Together with a like-minded partner, Siew Eng decided to go down the entrepreneurial track. She registered her services, Douryoku  Associates, and briefly took on office space near the Raffles Place MRT. She has now given that up to operate from home.

“Being single, I feel I need time for myself to do things that I have always wanted to do. Operating from home gives me flexibility. All I need to run this business is a computer and a phone line. I have to be disciplined though and at times have to burn midnight oil to keep to deadlines,” she said.

Siew Eng is also conscious about branding herself as a thorough professional. She has since picked up two critical accreditations – one required by the Australian authorities and the other by US authorities – to do business translations. These would signal to her clients that her work is of a standard that meets the criteria required by these two bodies.

“These international accreditations also allow me to gain a better understanding of the nature of trade outside Singapore,” she added. 

An affectionate aunt to her niece, Siew Eng finds that working from home gives her time to play with her brother’s baby daughter while her brother and sister-in-law are at work. Siew Eng lives with her parents while her married brother lives a few blocks away.

Siew Eng’s email: tansieweng@douryoku.com
Website: www.douryoku.com

Gutsy duo’s SARS feat

Remember last year’s SARS crisis when people were afraid to go anywhere near Tan Tock Seng Hospital? If someone you knew said they wanted to spend days at the hospital to take photographs, you would have thought they were out of their mind, right?

Meet two such “out-of-their-minds” young Singaporeans – Bryan van der Beek, 28, and Ming, 25. They were not paid to go into TTSH. Yet, they readily offered their services when the Singapore History Museum was looking for photographers to capture the action in TTSH.

Of the five photojournalists who volunteered for the project, Bryan and Ming were the only two who went into the true danger zone, the Intensive Care Unit.

“We could not just whip up our cameras to take pictures. The heavy suits and masks we had on also made it harder to frame our photos. On the first day, we just observed what was happening and tried to understand what was going on,” said Ming, a quiet ex-Temasek Polytechnic photography student who is working on a solo exhibition next.
Both Bryan and Ming did not ask their parents for permission. They merely informed them that they were going to do it.

“My mother was the most worried, but even she just kept asking me if I was sure and did not try to stop me. But, my family suffered ostracism as did I when I came out of TTSH.  Wherever they went, they had to fill forms which asked if they had been in contact with anyone who had been to TTSH and they had to say “yes”, said Bryan, a Eurasian Singaporean. He is the only son and has two sisters.

Bryan did journalism in the US and was among the few photographers who went to take riot photographs during the Indonesian crisis in 1997/1998. He is now a freelance photographer working with Time and Newsweek magazines.
“I wanted to be a writer and only picked up the camera for a Visual Medium Course during my undergraduate days. But, once I picked up the camera, I never put it down,” said Bryan.

Both have no regrets that they did what they did and put their life on the line for not a single cent in return.
“We’re just happy that we managed to document a part of Singapore’s history,” Bryan said.

Bryan’s website: www.BryanV.com
Ming’s website: www.lifegoeson.com.sg

The pictures they, and fellow photographers, Lance Lee, Ernest Goh and Wong Maye-E, took of the Sars days is on display at the Singapore History Museum, Riverside Point until Oct 10. Admission is free. Telephone: 6332 5642.