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EMPOWERMENT
149
October14
– at home with Rosanne Woodmansee
Volunteer for Life
Australian ROSANNE WOODMANSEE’s initial
interest in Singapore’s culture, history and way of
life became a passion, and then a job, and in due
course her own relocation support business –
Five Foot Way Connections. And it all started with
volunteering, as
Verne Maree
discovers.
T
he Woodmansees invested
in this two-level Eastwood
penthouse about seven years
ago, Rosanne tells me. We’re
chatting over a cup of vanilla tea in the
living room, sitting on 1930s lounge
furniture that came from the antiques
store at 51 Craig Road. You may have
seen the sign above its door that
famously warns: “We buy junk and sell
antiques. Some fools buy and some
fools sell.”
Fortunately, husband Steve shares
her taste for old and eclectic objects,
and many of the
objets d’art
and
knickknacks on the walls and elsewhere
were picked up during his travels in the
region. It was Steve’s career that brought
the family from Sydney to Southeast
Asia, first to Penang in 2001 and then
to Singapore in 2005.
“I loved Penang,” says Rosanne. “I
found it liberating. I’d never in my life
imagined myself being so self-sufficient
in a strange culture. As I wasn’t allowed
to work there, and the children were still
fairly young – 13, 11 and 4 – I joined the
International Women’s Association (IWA)
and made the most of my newfound
free time.”
Gina (now 16), the youngest of three
daughters, is the only one left at home.
Fashion designer Emily (25) lives and
works in Melbourne, while Laura (23) is
pursuing her art studies in Berlin.
“Looking back,” Rosanne reflects, “I
realise how many doors volunteering
has opened for me. Star ting in
Malaysia – and even back in my
children’s preschools in Australia –
it has allowed me to meet so many
different kinds of people that I would
never have had the chance to meet
otherwise. Whatever you do tends to
open new doors. Editing the monthly
IWA newsletter, for example, prompted
me to join writers’ groups when I came
to Singapore.”