Donning aprons with Hwachae (Korean fruit punch) drinks in hand, they were not your typical baristas. These 20-year-old Singapore Polytechnic students served not just drinks, but also knowledge about abuse, encouraging young people to be active bystanders and willing to intervene when they witness a victim of abuse.
The team of five final-year students from the Media, Arts and Design (MAD) School (with a specialisation in Creative Community Engagement with Psychology) were Mr Stephen Teo Shao Hong, Miss Ho Yue Ling, Miss Meredith Tan Yenn Xi, Miss Dian Azura Riduan and Miss Wen Qing.
The name of their project, “3rd Perspective Bystro”, was taken from the idea of a bystander, or a third party, in a situation of violence, while “bystro” was a play on the words “bystander” and “bistro”.
The project adopted a cafe-style concept, as “a lot of young people go to cafes, and in a cafe, young people usually have conversations”, said Miss Ho.
“We want to re-enact that part, to have conversations in our exhibits too”, she added.
They hope to encourage this through their interactive exhibits and workshops, aside from selling the trendy Hwachae drinks for $4 a cup, raising more than $200 for Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) Singapore.
One of the exhibits, titled “A Normal Conversation”, featured a clay figure of a girl being heckled by a group of boys. Participants were encouraged to speak to facilitators on hand, reflecting on and understanding what happened.
They were also presented with Reddit posts inspired by real-life scenarios describing examples of abuse, and encouraged to offer advice and reassurance to these victims.
As part of the After Hours Workshop, participants were also urged to put themselves in the victims’ shoes by engaging in an activity which helped them unpack the victims’ experience of abuse.
