Don’t mess with this gun-toting granny
Workforce S'pore's Professional Conversion Programmes help mid-career professionals get a new start.
The first time she entered the indoor gun range at the Aetos Complex in Corporation Drive, the sound of gunfire and smell of gunpowder scared her.
But Madam Janna Rahiman, 48, a grandmother of four, was determined to be an armed auxiliary police officer.
It was the job she wanted after stints as a factory worker, cashier, cabby and freelance property agent.
Thanks to Workforce Singapore's Professional Conversion Programme (PCP), Madam Janna is now a gun-toting guardian of our borders.
Madam Janna started training as an armed auxiliary police officer in September last year.
Last week, she told The New Paper: "When I shot my first live bullet, I trembled. I couldn't talk to people after that."
For the first two weeks of the three-month residential training course at Aetos' training academy, she kept falling sick.
She said: "My body ached and I had fevers. I cried behind the scenes."
Now stationed at Woodlands Checkpoint, Madam Janna cuts a sharp and confident figure in her Aetos uniform. She never thought she would become a security officer.
She said: "I like to try many things. I want to try out everything while I'm still alive."
It was her son, 26, who suggested she consider joining Aetos as a security officer.
'I LOVE IT'
She was cleared by the police and passed a health examination. Madam Janna then enrolled in the PCP for Auxiliary Police Officer (Armed).
She said: "Now at Aetos, I help many people. I am now protecting my country and my loved ones so they can sleep peacefully at night. I love it."
Her Woodlands Checkpoint posting is her first since completing her PCP in December. Her tasks include making sure there are no unattended bags, controlling traffic at the vehicle clearance counters and patrolling the area.
She said her job has given her a newfound respect for those in the security business.
"Previously, I didn't know what they did, what their job scope was," Madam Janna said. "They really sacrifice their time to protect our country. It is not easy. We have to be vigilant, we have to stay alert."
The oldest in her batch of PCP enlistees, Madam Janna never felt like her age was a barrier.
She credits the support from her family in helping her become a uniformed officer.
Her son would help rub ointment on her, and her husband, a Grab driver, takes her to her workplace and brings her back home.
Her daughter, 32, who has four children, packs food for her.
Madam Janna is relishing her new job and skills.
She said: "Previously, I never had all these experiences, like using a baton and learning self-defence. I'm looking forward to what we can learn tomorrow."
Ex-offender helps others change for the better with Professional Conversion Programmes
Mr Paul Tan arrived at Teen Challenge at age 17 after being caught with a knife during a fight at school.
Facing five years in jail and 12 strokes of the cane, he admitted himself into the Christian halfway house to try to reduce his sentence.
Two decades later, Mr Tan, 37, is helping offenders and addicts after completing the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP) for social workers in December last year.
He told The New Paper last week: "No matter how bad I was, the staff would still talk to me, telling me how God changed their lives. Some werein the same situation and had the same background as me."
SMOKING, FIGHTING
Mr Tan started smoking when he was nine and was drinking alcohol by 13. He started fights and played truant. His parents sent him to study in Australia when he failed Secondary 3 to keep him from bad company.
"It had the exact opposite effect," he said. "I felt that my parents didn't want me."
In Australia, Mr Tan got addicted to drugssuch as Ice and heroin and sold them to feed his addiction.
He continued his drug habit and his involvement with gangs after he was sent back to Singapore, until he turned his life around. After he was given 12 months' probation at Teen Challenge and another 13 months of probation at home, Mr Tan got a private diploma in mass communications. He met the girl he went on to marry and found his calling - to help other addicts and offenders.
"I know how hard it is. Changing for the better is a lonely road," he added.
Mr Tan eventually studied psychology andfound work as a certified trainer, but the pull of social services remained.
He applied for the PCP for social workers, a place-and-train programme that requires trainees to first secure employment with a participating social service organisation or hospital before applying to study.Now a provisional social worker, Mr Tan is working to clock the hours to become a registered one.
He said: "The whole journey feels like I am coming home and fulfilling what I was called on to do."
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