Caffeine Experience Run By Ex-Prisoners And Museum at Tan Tock Seng Hospital

Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Photo from Wikipedia.

An eating place which offers employment to ex drug offenders released from prison. It gives them an income, status, focus, friends who are in employment, skills, a work history.

I met Bruce, the brand ambassador. He gave me his card. he visits schools and colleges and other places giving talks inspiring others to give up taking drugs and to turn their lives around.

We had a fascinating conversation. In prison in Singapore you might share a cell with three other prisoners. No plumbed-in toilet. No bed - a mat on the floor.

You can see why they might want to turn their lives around. However, it is hard to leave addiction. If you started taking drugs as a secondary school child. You might keep craving drugs. If you can't afford your fix, you might turn to petty theft.

What could turn your life around? Bruce says, being visited by your wife and children once a month in prison. talking through glass. Not being able to hug your child on their birthday, when they ask you for a hug.

Each person's story is different.

I have also met another member of toastmasters International, Glenn, who is prominent in helping people of all ages and circumstances to turn their lives around. Like Bruce, Glenn is also into Sales.

Back to the Caffeine Cafe. If you are in Singapore, you might have reason to visit the hospital. Or you might have read about its treatment of people who had SARS. There's a plaque to two members of staff who lost their lives helping SARS patients who were kept in Isolation.

The Hospital's Name
The hospital was founded by a philanthropist after whom the building gets its names. As you soon find out if you visit Singapore, or live there as an ex pat or permanent resident, tradition names, like Lee Kuan Yew, start with the family or clan name, a bit like British public schools. So Lee, and Tan, are family names. Tock Seng is the personal name.

The Tan Tock Seng Hospital Heritage Museum
You might also like to visit the hospital's museum about the man, Tan Tock Seng, and the Paranakans - Chinese men who had Malay wives and developed their own costumes, customs and food.

Other philanthropic restaurant projects worldwide include:Diced in Canada.

Useful Websites
thecaffeineexperience.com
facebook.com/theofficialtce
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Tock_Seng_Hospital
Shuttle bus service to Novena MRT:

Re Glenn Lim in Singapore
https://www.facebook.com/ProjectFeel/posts/this-is-the-life-story-of-glenn-lim-who-was-a-school-dropout-and-an-ex-convict-b/1480129015564165/
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/rebuilding-lives-from-scratch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPHKDl82CDE&feature=kp&fbclid=IwAR2nifT8CnwIc_qOp-ZsAJVGTrLTF6bzHUKi9clfplaBxwQXmjHEUloFqyE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtE1T5hMZ1o

Restaurant Projects Elsewhere
Canada
https://www.culinarychoreography.com/about
UK
https://londontheinside.com/london-businesses-that-give-back/
Includes description of Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in London, England. (Jamie Oliver's regular restaurants are in the UK and Singapore.)

TRAVEL
singaporeair.com
https://www.singaporeair.com/booking-flow.form
https://www.united.com/en/us

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share links to your favourite posts.