SINGAPORE: It’s a lively Saturday afternoon at the National Museum of Singapore, where a group of children are taking part in a bird mobile-making workshop.

Among them is Sow Zixuan, a wheelchair-bound 12-year-old with cerebral palsy, who is concentrating on her own green-coloured bird creation, surrounded by her new friends and her family. “I love to make art,” she shyly whispered.

The mobile-making workshop is part of Is Anyone Home?, an ongoing Singapore Art Week exhibition comprising installations and performances done by children with special needs or those who come from less privileged backgrounds, in collaboration with local artists.

It’s the latest project by inclusive community arts group Superhero Me, and among the works on display is Zixuan’s very own Garden.

Over a two-month period last year, she and her artist mentor Chloe Tan worked on a series of small ceramic mobiles and jigsaw pieces. These depicted family members as well as other objects she had come up with.

Tan, a ceramicist and art educator, said the idea behind the work came during their first meeting, when Zixuan asked her how to draw a sunflower.

Realising her mentee had never seen a real one before, she promptly brought one at their next session.

For the next few meetings, the two of them – with help from Zixuan’s nanny – began choosing and assembling images, which they would shape into small clay versions.

Tan would slowly notice her reserved young collaborator coming out of her shell, and by the end of their sessions, Zixuan would be the one giving them instructions.

“We realised that was where the synergy was – she enjoys people working together with her,” said Tan, who added that working on ceramics also turned out to be quite beneficial.

“Cerebral palsy affects the muscles. And there was one session when her dad was around and he was surprised to see her squeezing (her hands). That’s when we realised clay can be a good art form for her because it allows her to exercise her muscles,” she said.

The changes in Zixuan’s behaviour did not go unnoticed by her family, who has been working with Superhero Me since 2016, when the arts group held a workshop at Zixuan’s school, the Cerebral Palsy Alliance School Singapore.

“She’s now more excited to come out of the house and be more sociable,” noted her mother, Wendy Ang.

Zixuan’s nanny, Ei Ei Htwe, added: “When she’s at home, she’s never goes out and seems angry every time. Now, when she goes out and meets her new friends, she’s relaxed and happy.”

Empowering young folks like Zixuan is at the heart of Superhero Me’s mission since it started as a three-month programme under the Lien Foundation back in 2014.

Since then, it has reached out to 12,000 people. It has also been tapping into a regular core of 40 children, who come together for workshops at the Enabling Village located in Lengkok Bahru.

“We work with children with disabilities, children from less privileged families, and typically-developing children. And what we try to do with these sort of workshops is to get the kids to look and acknowledge each other, to start a conversation,” said Superhero Me co-founder Jean Loo.

The interactions have resulted in some positive changes among the children.

“For children with special needs, when they mix with so-called normal or typically developing children, it actually stimulates them to surpass expectations people have with them. They might become more chatty and willing to open themselves up, because the stimulus they get is very different from their friends who might also have autism or cerebral palsy,” she said.

Zixuan’s mentor Chloe Tan recalled one particular instance at the Enabling Village, where the exhibition’s participants would gather for their respective workshop sessions – she was looking forward to meeting her new friends, siblings Benjamin and Beatrice, who are also participating in the exhibition.

“She had asked if Benjamin was coming and when he walked in, she excitedly screamed his name!” said Tan.

They have also noticed how typically developing children acquire a sense of empathy. “They learn how to think of not just themselves but other children – working in a team and working with children who are non-verbal. It’s a lot of on-the-spot problem-solving skills that they develop,” said Loo.

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Aside from the ongoing exhibition at the National Museum, Superhero Me has another big event coming up – and true to their inclusive thrust, it will be called Superhero We.

The festival, which will take place in March, and the group is planning to branch out from visual arts and are exploring collaborations with dance groups and musicians.

“It will be a lot of dance, music and movement. We want to do this big inclusive disco for all the kids to mix and move together,” said Loo, adding: “We always emphasise that it’s okay to be different – as long as you are who you are. They learn that success, creativity, beauty can be in any form.”

