Missions Festival 2010

I was at the station manned by HealthServe, one of the few organizations that helps migrant workers in Singapore.

First, we were asked to write down the first 3 words that came to mind the moment we thought of migrant workers. I don't even want to list my answers.

Then 30 of us squeezed into the adjacent room which they had set up to look like an actual workers' dormitory in Singapore. The beds were so close to each other they could only keep their luggage along the isles, standing up. Then again, I would not call those beds. It's more like boards. There were no mattresses, just flattened cardboard boxes in their place. Laundry was hanging all over, and plastic insects scattered all over the floor gave us a faint idea of what these workers had to endure.

One of the actual foreign workers there commented that this room looked like heaven compared to where he lives. Maybe coz in his dorm the fans were removed. "Why!?" a caucasian lady asked. "To save electricity." But of course.

The 30 of us packed into the room the way these workers are on a daily basis and watched this video, made by one of the workers that HealthServe came into contact with.



We headed back to the previous room, sat down, and looked at our 3 points we had written in the beginning. Then we were told more about their plight, and how trapped they are here. If they get injured, their employer can make use of a loophole in the system to strike off their contract to not need to settle all the legal complications. And the only legal authority, the Ministry of Manpower, tends to side with the employers. The government uses taxpayers money to help Singaporeans you see.

I was already holding back tears as some of us began to ask one of the foreign workers questions. "Why did you come to Singapore?" we asked him, and he replied in Chinese, "The agent told us life is good in Singapore."

"Do you regret coming to Singapore?" someone asked. I could not hold back my tears any longer.

"After coming here... I'd rather work in China." he said. Then he lifted up his left hand, and we were told he was injured a few months back and could no longer bend his fingers. He started crying, and left the room.


Find me a place where I can weep, and I will.