Project Connect started because of what COVID-19 triggered for a friend, Lyna. 

In Singapore, when we first went into DORSCON Orange, the situation of panic-buying hit the nation, as people went to supermarkets to buy the basic necessities. Lyna wondered empathetically, how this situation may or may not have impacted those who might have lesser access to the news, and also the physical and financial ability to purchase their necessities. 

The initial intention was for us to go visit these households (one-room rental flats as well as the elderly who live alone), and have conversations with them, and provide them with the necessities. Before we could go into action, Circuit Breaker (Singapore's version of lockdown / movement control order) kicked in, and we shelved the idea for a while.

Skilio came along, and requested for support for their Skilio Industry Immersion Programme (SIIP), and we thought that it will be meaningful for the University students to get involved in this project. Even though they will still not be able to go door-to-door to speak with the initial target audience, they can now reach out to more diverse stratas in the population to learn about their experiences during this COVID-19 pandemic.

This project was borne out of the pandemic, because there seemed to be deeper issues that surfaced from the challenges that we saw through the behaviour of people around us. Like, what are people truly feeling, when they panicked bought from supermarkets? Like, how does the policies and announcements that government made, impacted people, in general? How were people truly coping?

The intention is to have such voices from the ground heard, rather than just be a statistic.