Going Overseas for Advanced Reporting

Going Overseas For Advanced Reporting (Go-Far) is a hands-on course in advanced journalism reporting that immerses students in the challenges of operating in another country and culture. Students can work in any medium – print, photography, radio or videography, and carry out a major journalistic assignment as foreign correspondent. Led by instructors Hedwig Alfred and Samuel He, students prepare for their fieldwork by attending seminars and conducting independent research into the chosen location, then brain-storming for and pitching story ideas to lecturers while organising logistics of the trip. The module has taken student reporters to countries including Timor-Leste, Bhutan, Japan, Sweden and Iran.

This year, a team of 12 student reporters, photographers and videographers made their way to Estonia. The republic has been hailed as a digital nation, a country at the forefront of technological innovation with smart IDs, borderless enterprise and a virtual government. As Singapore pushes forward to becoming a smart nation, Estonia became a destination of choice to learn from. After 10 days in the Baltic, the team brings stories from the heart of Estonia. Read our stories and watch our videos here.

A stomach for medical tourism

Prisca Ang

More people from Finland and other Scandinavian countries are visiting Estonia to seek healthcare. Bariatric and plastic surgeries, in particular, are becoming increasingly popular among foreign patients.
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The Johor Baru of Scandinavia

Esna Ong

Every year, hundreds of thousands of Nordic tourists cross the Baltic sea on ferries, arriving in Estonia where everything is cheaper. In the capital Tallinn, they are able to buy cartons of alcohol and eat to their heart’s content — all for a fraction of their usual expenditure.
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More kids hooked on devices

Khairul Anwar

Depression in youth are on the rise worldwide. In digitally-advanced Estonia, these rates are rising even faster due to addiction to digital devices. While the country’s economy and startup culture is thriving from technological advancements, its youth are suffering from a digitalised society.
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Young teachers: absent

Gracia Lee

Estonia has one of the oldest teaching workforces among OECD countries, with almost half of teachers aged 50 or above. This is attributed to the low salary, lack of career prospects and heavy workload, which create a poor public perception of the profession. This also leads to a shortage in manpower, forcing some teachers to take on more classes or work in two schools.
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Estonian cuisine goes off menu

Nicholas Yeo

Fuelled by a growing economy and young chefs bringing home a wealth of experience from kitchens around the world, Estonia’s restaurant scene has exploded in recent years. Yet despite its promise, the industry is fraught with challenges such as, low wages, long working hours and getting locals to pay more for higher quality meals.
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Alcohol tax fails to curb thirst for booze

Dewey Sim

Estonia’s 70 percent tax hike on alcohol last year has forced Estonians to look for cheaper alternatives. A black market has emerged among young drinkers, and Estonians and Finnish tourists continue to flock to the Latvian border to stock up alcohol.
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Modern families

Ignatius Koh

It is against the law for same sex couples to jointly adopt children in Estonia. In recent years, many of these couples are now turning to mutual friends of the opposite sex in the LGBT community to conceive.
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More enrol in parent-owned schools

Gracia Lee

Parents who are dissatisfied with large, results-centric public schools have set up private schools based in Waldorf pedagogy. At these schools, teachers give out written feedback instead of grades, class sizes are below 20 and the same teacher stays with a class from the first to eighth grades. The curriculum also gives equal emphasis to the learning of art, music, drama and sports.
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Crime rates tumble with more cameras and drones

Sean Loo

Recent statistics has shown a decrease in the crime rates, including those of street crime. The police point to the advancement in technology, such as the move to a cashless society, and increase in surveillance as reasons behind this trend.
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Poverty haunts the elderly

Dewey Sim

Over four in 10 of Estonia's senior citizens live in relative poverty due to low pensions and the lack of support and savings, in what is the worst record in the EU. This is not confined to rural Estonia — they are also struggling in the capital of Tallinn, including those in social housing areas such as Mustamäe, Lasnamäe and Kopli.
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Enterprises start-up in South-east Asia

Prisca Ang

Estonia is a vibrant start-up hub but face roadblocks such as a small domestic market and stiff competition from European strongholds. Several of its start-ups have found a solution in expanding to Southeast Asia and Singapore.
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Cricket-lite makes a home run

