New 'gang' of ex-offenders aims to help youths at risk
Carolyn Quek
Sun, Aug 03, 2008
The Straits Times
A NEW 'gang' in town takes in those with past criminal records, but it aims to do anything but stir trouble.
In fact, it wants to do the opposite - keep youth out of trouble.
Calling itself Architects of Life (AOL), the group of four ex-offenders wants to get young ex-offenders and youth at risk of delinquency back on their feet.
Its work involves running a mentoring programme for ex-offenders and holding talks and workshops in the schools to reach at-risk youths.
It has taken 'gang leader' Glenn Lim two years rally the group to the cause. All of them have had brushes with the law but have since turned around their lives.
Among those helping him are Ms Carol Wee and Ms Daphne Tan, both 28.
Ms Wee, now a youth worker, was orphaned at a young age and placed in relatives' care, but she fell into bad company and dabbled in drugs as a teenager.
At 15, she decided she had had enough and turned herself in. It was during her six months in isolation in drug rehabilitation that she thought hard about what she wanted to make of her life.
Ms Tan was a former gang member whose turning point came on a night she was tossed into a police lock-up as a teenager. The former Normal (Technical) stream student resolved to make good and study hard, and recently graduated with a degree in banking and finance.
Read the full story in Monday's edition of The Straits Times.
