between 4-8pm and on the weekends between 2-6pm. We are in the plans to work closely with Boon Lay Garden Primary School, River Valley High School and Social Service Office (Taman Jurong and Boon Lay) to build a community ecosystem that supports the development of our children.

"It's difficult for my friends to understand that I am mixed Filipino, and I am also Muslim. They usually just think I am Malay. I don't like to talk much about myself."
- Josef, 11 (name changed to protect privacy)

Children playing music at TTKC.

Why the need to crowd-fund?

3Pumpkins is registered as a company limited by guarantee in 2019. As a non-profit entity, our main revenue comes from self-initiated as well as commissioned community art engagement projects. Our company sponsor is Berries - Worlds of Learning.

Most government fundings targetted at community building are more willing to fund programme, and disqualify rental of space and paying of internal staff. While the National Arts Council have funded us for a 2-year research project to document and evaluate the social impact of community arts and we have applied fundings through various government arms such as Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to pay for materials and high-touch programmes on the weekends, we face difficulty in raising funds to cover our operation costs.

This fund-raising effort hopes to rally public support and leverage on the power of small sum donors to help us cover a monthly costs of $4000 to run TTKC in Boon Lay for the benefit of a community of 40-60 children residing in this neighbourhood. The work started as a ground-up initiative, and we wish to involve the public who believe in the work to sustain it together for the year 2020 as we continue to convince bigger philanthropic funders to support the work.

The breakdown of the operation cost monthly is as below

Item	Cost
Rental of space	$1900
Utilities and maintenance	$300
Manpower ($50 per day)	$1500
Other administrative, fund-raising, documentation cost	$300
Monthly Expenditure	$4000

How does the donation drive work?

Donors can choose to donate between $10 - $100 monthly for the year of 2020 (starting February). Regardless of the amount you choose to contribute, you will receive bimonthly newsletter of our activities and discoveries at the community space. You will also receive 2 TTKC magazines co-created with the children yearly.

Enter the amount that you would like to donate (note: monthly) which will go direct to 3Pumpkins via Paypal. Please enter your email address under 'comment' and we will get in touch with you for the donation arrangement for the rest of the year.

We will close the drive as soon as we reach the target of monthly contribution of $4000.

If you would like to get in touch with us directly, please email [email protected]