Teenage runaways

She felt ‘conquered’ at home

 

She began running away from home at the age of 13 and never stopped the habit, even when she was on probation after getting caught for rioting and drug abuse.

 

Adilah (not her real name) said: “I felt ‘conquered’ at home. My mother didn’t even allow me to go to the provision shop two blocks away because she felt I was young and was afraid something would happen to me.”

 

The 17-year-old said: “I felt very stressed. My friends could go out but I couldn’t.”

 

So, one night after chatting with her friends, she stayed with them and did not go home. Her overnight stay became a two-week stretch at her friend’s three-room home.

 

“My friend’s parents didn’t ask why we were staying (there), but they told us to help out with the housework. Her grandmother would cook for us and even gave me money when I helped to run errands.”

 

Describing the two weeks as the “happiest time of my life because I had freedom”, Adilah’s daily routine consisted of waking up in the afternoon, meeting friends and then going back to her friend’s home to watch television and play computer games.

 

She went home after her parents found her through another friend, but stayed only for a few weeks before she ran away again for a month. This time, she slept in a tent at East Coast Park for a few days before moving into another friend’s home.

 

The soft-spoken girl has also had brushes with the law. Adilah was caught for rioting in 2005. But she breached her probation by staying out until morning or not returning home for a few days.

 

She said: “I went to my friend’s house to chat and spend time with them. We took drugs like marijuana and drank hard liquor.

 

“I didn’t listen to my parents’ advice to keep to my curfew. I felt they were always nagging at me and I was frustrated. I felt that my friends understood me better.”

 

Her probation period was extended for four months after she was caught for drug abuse. But Adilah started breaching her probation again. She would go clubbing at Mohammed Sultan Road thrice a week. Her night activities were discovered by her probation officer.

 

She had to go to court but avoided it for fear that she would be sent to a girls’ home.

 

She was later caught by the Police and sent to the Singapore Girls’ Home for two years. She has less than a year before she can leave.

 

Adilah is now waiting to take a food preparation course at Jamiyah Business School. Her hope for the future is to enter a digital media course at the Institute of Technical Education and learn about 3D animation.

 

She now regrets her recklessness. “I wouldn’t (have) run away again if I can turn back time because now I realise I’m behind in my studies and I always make my parents worried. I didn’t gain anything at all, except maybe only a little freedom.”

 

- ONG DAI LIN