Little Drops: Cherished Children of Singapore’s Past

‘Little Drops is a timely story that is finally being told.’ - Braema Mathi, researcher, writer, and social activist from Singapore
Stories of hope, love, and compassion from a bygone era of Singapore’s history
Little Cherished Children of Singapore’s Past is a compilation of biographies based on historical fact. These never-before-told stories chronicle how fifteen adoptees born from the 1930s to the early 1970s in Singapore found a forever home when their own biological parents could not raise them. These stories recount the plight of families of that era, the strength of friendships and informal social networks, Singapore’s migrant heritage, how lives were thrown into turmoil during the Japanese Occupation, and the struggles individuals had borne during that period.
Unfolding in these stories are the recurrent subthemes of poverty, superstition, how girl children were valued amongst the Chinese, and the magnanimous spirit of families taking in these children. What is most striking and odd about many of these children is that they were sometimes not legally given away. And yet these children would almost always end up in safe, loving, and caring homes of another culture. But rather than struggle between two cultural worlds, these adoptees have almost always had a firm sense of longing and belonging to their families of adoption instead of their families of origin.