SINGAPORE: After Workers’ Party (WP) chief and Aljunied Member of Parliament Pritam Singh visited the food court of Dignity Kitchen, he was all praises.
“In the course of my work as an MP, I sometimes meet real giants and incredible people. Koh Seng Choon is one such individual,” he wrote in a social media post on Thursday (Oct 16).
Project Dignity started in 2006, and four years later, Dignity Kitchen, a social enterprise for the differently-abled and disadvantaged, opened its doors.
Mr Singh, who is Singapore’s first official Leader of the Opposition, first visited Dignity Kitchen over a decade ago, when it was still based in Aljunied.
“Today, the incredible work continues,” he wrote, adding that he, Sengkang GRC MP Abdul Muhaimin, and WP Non-constituency Member of Parliament Ander Low had visited Project Dignity’s food court yesterday upon Mr Koh’s invitation.
He called the food “superb,” and added that “Since day one, Dignity Kitchen’s mission has been to restore dignity to the differently-abled and disadvantaged.
It provides sponsored training for unemployed adults with special needs and places them with employment partners within the F&B, hospitality and retail sectors. It also hires some of its graduates for the food court at Boon Keng and its book retail stores.”
The WP chief thanked Mr Koh and the Dignity Kitchen team for their “wonderful hospitality”, noting that the enterprise has an “exciting future” ahead.
“I wish it great success for the next lap!” he added.
The enterprise’s story dates back to 2005, when Mr Koh first met a polio survivor named Tony, who dreamed of becoming a chef, although he believed this would never come true as he had only one functional hand, and no employers wanted to hire him.
At the time, Mr Koj also met Hiok Keat, who had a cafe at Armenian Street. The two men shared a vision of a hawker training school for the disabled, and Mr Hiok would later go on to serve as Project Dignity’s General Manager.
The first Dignity Kitchen opened in 2010 at Balestier Road with three stalls.
Although they were asked by customers if they would “die from eating the food,” the initiative continued with such endeavours as training a visually challenged individual to be a cashier and training a hearing-impaired individual to take food orders.
Today, Dignity Kitchen is at 69 Boon Keng Road. With its seven stalls manned by the differently-abled and disadvantaged, it also provides lunch treats for the elderly from nursing homes across Singapore every day.
Learn more about Project Dignity from the video below and from its website.
/TISG
