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SINGAPORE – Mr Daniel Yong did not have an easy childhood.
His parents divorced when he was three years old, with his father gaining custody. And when his dad was jailed for 10 years, young Daniel was placed first in a children’s home and then in Boys’ Town.
He dropped out of school at age 15 and joined a gang, and started stealing and getting into fights. He soon landed in the Singapore Boys’ Home.
“I had no family support. My survival instinct was to steal and rob… I thought that once I have money, anything can be settled,” he told The Straits Times on Tuesday.
Now 35, he has since turned his life around, more than a decade after his final release from prison. He got married, started his own business and even returns to help inmates whose shoes he was once in.
On Friday, Mr Yong was among over 50 former convicts who attended a fund-raising gala dinner at The Fullerton Hotel held by Prison Fellowship Singapore (PFS) to mark 70 years of Christian prison ministry.
The charity also launched a commemorative book written by Dr William Wan, former chairman of PFS and general secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement.
Titled Forgiven Not Forsaken: Celebrating 70 Years Of Prison Ministry In Singapore, the book tells the stories of former convicts whose lives were impacted by the prison ministry, and those of staff, volunteers and leaders over the years. It is available at https://pfs.org.sg/events for a donation of $100, which is tax-deductible.
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