Khairul Anwar

Led by Annemarri Vessik, the first female president of the Estonian Cricket Association, Estonia has reinvented the game to make it more attractive to men, women and children alike. Called the Super 8 format, it is much shorter than the traditional Test and T20 formats.
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Women soldier on to prepare for crisis

Alvin Ho

More women are signing up to be part of Estonia’s 26,000-strong volunteer army — which outnumber the their active defence forces. Terror attacks in neighbouring countries and the looming Russian threat inspire these new recruits, many of whom join to be part of a family.
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AI’s legal status up for debate

Sean Loo

The Estonian government is considering a law that could grant artificial intelligence legal status — potentially as soon as the end of 2019. Some implications for such a law include bringing up the question of who is liable should an accident involving a driverless car occur.
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Hobby farmers pay to work the land

Ignatius Koh

More Estonians are moving to the countryside to farm as a summer pastime. As a result of this new hobby, the effects of climate change has been reduced and the land is thriving again.
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Women give hunting a shot

Christy Yip and Esna Ong

Triin Roostfeldt is a female huntress from Viljandi County in Estonia’s southern forests. She lives and breathes the wild, sustaining her home, family and diet with her hunting skills. In a field dominated by men, she’s taking big strides to show that women are formidable too.
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My phone, my ID

Neo Shiwei

While electronic identity cards are quickly becoming the norm worldwide, Estonia takes it a step further by ditching physical cards in favour of mobile identity verification This can be seen in the rapid adoption of an app-based and SIM-card identification services over the last few years.
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Bumpy ride for free buses

Neo Shiwei

Estonia created the world’s largest free public transport zone in July 2018, offering bus rides at county level at no cost to passengers. But many Estonians would rather pay money for bus transport in exchange for more routes, increased frequencies and better roads.
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The People Dance

Christy Yip

Folk dance is a key Estonian tradition but its popularity is waning amongst the young. Marje Remmet, 28, is a dancer of 17 years. She lives in London but returns to Estonia every summer for folk dance. This year, Marje started her own dance group to encourage more people to participate in the tradition.
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The Future is Female

Nicole Lim and Alvin Ho

Women in Estonia have long been active participants of national security, due to a long history of invasion from neighbors. The women’s voluntary defense league has seen members stepping up to train to fight at the forefront, by taking part in international paramilitary challenges.
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Gunning for Change

Christy Yip, Esna Ong

Triin Roostfeldt is a female huntress from Viljandi County who founded the Estonian Women Hunters’ Society in 2015. She lives and breathes the wild, sustaining her home, family and diet with her hunting skills.
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Batter Together

Nicole Lim and Alvin Ho

Annemarri and Pilleriin Vessik are sisters in the Estonian Cricket Association. Having played the sport for almost a decade each, the women share how bonding over their passion for the sport has been an integral part in strengthening their relationship.
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Lasnamae: Almost Forgotten

Esna Ong and Nicholas Yeo

In Lasnamäe neighbourhood, many elderly citizens struggle due to low pensions and the lack of support and savings. More than four in 10 of Estonia's senior citizens live in relative poverty in what is the worst record in the EU.
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ABOUT US

Meet the team (from left to right):

Esna took photos of a huntress and self-driving robots with better motor skills than her.
Nicole was inspired by volunteers in the defense league; she might just sign up here.
Dewey took a four-hour ride to the Latvian border and returned with a smile and beer.
Hedwig learnt a lot about Estonia by sitting in cafes and watching people.
Khairul ate a kebab every night for supper and worked it off with cricket Estonian style.
Christy filmed many Estonians dancing for four days but says she still can’t dance.
Shi Wei had to photograph the parts of people’s faces for the cover of the book.
Nicholas photographed and ate his way through some of the best restaurants in Tallinn.
Sam spent an evening in a strip club — to interview the Russian-Korean manager.
Ignatius sat down for pie and a pint in the countryside with a Member of Parliament.
Sean tried his Japanese on an elderly couple at the post office with limited success.
Prisca nearly fainted as she watched surgeons remove patients’ stomachs.
Alvin now likes lemon-flavoured Kalev cookies, a biscuit eaten by soldiers.
Gracia found that when it comes to education, every two Estonians have three views.
©2018 - Nanyang Technological University, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Go-Far 2018