Cheryl Fox

“Pong Pong” is only 12 years old. He roams the streets, sells tissue paper so he can buy computer games. He’s been beaten and robbed, and has now started smoking. Did I mention he’s 12…

He’s loved at home, but he’s lost. And his family - his parents are both hawkers with 3 siblings - are at a loss on how to take care of him.

After spending a day with him, I learnt that while he may be a special needs child with speech problems and clearly learning disabilities… he was responsive, affectionate and understood a lot of my questions to him.

But it made my team think, “We could see his potential… What if he just had the right supervision and attention a child like him needs?” 

On Get Rea! ”The Lost Child“ among us - We profiled kids just like Pong Pong, as well as foster parents who give “unwanted” but beautiful children a chance to create new and happier memories to be had from their childhood.  

And this is what turned up in our mailbox on Sunday, 12 October, from one of our viewers. Thanks for all the positive feedback…

“As I spoke with various people over the last few weeks about Get Rea!, I have heard many good comments from them about it. They say that the issues covered are relevant and close to life, and the manner at which they are explored, was comprehensive, balanced and cogent. Keep up the good and important work! I know that you’re both trying to do your job, do it well and more than that, to do some public good though it. Though I don’t get to watch too much TV these days, I’ll definitely make an extra effort to catch some episodes of Get Rea! whenever I can.”

 As for what’s coming up next on EPISODE 3 next Monday: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6iyj6nHodc

Catch a glimpse : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60SMe-U60cI

A topic that’s had everyone talking - Setting up a Foreign Worker’s Dormitory in the heart of Serangoon Gardens, a middle-class residential area in Singapore.

At first, the 600 foreigners to be housed in this dormitory were meant to be ‘labourers’. Following the uproar against this idea, only those from the ‘maintenance and service’ industry will be staying there.

What came out of my debate with a few of the residents there?

Some said, a sudden surge of hundreds of foreigners into the area, would bring into question issues such as pollution, safety and having so many single men looking for “entertainment”.

The opposing camp spoke of discrimination, the fact that our ancestors were immigrants themselves who helped build Singapore, and that chances are - More of such dormitories will be set up in other private residential estates in the future.

Inside a 2-storey terrace house: “Home” to 42 foreign workers 

Aside from dormitories, we featured other types of housing like this place you see above. Where the tenants slept in beds, on wooden planks because the mattresses were infested with bed bugs. One bedroom’s windows were completely boarded up. They showered, washed their clothes and cooked their meals in the same area due to a lack of space. 

Get Rea! asked- Is Singapore only home to locals and well-heeled expatriates?

At the end of the day, it’s all about meeting a person’s needs. The need for food, shelter, personal safety, healthcare and human affection. But does meeting one person’s needs have to mean sacrificing the needs of another?

The NEW season’s first episode “A Place Called Home” on

Monday, 6 October at 8.30pm and 11.30pm that same night.

On Monday night, after Get Rea!’s episode was over, we received an SMS from a civil servant, sent in her personal capacity:

“We have been dealing with infrastructure and trying to resolve the problem of housing shortage etc for foreign workers every day, and I must admit it could get a little operational at times…  that I didn’t truly understand their plight. The episode has really enlightened me.  I was really saddened by the last quote. Thank you for teaching me lessons that I otherwise could have missed in my daily rush against time.”