My journey on starting Feed 52

Hi! My name is Gabriel and in 2019 I started a project called Feed 52 which aims to promote social integration amongst persons with autism. The journey of Feed 52 has not only been an expression of my walk with God, it has also brought me closer to the heart of God.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with autism, the Autism Resource Centre (ARC) provides this definition: “Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects a person’s ability to make sense of the world and relate with others. Autism comes from ‘autos’, the Greek word for ‘self’, and a person on the autism spectrum is often referred to as someone who lives in a world of his own.”

The unexpected road

Right after I completed my national service, I had a few months before university started. Like all Christians, I prayed and asked God how I should spend my time. In conversation with Him, I felt led to a particular autism school – which was weird. I barely knew anything about autism much less have I interacted with anyone with autism. But I decided to go. After all, it was near my house, and it offered a decent pay.

During my time at the school, I assisted the teachers in daily tasks and got to interact with the students. One day I asked one of my fellow teachers “what happens after they leave?” My teacher replied saying that if they were lucky, they would go into a day activity centre, if not most of them would end up staying at home.

This made me sad. Graduation to many of us is the beginning of a new chapter marked by endless opportunities. Yet, for these kids as they graduate, it is as though the floor below them give way. They do not stay at home because they are lazy, but because there was no place in society for them.

I prayed, and asked God, could we do anything about it?

The start

A year had passed. I had thought of an idea that could possibly help them, yet I didn’t know if I wanted to do start. I was not keen on starting something that would draw attention and people wondering what the hell I was doing.

I started praying, and on the 22nd of June I said yes to God. The very next day, I backed out and said no. It was a wrestle with God, and I felt God telling me that at the end of the day this was a choice I could make and not a call – much like riding a rollercoaster.

On the 25th of July I came back to God and said yes.

At the end of the day, it boiled down to 3 things: first of all, I knew that I would encourage others to do something of this nature and in order to encourage others I first needed to live it out. Second, there was a genuine need and God was willing. Lastly, if fear was the only thing holding me back, isn’t the “right” choice obvious?

Importance of mentorship

Embarking on this project was unexpectedly difficult, most of the time I didn’t even know what I was doing. I spent the first few months reading a lot and talking to various people to better understand the space. One person I met was Kenneth, the founder of Solve n+1. A friend of mine sent over a thir.st article covering Kenneth and my friend recommended I talk to Kenneth.

Long story short, I reached out and we had dinner. I shared my story as well as the idea I had. I also shared a ‘graph’ I plotted of the expected profit, to which he immediately laughed (the graph was basically a linear line up; he still reminds me of it today).

The rest of the story is a bit more complicated. Many things happen, we started to work with Kenneth to develop this project. We had many plans, but I soon learnt that very few things go according to plan. Yet that is sometimes the best part – there was one other person I worked alongside for this project, and she is now my girlfriend.

Closing thoughts

When Samuel came to me and asked me to write this piece, he believed that my story could encourage younger Christians. I hope this piece has served its purpose. My advice/encouragement to all who have read till this point would be:

1. Don’t force your story to be perfect. Life is messy, you don’t have to know the “perfect road” at every step of the way. Allow yourself the freedom to walk with God and explore life. If you make a mistake or are selfish along the way, it’s okay God is a pretty good teacher. Know that the road can be less than perfect and yet no less a testament to His goodness.
2. Mentorship helps a lot. The people who have gone before us have incredible insights to share.

Afterword: the current state of Feed 52

Regarding the project, I have since taken a back-seat and the good people at Solve n+1 have been continuing the work. The project has since been renamed to ‘social integration project’, and if you are interested you can read up more here: https://www.solvenplus.one/feed-52

Solve n+1 has been doing good work and if you are looking for a place to volunteer at do hit them up. Alternatively, if you would like to know more about the social service sector do check out their book, Beneath the Rug which is filled with compassion as it unpacks some of the social issues faced in Singapore (Disclaimer, they did not pay/ask me to say this).