STEM4Girls Scholarship, PeopleStories
Education for children in rural villages of Cambodia is a privilege, as children are expected to help in housework, farming, and even work at construction sites to feed the family.
Quality education such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) is a distant dream for many, especially girls!
Since 2021, The Tree Wonders is honoured to have supported girls to further their STEM studies. It warms our hearts to witness amazing transformations in the two girls in one short year!
Being a person who has benefited from a study scholarship, I see the importance of creating equal opportunities for everyone.
In the year 2022, The Tree Wonders donated coaching hours for more scholarships to girls who aspired to advance their study (and life) through STEM education. 100% of the fees were donated to support PeopleStories STEM4Girls Scholarship program.
Yes! You and I can do more to help these children!
Join PeopleStories to raise the much-needed fund.
Youth I-CAN! (Youth Individual Coaching And Nurturing), Hougang Sheng Hong Family Service Centre (HSHFSC)
Puay Eng started as a volunteer for Hougang Sheng Hong Family Service Centre (HSHFSC, http://www.shenghong.org.sg/family-services), providing Mathematics tuition services.
After identifying a growing need in promoting the well-being of the youths, she proposed that HSHFSC partner with The Tree Wonders Life and Career Coaching to run a pilot project called Youth I-CAN! (Youth Individual Coaching And Nurturing) that focused on enhancing and maintaining the youths’ well-being.
Youth I-CAN! Project ran between October 2014 and May 2015, delivering 143.5 hours of coaching services to 27 youths with great success. The youths displayed improvement in their attitudes, communication skills, self-confidence, anger management, and time-management. As they developed greater clarity in their self-identity, they became more confident in embracing their strengths and weaknesses. Some of them reported that their studies had significantly improved and that their teachers were pleased with the changes.
It has been rewarding to see that the youths are more positive and show greater ownership in taking action to improve their well-being. Many of them have expressed their desire to contribute to society too. We hope the youths will continue to grow in their resilience and lead increasingly fulfilled lives.
Puay Eng’s contribution was featured in Society of Sheng Hong Welfare Services Annual Report 2014/2015: Annual Report 2014/2015 , click here to read the report directly.
Hear what some youths have to say about the Youth I-CAN! Project:
“Coaching has allowed me to understand and identify the root of my problems and allow me to come up with suitable solution. I have achieved positive outcome.”
“This coaching has make me a better person and to remember my dreams.”
“The greatest benefit of coaching has brought me is not to easily give up in life.”
“Learning more about myself than before and having a better life style.”
“Finding and moulding my strength to the fullest enabling me to reach more than I had known/done before. It has improved my life story. I became the better me.
“I have achieved setting goals for myself for the future and I have learned that I am the one who take 100% responsibility of my life.”
“The Coach managed to find my problems and allowed me to think and suggest solutions for my own problem. Basically, she did not just gave me a fish, but she taught me how to fish.”
“Understanding my situation and make me think from different perspective. She did not answer my problems but made me answer them myself.”
“In realising that I have the potential and discovering that there are opportunities for me.”
“I would really recommend to other youths as it is very beneficial. She not only helped me set a goal in life, but tell me how to achieve it.”
Young Caregivers Programme (yCG) Facilitator, HCA Hospice Care
Leveraging strengths in workshop facilitation, Puay Eng also volunteers with HCA Hospice Care, facilitating the Young Caregivers Programme (yCG, https://www.hca.org.sg/Young-Caregivers-Programme). The aim is to inculcate in our youths the value and benefit of building meaningful relationships with the elderly and elderly sick. Nurturing our youths to be good caregivers from an impressionable age will help them develop into socially responsible adults, mindful of elderly needs and to some extent, palliative care.
Other Volunteering work
Volunteering can be both fulfilling and fun too. 
Beside the more serious learning and development activities, Puay Eng also put on the sportswear and volunteered for the 28th SEA Games (5 – 16 June 2015). Being the buggy driver for the medical team, interacting with doctors, nurses and first-aiders opened up her perspective in a whole new way. It was a fun and educational experience.