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Make the best of what you have, says young Singaporean from lower-income family

SINGAPORE — As a young child growing up in a three-room flat in Toa Payoh, Mr Eric Lee was aware that finances were tight for his family of five. His father, a blue-collar worker in a fibreglass company, was the sole breadwinner, and his homemaker mother occasionally took on babysitting jobs to help supplement the family’s income.

Mr Eric Lee grew up in a family of five in a three-room flat in Toa Payoh. Despite living frugally, Mr Lee said he had a “fair start” in life, and that his parents made sure they gave him and his two siblings whatever they could afford “with everything they had”.

Mr Eric Lee grew up in a family of five in a three-room flat in Toa Payoh. Despite living frugally, Mr Lee said he had a “fair start” in life, and that his parents made sure they gave him and his two siblings whatever they could afford “with everything they had”.

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SINGAPORE — As a young child growing up in a three-room flat in Toa Payoh, Mr Eric Lee was aware that finances were tight for his family of five. His father, a blue-collar worker in a fibreglass company, was the sole breadwinner, and his homemaker mother occasionally took on babysitting jobs to help supplement the family’s income.

Recounting his childhood to TODAY, Mr Lee, 25, said: “We couldn’t splurge. We wouldn’t buy things that were unnecessary, and would get really what was mandatory or needed.”

“Simple things”, such as turning off the fans when they were not in the room, and not wasting water helped the family live frugally.

While some of his more well-off peers would not have faced such challenges, Mr Lee stressed that he had a “fair start” in life, and that his parents made sure they gave him and his two siblings whatever they could afford “with everything they had”.

For instance, they paid for private and group tuition for him when he was in primary and secondary school in preparation for major examinations.

He was not aware if this put a strain on his family’s finances, and even if it had, his parents “didn’t show it”.

His now-retired father and mother, who are 61 and 56 respectively, did not have much education, but they wanted Mr Lee and his siblings to have “what they didn’t have”, he said.

But he stressed that they did not put pressure on him. He added: “They said that so long as you’re giving your best, it doesn’t matter where you end up.”

WAKE-UP CALL

When his O-Level examination results fell short of the scores needed for entry to the accounting or business courses in polytechnic, Mr Lee said it was a “rude awakening” for him that he had to work harder.

“I told myself that ‘enough is enough’, you can’t fail anymore... I wanted to do well in the near future at the very least,” said Mr Lee, who enrolled in Ngee Ann Polytechnic to read mechanical engineering.

He was determined to prove to his parents that he could do well in school, and have a good career, just as his older sisters — who are 32 and 30 — did. His oldest sister is a senior social worker, and the other works as an engineer.

After putting in a lot of effort into his studies, and finding a study group of four friends, he graduated from polytechnic with a grade point average of 3.8 on a scale of 4 and earned a place to read mechanical engineering at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

MENTORSHIP A BIG HELP

Shortly after completing his NTU degree in May, he joined American manufacturing firm Veeco as a research-and-development documentation engineer.

Now that he is earning a wage, Mr Lee is working to repay his father’s loan of S$20,000, which went to settling the lump-sum payment for the bank loan Mr Lee took out to finance his undergraduate studies. He contributes about S$800 a month, and hopes to repay the loan in two years.

When asked if his parents are happy with their children’s achievements, he replied that they are.

“When I was offered this job, they said that the pay doesn’t really matter, but I must be comfortable with what I’m doing at the very least,” he said.

Despite his family’s frugal lifestyle in his younger days, Mr Lee said he had never seen himself as disadvantaged. He added: “I also wouldn’t want to think about it as well, because the more you think about it, the worse it gets.

“So, why not just work with what you have? Focus on what you have, and not what you don’t have.”

Mr Lee also credited his mentor Ian Tan, chief enabling officer at training and consultancy firm Lifeskills Enrichment, who helped him discover and realise what he wanted from his career and in life.

The mentorship is part of pro bono initiative, MentorsHub, which pairs accomplished professionals with undergraduates, particularly those from less privileged and single-parent families.

Under the initiative, he also benefited from a workshop on how to ace job interviews. Mr Lee said he learnt that one “must always be prepared”, as “the more prepared you are when an opportunity arises, the better chance you stand”.

For this week's Big Read, TODAY sat down with several youths who had a disadvantaged start in life to find out about the challenges they confronted as well as the opportunities that came their way. Read their profiles here:

Teachers, friends help Normal (Tech) student in his journey to NUS

A nudge from his older brother and family friend, and prodding and support from his school spurred Mr Tan Wang Ren, 25, to pull off something that no one in his school had done before: Move up to the Express stream from Normal (Technical). Read more here.

Tan Wang Ren with his teacher Ng Chee Keong. Photo: Najeer Yusof/TODAY

25-year-old pursued part-time degree with her own savings to ease burden on father

After finishing her polytechnic diploma in biomedical science in 2013, Ms R Abirami took a leap of faith, electing to pursue her undergraduate studies part-time as she did not want to further burden her father’s finances. Read more here.

Ms R Abirami (seen here with her parents) is from a low-income family of six. Her father, a technician, was the family’s sole breadwinner until she joined the workforce five years ago. Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY

Mum’s words spur undergraduate to overcome family’s financial difficulties

For Mr Mohammad Helmi, 24, the financial hardships he had weathered during his younger days turned him into a resilient young man raring to create a better life for himself and his family. Read more here.

Mohammad Helmi is from a low-income family and is the oldest child. The final-year business undergraduate at SMU scored a coveted six-month internship with Apple last year. Photo: Raj Nadarajan/TODAY

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