SINGAPORE – For two hours one day, students from Tampines Meridian Junior College (TMJC) wandered through Jalan Kukoh – an estate near Chinatown and one of Singapore’s poorest neighbourhoods – in search of suitable places to eat, sleep and store their belongings.
They also had to decide what weekly groceries to buy while staying within a tight budget.
All this is part of a programme designed to put the students in the shoes of a homeless person with the help of video games.
Using digital avatars, they walked through a virtual re-creation of the neighbourhood to understand the challenges faced by homeless people.
The two-hour programme on homelessness was created by youth social enterprise Jalan Journey. It creates digital games to teach students about a variety of social issues that also include environmental sustainability and autism awareness. These games have been played by some 4,000 students from more than 25 schools in Singapore.
In the game played by the TMJC students, they were assigned tasks such as finding the best combination of groceries for $40, and identifying which characters were homeless based on the limited information provided.
One of the students, 17-year-old Indah Khalisah Putri Khairulnizam, said: “The game was quite engaging, and allowed me to learn more about the struggles (the homeless face).
“During the supermarket game, for example, I didn’t realise how challenging it would be to balance the cost of necessities with (factors) like caloric intake or nutritional benefit on a limited budget.”
TMJC teacher Lim Si Qin, 33, found the programme unique. She said: “By gamifying the process, the programme engages students by making them excited to play the mini-games and learn about (these social issues).”
The programme has also sparked interest in volunteering.
TMJC student Farhah Faesal Bintalib, 17, said: “It allowed me to experience (the struggles of homelessness) on my own. After learning about what they are facing, how could I not want to help them?”
The in-game world of Jalan Journey’s homelessness video game is a virtual re-creation of the estate that Mr Harrison Chong and Mr Sricharan Balasubramanian volunteered in.ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Empathy through play
Jalan Journey was set up in 2022 by undergraduates Harrison Chong and Sricharan Balasubramanian.
The two entrepreneurs were schoolmates at Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and were youth volunteers in junior college. The game created for the homelessness programme was based on their experiences in helping homeless residents in Jalan Kukoh in 2020.
Mr Chong, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering and finance student at the University of Pennsylvania, said: “The (in-game) story may be fictional, but we re-created as many details as possible, even down to the iconic basketball court.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, while the duo were in junior college, they joined other volunteers from Comm.UnitySG to assist displaced residents in the neighbourhood. They helped pack food rations, painted and cleaned shelters where the residents could rest and conducted temperature-taking exercises.
However, after graduating from junior college and moving on to National Service, they found themselves with less time to volunteer.
Jalan Journey was set up in 2022 by undergraduates Harrison Chong and Sricharan Balasubramanian.PHOTO: JALAN JOURNEY
Mr Balasubramanian, a 23-year-old engineering student at Nanyang Technological University, said: “It wasn’t sustainable for us to always be on the ground. We wanted to find a way to engage (more young people) and encourage them to volunteer.”
Inspired by games like Minecraft, they launched a pilot programme in 2021 with Singapore Polytechnic, allowing its students to experience a virtual walking tour of the Jalan Kukoh neighbourhood. The initiative received positive reviews from students and teachers.
The social enterprise officially launched by participating in the fourth edition of the Youth Action Challenge, a programme run by the National Youth Council that provides mentorship, guidance and funding to youth initiatives. At the event held from Oct 2022 to Feb 2023, they won the top prize of $51,000 in seed funding.
The programme has since expanded to cover topics beyond homelessness, and now offers a series of games addressing other social issues. These include a first-person role-playing game that illustrates the challenges of living with autism and a text-based adventure game that teaches students how to identify signs of mental health distress.
Each game is developed with the assistance of subject-matter experts. For example, social service agency New Hope Community Services (NHCS) was involved in the development of the homelessness programme, while Minds was consulted in the development of games relating to intellectual disabilities.
Jalan Journey is funded by seed funding from organisations and fees paid by institutions, which range from $4 to $25 per hour for each student. Its current team consists of nine people, though it also engages paid, external facilitators for its programmes, and developers for its games.
The social enterprise’s programme has produced results – in 2023, 13 per cent of people who volunteered with NHCS were referred by a Jalan Journey programme.
For its work, the enterprise has been recognised locally and internationally. It was nominated for the 2024 edition of the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Awards. It also won the World Summit Awards Young Innovators Award 2024 for contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
Jalan Journey founder Harrison Chong and Tampines Meridian Junior College students interacting during a session of the Jalan Journey programme on March 10.ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
This recognition has motivated Mr Chong to take a gap year from university to focus on running Jalan Journey. He said: “It’s a leap of faith to work on something meaningful.”
He hopes that Singaporean youths will grow to be more empathetic after playing Jalan Journey’s games.
“It might be a game for them, but it’s a reality for other people.”
For more information: https://www.jalanjourney.com/
Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Thanks for sharing!