SINGAPORE: Three years after opening, Singapore’s only cat museum will shut its doors for good on Jun 10. 

With the lease on its premises expiring in five months, the top priority is to find homes for two dozen cats and kittens, founder Jessica Seet said in a media release on Thursday (Jan 25).

The cat museum currently operates out of the second floor of a pre-war shophouse in Purvis Street. It moved out of the third and fourth floors in September last year, after Seet got embroiled in a dispute with the authorities over the use of its upper floors for the museum’s cat shelter and adoption centre. The landlord has since decided not to renew Seet’s lease at the shophouse altogether.

Without a place to house the cats in sight, the former Gold 90.5FM radio deejay will have to close the museum’s doors.

MORE THAN 20 CATS UP FOR ADOPTION

Visitors to The Lion City Kitty – The Cat Museum, Muses & Mansion come and interact with its resident cats – named after the likes of George Clooney, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Benedict Cumberbatch – while learning more about them. 

There’s also an adoption centre for potential pet owners to meet with rescued felines.

When Channel NewsAsia visited the cat museum on Jan 16, three volunteers were busy with daily chores, such as cleaning the numerous litter boxes, grooming and feeding the cats. Seet also had her hands full, nursing a grey newborn kitten with a milk bottle. 

“It is incredibly sad that it has to close,” said Kim, an Australian expatriate who has been a volunteer for over a year. “But I always think that when one door closes, another door opens. Hopefully, something will happen and they’ll find a new space so the work can continue.”

“The worry is what will happen if they don’t find a new home,” said 43-year-old Tina, another volunteer.

Seet said that the resident cats would head home with her and a few volunteers at the end of June.

However, the rest of the cats will have to find new homes. The museum put out an adoption call on its social media pages earlier this month but so far, only one kitten has been taken home. 

With the June deadline looming, the urgency has set in to find permanent homes for the remaining 24 cats and kittens.

Four-month-old Snowman was part of a litter of three kittens that was rescued during the festive period last December. They were found in the Little India area by a regular cat feeder, who quickly realised that the litter were all down with cat flu. Once nursed back to health, Snowman and his siblings – Santa and Little Elf – were taken to the museum.

And there is Sid, a playful grey-and-white tabby that was found as a kitten with his three siblings in Bishan. Rescuers noticed a pair of young boys playing roughly with two kittens, and found two more in a cardboard box nearby. All four kittens were all covered with ants. 

While Sid’s siblings – Diego, Manny and Scrat – have since been adopted, the one-year-old is still looking for a home.

NOT THE END OF THE ROAD?

While the business winds down over the next few months, Seet has her focus set on the next chapter of the cat museum.

“This is something that we really hope we can continue. This place has become so much more than just about the cats, because we have so many amazing volunteers from all walks of life … coming out in force to run this place,” the 51-year-old said. 

She admitted that the September incident had left her “exhausted” and she contemplated giving up.

But speaking with Singaporeans and volunteers gave her the encouragement and resolve that it was a project worth fighting for. 

On Thursday, she launched a campaign to raise S$1 million, half of which would go towards putting a down-payment for a new place for the establishment.

“(The tenancy issues) got us on the path of thinking we should buy a place. If we continued to rent, we would always encounter issues like this,” said Seet. 

She said that the landlord would not be returning their S$21,000 rental deposit, citing “unreasonable repairs”.

Seet is hoping that the museum’s next home would still be in the Civic District, citing the location’s accessibility for visitors and potential adopters. If the fundraising is successful, she wants to restart the business at the end of the year.

“This time we will work very closely with MND (Ministry of National Development),” said Seet. She added that, while scouting for a new location, she would also check on the proper licenses needed, in a bid to avoid disputes with the authorities in the future.

In the meantime, Seet said she draws inspiration from singer Jason Mraz’s I Won’t Give Up. “Every time we sing it, we all start crying!”

