You Have More Than You Need. Someone in Manila Could Use It

A small act of decluttering in Singapore can change a life in a Philippine village. Here's how.

Look around your home. There's probably a drawer you never open, a shelf gathering dust, a bag of old items you've been meaning to throw out for months. Clothes that still fit. Toys your kids outgrew. A working fan you replaced with a newer model.

In Singapore, we call getting rid of perfectly good things "blessing it away." And right now, there's a straightforward way to make sure those blessings actually reach someone who needs them, thousands of kilometres away.

THE INITIATIVE

What is Robin Cargo?

Robin Cargo is a sustainability initiative run by Colin Lau, based at Lucky Plaza in Orchard Road. The concept is simple: you drop off small, unwanted but usable items at his office. He and his partner, the boss of a Manila-based cargo company, handle the rest, including paying for shipping costs themselves.

The donated items go to Filipino domestic workers who want to send meaningful gifts to their families back home, to Filipino professionals channelling items to their favourite charities, and directly to slum communities in Manila, where the cargo boss's warehouse workers help distribute them to their neighbours.

Most people assume international shipping makes this kind of giving prohibitively expensive. For most destinations, they'd be right. But small items to Manila are the exception, and Colin and the cargo boss have made it their mission to absorb that cost for the rest of us.

THE STORY BEHIND IT

Why Colin Does This

Colin has two answers when people ask what motivates him. The first is about stray dogs on Bukit Timah Hill. During his army days, he noticed that his colleagues would throw away perfectly good food packets while thin, hungry dogs scavenged through the trash nearby. He started collecting the rejected packets and carrying them up the hill to feed the dogs, every week, until the day he left the military.

The second story is about a father who lost his son too young, and kept all the boy's belongings untouched in a sealed room for years. When Colin gently asked whether the son in heaven would prefer his things to sit in a locked room or be shared with the poor, the father's answer was immediate: "I would gladly bless the poor overseas, but I don't know how to ship items over."

That was 2006. A decade later, Colin had become exactly that person, the one who knows how.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

How Employers Can Help

If you employ a Filipino domestic worker, she may already know about Robin Cargo. But you can make it easier for her. Small items she would otherwise be unable to send, toys, clothes, household goods, toiletries, can be brought to Lucky Plaza and shipped to her family in the Philippines at no cost to either of you.

And beyond your helper, this is a chance to do something meaningful with the clutter that accumulates in every Singaporean home. Before you schedule that bulk waste collection, ask yourself: could this be someone's Christmas gift?

Robin Cargo is a self-funded initiative. Colin and the cargo boss cover all shipping costs. During the December peak, donations of money or logistics support are welcome. Giving to any other group is still encouraged, as Colin himself says: "Giving to anyone is still better than throwing away."

_{Initiative by Colin Lau, Founder of Robin Cargo Singapore}