‘Tell her you like her': The S'pore social experiment connecting strangers through letters

Straits Times

15-05-2025

A social experiment started by Ms Gena Soh (left) is connecting Singaporeans through the lost art of letter-writing. PHOTOS: GIVE.ASIA
'Tell her you like her': The S'pore social experiment connecting strangers through letters
SINGAPORE – 'I'm at Bar Nkd and I'm absolutely wasted, but hi,' reads a letter from a stranger. 'I hope you have a good night. And also, tell her you like her. This is your sign. Good luck.'
Singapore may not have a reputation for being the friendliest city, but one social experiment is telling a different story, one letter at a time.
Since March, cryptic QR code posters have popped up across the toilets and walls of 10 cafes and bars in the city centre – from Pearl's Hill Terrace to Ann Siang Hill. Scanning this code leads to a form (str.sg/5PVy) where anyone can write an anonymous letter to a stranger.
Every Sunday, participants are matched and receive a letter from a stranger. So far, 94 people have exchanged 104 letters.
Once a writer submits a letter, they are matched with another writer and receive a letter from them on Sunday.
PHOTO: GIVE.ASIA
'I feel very alone here in Singapore, but then I saw this sign and thought, maybe I'm not the only one feeling lonely,' reads one anonymous letter.
'It's okay not to be okay sometimes. These moments give us the kick in the butt we need. Being able to admit that sometimes things aren't as good as they should be is motivation to make change.'
Another letter writer confesses: 'I fell in love recently. A wonderful type of love, honest, open, true, the kind of love that people long for.'
'I leave Singapore in a while, so these moments are precious. I will come back. But there's that lingering fear that distance will put a halt to us,' the writer continues.
Part of the reason for the candour may be because many stumble upon these QR codes late at night in bars after a few drinks.
The initiative's creator, Ms Gena Soh, did not expect it to resonate with so many.
The 28-year-old, who works for social philanthropy platform Give.Asia, was initially inspired by a chance encounter with a friendly Grab driver, who wrote her a long and moving message on Instagram after the ride.
'I feel like we don't have enough initiatives to connect with strangers in Singapore. It's always so random and dependent on meeting a nice person and having that serendipitous encounter,' she says. 'So, I wondered, could we create these serendipitous encounters in more places?'
Ms Soh adds that when she was younger, she loved writing letters, especially during her time in girls' schools where letters of appreciation were a common token of friendship.
'Adults are so lame because they've lost that spontaneous earnestness,' she says.
She thus launched this social experiment with Give.Asia as part of its One Million Acts Of Kindness campaign to commemorate SG60. Although she initially expected to end the experiment in April, the letters kept streaming in.
She adds: 'I thought, why not just keep going?'
The project is largely automated. An AI tool screens submissions for inappropriate content and rates them on sincerity and effort. Based on those scores, letters are matched to others with similar ratings and sent out every Sunday. Ms Soh spends around 20 minutes each week overseeing this process.
So far, 94 people have exchanged 104 letters.
PHOTO: GIVE.ASIA
One letter writer, Ms Suranjana Sinharoy, a 23-year-old trainee lawyer, says the anonymity the project offers can be freeing. 'I found myself writing more meaningful and heartfelt things. It made me feel closer to myself, and it was interesting to feel a connection like that.'
Meanwhile, Ms Kathryn Lim, manager of Bar Nkd in Club Street, one of the venues hosting the letter-writing QR codes, says: 'It's been beautiful watching people take a quiet moment to write or read a letter.'
'There's something incredibly grounding about it in a world that moves so fast,' she adds.
Looking forward, Ms Soh is planning an in-person meet-up in June for letter writers to meet face-to -face. She is also working on convincing more businesses to host her QR code posters. 'It's all part of this ongoing experiment to get Singaporeans to connect,' she says.
Her next goal: getting a Member of Parliament to join in on the letter-writing.
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