SINGAPORE: Flash floods were reported in the western and central parts of Singapore following a heavy downpour on Wednesday (Jan 24) afternoon.

National water agency PUB said in separate alerts on Wednesday that a flash flood occurred at Jalan Boon Lay/International Road at 5.15pm and Craig Road at 5.16pm.

Videos sent in by Channel NewsAsia reader Daeun Amy Yoo showed the wheels of vehicles partially submerged in the flash flood, with water rising up to ankle level at Tanjong Pagar Road. 

Photos sent in by another Channel NewsAsia reader, who wanted to remain anonymous, showed Outram Road covered in muddy water.

Barriers from a nearby construction looked to have dislodged from their positions and floated onto the middle lane of the road, obstructing vehicles. 

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This story came from a reader tip-off. If you would like to send in photos or videos of something newsworthy, WhatsApp our Mediacorp news hotline at +65 8218 8281 or message us on Facebook.

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan team which negotiated the country’s free trade agreement with Singapore had been professional and dedicated in how they overcame the many challenges to conclude the deal, said Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran on Wednesday (Jan 24).

For that, they’ve earned Singapore’s respect and admiration, he said, specifically mentioning his “friend and colleague”, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama.

Mr Iswaran also noted that the agreement unambiguously signals Sri Lanka’s “determination to reconnect with global markets” in order to secure a better and more prosperous future for its people.

He was speaking at the Sri Lanka-Singapore Business Forum held in Colombo.

The agreement, which was signed on Tuesday (Jan 23), was the culmination of one-and-a-half years of negotiations between the two countries. It is Sri Lanka’s first comprehensive free trade agreement.

Mr Iswaran pointed out that bilateral trade between Sri Lanka and Singapore had increased by more than 25 per cent to 300 billion Sri Lankan rupees (S$2.57 billion), from 2016 to 2017. Bilateral trade in services and foreign direct investments has also shown an upward trend, he added.

The momentum is increasing given the rising interest in Sri Lanka from Singapore companies, noted the minister, as more of them explore opportunities in growth sectors like hospitality, consumer and infrastructure.

“Sri Lanka is also an attractive market for Singapore’s small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) as they internationalise, and some have made Sri Lanka their first overseas venture,” Mr Iswaran said.

Three Singapore companies also sealed deals with Sri Lankan partners at the forum, with the signing of four agreements for new projects across food, aquaculture, hospitality and infrastructure. For example, Singapore SME Food Studio will set up and operate premium food courts in some Sri Lankan malls, while aquaculture business Ark Holdings will build and operate a crab farm.

SINGAPORE: A random test of 20 sunscreen products in Singapore showed that the concentrations of three common ultraviolet (UV) filters were within “permissible limits”, the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) said in a media release on Wednesday (Jan 24).

The consumer watchdog said it commissioned the test for homosalate, oxybenzone and octocrylene as it was concerned about the impact of UV filters on consumers. 

In excessive amounts, UV filters have been associated with skin allergies and other health problems, CASE said. 

The three substances were selected because they are common UV filters used by the industry, and their permitted concentrations – as stipulated in the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive administered by the Health Sciences Authority – is 10 per cent, it added. 

The 20 samples were selected by random sampling and purchased from departmental stores, beauty and pharmaceutical stores as well as online shopping platforms.

Homosalate, oxybenzone or octocrylene was not detected in 10 samples, and were within the permitted concentrations for the other 10, according to CASE.

“The test results suggest that despite the presence of UV filters as ingredients in sunscreens, the amounts of such substances (if any) are generally within the safety threshold for consumer use,” it concluded.

CASE said that notwithstanding the test results it encouraged consumers to purchase sunscreens from reliable and reputable sources and follow the instructions for use. Consumers should also be vigilant when purchasing products from online shopping platforms, where the products sold may not satisfy local safety requirements, it added. 

In addition, it advised consumers using a product for the first time to check for allergic reactions by applying it on a small area on their skin. If there is any adverse reaction after using a product, consumers should stop using it immediately and seek medical attention, it said.