Mothership has been around for 10 years already!?

Whoa, even we’re surprised.

But hey, we made it somehow. And it’s all thanks to you.

Saying thank you is not enough. For our anniversary, we’re giving back to young people in Singapore, through ways that we believe will be meaningful to the next generation.

As one of our special initiatives, we collaborated with online personalities Jason Chua and Simon Khung for an event involving youth beneficiaries from The Salvation Army.

It is 5pm on a Monday evening and we're carrying bags of food into The Salvation Army's Youth Development Centre at Kallang Bahru.

Mentaiko fries, assorted rolls and sando — all prepared by Jason Chua and his team. Chua is better known as Beng Who Cooks, a chef and entrepreneur.

"Enough or not? Should be enough lah hor." Chua asks before promptly answering himself.

Shortly after that, entrepreneur and online personality Simon Khung (if he doesn't sound familiar, you'd probably know him better by his online moniker Simonboyyyyyyy) arrives and greets us — especially Chua — as if he has known us for years.

"Eh, where you park your car?" Chua asks.

Khung nonchalantly responds: "At the carpark lor."

In reality, it is the first time the two men are meeting each other.

But hold on.

What are we doing here, you ask?

It's Mothership's 10th anniversary so we hope to give back to youth-focused causes. In this instance, we're working with The Salvation Army to engage youths, especially those who are facing issues at home or in school.

And if you're asking 'why did Mothership get these two guys (read: self-professed ah bengs) for this initiative?', the answer is pretty straightforward. Both of them advocate for underprivileged young people.

Simonboyyyyyyy meets Beng Who Cooks

Chua, who founded the Beng Who Cares Foundation, has always been a champion for marginalised youths.

In a previous interview with Mothership, he said that he believes in giving back to the youths to relieve parents of their financial difficulties and worries.

"I really want to give the kids a dream. Because when you have a dream, you will have a direction to follow."

As for Khung, he hopes to give back to underprivileged kids because he used to be one himself.

He told Mothership:

"I started going (in) the wrong direction at around 12, 13 years old. So I know that without supervision, [they] can be led astray. The consequences is something that we'd never ever expect. I had friends passing away at a young age, I have friends serving 20, 30 over years of prison sentence. When we reach that phase, there's really no turning back."

The former drug offender, who now owns an apparel line and a production company, believes that everyone "starts with pure intentions". Thus, he feels encouraged to give his time so he can offer guidance to these youths and walk their journey with them.

And give their time, they did.

Stay in school, kids

After having a scrumptious dinner on us, Chua and Khung sat together with the youths for circle time, where they encouraged the youths to share their dreams and aspirations.

Naturally, the kids were slightly shy as they were meeting the duo for the first time.

To get them warmed up, Chua and Khung readily kickstarted the discussion by sharing their own life experiences.

Chua emphasised the importance of choosing your friends wisely and thanked the youths for showing up (because "showing up is half the battle won", he said).

Meanwhile, Khung shared his childhood ambition of becoming a policeman. And yes, he chuckled a little at the irony of it all, given his past of running afoul of the law.

But if there's one thing they would like the kids to know — it's to stay in school.

"Of course, if I tell you all these you'd probably say 'ah, don't talk nonsense' but that's my most honest answer — I do regret not studying properly in school," Khung said.

Chua's plea for the youths to stay in school was a little bit more interesting:

"I regret not studying technology. I got zero knowledge when it comes to technology that's why I have to rely on others [...] You see my [TikTok] editing very bad, sometimes my camera also don't wipe properly."

After some serious HTHT and nuggets of wisdom, Chua ended off the session by conducting a cooking demonstration for everyone.

He whipped up a simple yet delicious plate of creamy tom yum pasta....

... Which was promptly gobbled up (teenagers can really eat).

As the day came to an end, the youths who didn't have to leave just yet stayed on to hang out with us for a couple more minutes.

While reserved at first, they coyly approached Chua and Khung to take selfies together.

But, as expected, they were more reluctant to take an official group photo with us. Because youths.

Parting words

For Khung and Chua, initiatives like these are opportunities to contribute to the lives of others.

"We really only start to experience real life when we live for others," Khung said.

As for Chua, he hopes that the youths will learn to become comfortable in their own skin. He said:

"I always tell people I'm the embodiment of confidence, I really hope they'll bring back a bit of my confidence. I hope wherever they go, they walk like kings and queens because when you're confident, you'll do things differently."

Top image by Mothership.