Henderson Heights residents bid farewell to beloved community hub at void deck
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The We Love Learning (WeLL) Centre at Block 93 Henderson Road will move to a new neighbourhood at Block 129 Bukit Merah View by May 2025 after nearly two decades.
ST PHOTO: WONG YANG
SINGAPORE - For nearly two decades, the hundreds of households at Henderson Heights found at the foot of Block 93 Henderson Road a space that catered to many of their needs.
Called the We Love Learning (WeLL) Centre, the roughly 420 sq m space at the void deck has been many things: a tuition centre, a children’s library, and a place to get free groceries, food rations, and even used electronic goods.
Run by grassroots volunteers, the centre has been a rallying point for the community at Henderson Heights and its cluster of rental flats since it opened in 2005.
But the centre will soon shut. The residents it serves, from Blocks 91, 92 and 93 Henderson Road, are being relocated to rental flats across Singapore by the Housing Board, which is reviewing development plans for the area.
The WeLL Centre will also move to a new neighbourhood at Block 129 Bukit Merah View by May 2025.
Many Henderson Heights residents told The Straits Times the centre has been a source of help during tough times, and they will miss the volunteers there when the place finally goes.
Ms Diyana Abdullah, 46, said she felt alone when she moved to the estate as a single mother-of-three in 2010.
“But a year or two later, I came to the WeLL Centre and learnt there were people who wanted to support me and my kids,” said the freelance make-up artist, who rents a two-room flat in Block 91.
She had to look after five children at one point – her niece and nephew came under her care after her sister died in 2012 – and the WeLL Centre gave the children free primary- and secondary-level tuition in maths, science and English.
Conducted by paid tutors from Mendaki’s Collaborative Tuition Programme two to three times a week, the free lessons catered to some 300 students at its peak.
Ms Diyana said it helped her eldest daughter, now 24, do well enough in her O levels to enrol in Republic Polytechnic, where she graduated with a diploma in health management in 2022. She now works as an administrative assistant.
A container storing dry food rations managed by the We Love Learning (WeLL) Centre, a community space at Block 93 Henderson Road that has served residents at Henderson Heights for nearly two decades.
ST PHOTO: WONG YANG
The WeLL Centre began in 2003 as a storytelling club for kids from three years old, run by volunteers at the residents’ committee at Block 91 who wanted to raise literacy levels among children living in the area.
It moved into its current space, formerly a PAP Community Foundation kindergarten, at Block 93 in 2005.
In the almost two decades since, the centre has been serving residents in the area, running tuition classes and storytelling sessions, and monthly talks and activities for mothers under its Super Mummies programme, as well as distributing fresh vegetables to residents every week.
Before every school year, it collects school uniforms, shoes, and bags donated by sponsors to prepare hundreds of students for the school year.
And now, as residents are preparing to leave the estate, the centre has become the place where people come to say farewell and discuss their next steps. In October, the HDB also had a counter there for residents to select their replacement flats and collect their keys.
Grassroots volunteers preparing bags of fresh vegetables that are distributed weekly to residents of Blocks 91, 92 and 93 Henderson Road on Oct 28.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF LIONEL HENG
Mr Soh Chee Keong, 70, honorary chairman of the Henderson-Dawson Citizens’ Consultative Committee, said the centre is also liaising with moving companies to secure discounted moving services for residents. Its volunteers will also help frail and elderly residents to pack and move.
Mr Soh said he started the WeLL Centre with other grassroots volunteers because they believed children living in rental flats should get as much academic support as possible, so that they may improve their family’s circumstances in the future.
“Many children came here as pre-schoolers, stayed with us until they finished secondary school, and eventually graduated from ITE (the Institute of Technical Education), polytechnics, and a few went to university too,” said Mr Soh, whom residents affectionately call “Uncle Soh”.
“We brought community partners on board so that our projects will be sustainable, and when you have a continuous point of contact with a family across two, or even three generations, then you can build trust and really make an impact.”
Mr Soh Chee Keong, now 70, reading to children from rental households at the Residents’ Committee at Block 91 Henderson Road in 2005, when he was the chairman of the Henderson-Dawson Citizens’ Consultative Committee.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF SOH CHEE KEONG
Residents told ST they would miss the sense of community that the centre helped foster among volunteers and residents.
Ms Murni Indrayani, 42, who has lived in Block 93 for 14 years, said the Super Mummies parenting talks taught her useful skills to care for her two teenage children, who both have autism, and helped her to meet new friends in the estate.
“When devices at home are spoilt, we can also get second-hand items from the WeLL Centre, like a washing machine and a laptop for my son’s studies. It’s a big help because it saves us money,” said the housewife.
As for 63-year-old hawker Loo Kok Hua, the free tuition helped the grades of his three children. His two daughters, aged 18 and 21, made it to polytechnic, and his 16-year-old son in Secondary 4 has also seen his grades improve.
“I have known the volunteers for a long time, and they have really helped us through the years. We will miss them when we move next year,” said Mr Loo, who has lived in Block 91 for 28 years.
