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Global Community Day (GCD) is a flagship annual event by Temasek Polytechnic that gathers together the various polytechnics in Singapore for a full day of celebration of diversity, culture and community. Through diverse workshops, interactive presentations and showcases, and performances, students and visitors alike were exposed to a multitude of cultures and community work presented by the different schools.
Republic Polytechnic (RP) has chosen the MWC this year in efforts to reach out to the migrant worker community. As a beneficiary of RP, willing students of RP will contribute to MWC’s cause in the form of ideas and initiatives in an act of support for the migrant workers in Singapore.
Hafis, an RP student and creator of the “Builders of Singapore” video that garnered more than 53,000 views on YouTube, was part of the team of student leaders championing migrant worker rights and representation. Hafis’ video and passion for working for migrant workers has been incredibly admirable and influential in gradually changing the perspectives we have towards these marginalised foreign workers. This initiative sparked off an interest and awareness for migrant workers that propelled RP to decide to work with migrant workers as part of Global Community Day.
As part of an ongoing project with MWC, students of RP have initiated a project titled Project C^2, which stands for Project Care and Connect. The name is fitting – the students plan to give out handmade boards with messages of appreciation written by Singaporeans to migrant workers as a display of gratitude and support for the workers who are often overlooked in our society.
“These migrant workers have agreed to come and work for us but they have been forgotten,” says Shi Hui, an RP student and part of the team. These personal messages penned down aim to get Singaporeans to reflect on the contributions migrant workers have made, probably a thought many of us have never paused to consider.
In addition, the students were also getting Singaporeans to decorate envelopes that will then be given to migrant workers for them to send handwritten letters back to their families, which will be facilitated by Republic Poly. Even though many migrant workers now have phones and nearly all of them call their families on a daily basis, this act of writing letters gives a certain value of sentimentality and intimacy that a phone call may not provide, a tangible memento that their families are able to hold that reminds them of their son, brother, husband, friend. Writing a letter is also an opportunity for the migrant workers to thoughtfully and carefully pen down their messages, where families can be comforted by the concrete words written by their loved one.
Both Shi Hui and Christine, RP students part of the team, explained that they were first introduced to the migrant worker issue from Hafis’ video talking to migrant workers. “All along I didn’t know that this issue existed, and I realised that all the little things that we do affects the migrant workers,” reveals Shi Hui. Christine also shares an anecdote where her father works as an engineer and has frequent interaction with migrant workers: “they feel alone, all they do is work. After watching the video my perception of migrant workers changed.”
Armed with boxes of decorated envelopes, 1.5L bottles of coke and sprite, packets of food, and enthusiasm, a group of RP students arrived at Tuas Dormitory eager to interact with the migrant workers. Stationed in a modest room, migrant workers trickled in, curious at the odd sight of Singaporean students in a migrant worker dormitory. Soon, through word of mouth, and the incentive of food and drinks, the small room was overflowing with migrant workers, pressing their paper against the walls, or bent over the tables, writing letters. The response was so overwhelming that we had to turn away some people as we ran out of paper and envelopes. The RP students were surprised and encouraged by the turnout, as were we. Seeing the contented faces of the workers who relished in writing letters back home, or clutching bottles of drinks or packets of food as an uncommon treat for themselves, a few moments of pleasure is often what keeps the MWC going.
It is of absolute importance to the MWC that we extend acts of gratitude and appreciation towards the migrant workers. The initiative with Republic Polytechnic has also undoubtedly shown the students a different perspective of the migrant workers in Singapore, and through such personal interactions and initiatives, helped to humanise these migrant workers for young Singaporeans.
Rachael Ng
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