The next time you see a migrant worker, SMILE :)

"Everyone has a story to tell, a lesson to teach, and wisdom to share... Life is a beautiful masterpiece bound together by your experiences. Open up and share your story; become an inspiration to others. You can make a difference because you matter. You were created with purpose. Live your life with intention, go out there and make a difference by being the difference." Melanie Moushigian Koulouris

Singapore is an affluent city, and we are developing at a really fast-pace. To keep up with the rapid pace of development, we employ thousands upon thousands of migrant workers from nearby developing countries such as Bangladesh, India and China. These workers are the unsung heroes who are responsible for the comfortable and beautiful houses we stay in, the impressive and sleek malls we visit, our clean neighbourhoods, and the dense transport network we have.

They toil their sweat and blood to make it possible for us to enjoy all the amenities we have today. Therefore, it really saddens and angers me when I see people treating them with disrespect and shun them like flies at times.

I guess it's just me, but I have always felt bad about how hard these workers have to work. In the hot sun, in the dusty environment, and I even remember seeing them outdoors during the bad Singapore haze. 

I have always wanted to get to know them better and one day, my wish was granted.

Here's my story.

A few months back, I was hanging out with my boyfriend when suddenly, a Bangladeshi worker came up to us. 

In his broken and bad English, he asked us for direction to a place which we could not understand. Confused, my boyfriend asked him whether he had a written address of the place. He took out a piece of folded paper from his worn-out looking wallet (which I observed had no money inside) and pointed to the address to the right. The location was somewhere in Buona Vista. (We were at Tiong Bahru at that time) My boyfriend asked whether that was the location he wanted to go, and he muttered something which seemed like a 'yes'.

After trying to point out the directions to him and trying to teach him how to take the MRT, he still looked very confused. He told us he has just arrived to Singapore one week ago. Then, he asked us whether it would be possible for us to bring him there. 

We decided to do so, since we had no plans.

We brought him to take the MRT to Buona Vista. During the journey, we started talking. He was only 20 this year and has just arrived in Singapore. He has 2 brothers, one was in Bangladesh working as a carpenter, and one was in Singapore working as a forklift operator.

He started asking us questions about Singapore. Like how is the education system here like? Where is the University in Singapore? What subjects do we (my boyfriend and I) study? What do we do for a living? What is our religion?

He was curious about us, about our lives. Through this journey, I realised how similar we are, despite coming from a really poor country, he also has hopes, dreams, aspirations, feelings, family... 

He was saying how Singaporeans are really lucky and people in his country are not so fortunate (and that is why he does not like to smile on camera).

It was fun talking to him (but also a little tough due to his English abilities). He even tried to teach me some Bengali!

Back to the story, we reached Buona Vista but I started noticing he was getting visibly uncomfortable. He said he did not recognise the place at all and he was really worried. I kept trying to comfort him, telling him that we were reaching soon. (We were bringing him to the address he showed us on the paper). 

When we finally reached the destination, which was some HDB unit, we realised that was the address of his boss! Apparently that was not the place he was supposed to go. Initially, I thought of knocking on his boss's door to find out where exactly he was supposed to go, but the Bangladeshi worker kept insisting "no!!". I was glad I did not as it would have probably gotten him into more trouble.

This was turning into an adventure. He said he had the address stored in his phone but his battery was flat, and so we thought we could probably to go a Starbucks to charge his phone. As we were making our way back to the MRT station, it suddenly dawned upon him the location he wanted to go. 

"Lower Delta!" 

And we were like..."That is just behind Tiong Bahru!"

No wonder he did not recognise Buona Vista. With that realisation, we brought him all the way back to Tiong Bahru and pointed him to the direction of Lower Delta. He was really thankful to us and said that we are really nice people, "even people in his country would not show directions to a stranger for so long."

We were really happy. This was one of the precious moments in life. Receiving heart-felt gratitude from a stranger, time could not have been better spent! We have learnt so much from him.

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Recently, we met up with this Bangladeshi worker again, this time for a drink. I got to know more about his life. I learnt that his work permit in Singapore would last him for 18 years.  He came to Singapore with the intention to stay for 10 years and only return after that as the flight tickets are expensive (S$1200 return). Each month, he only earns $600 and he has to cook his own meals. He shops at Mustafa. Every day, he has to travel to Aljunied from Tiong Bahru for work at the construction site and during busy days he only gets 3-4 hours rest (including sleep) each day and can work up to 7 days a week at time. He is into the plumbing system, and his job involves fixing toilet bowls to new units. Each day, the minimum quota is 10 toilet bowls. 

I realised what really touched me about him was how earnest he was. He spoke from the heart and was genuinely interested in getting to know us better. He also shared with us pictures of his family and spoke about how he would call his parents every night without fail as his mother worries for him. I feel sad to think that the next time his mother would see him would probably be 10 years later. That is a really long time! He sees us as his "brother" and "sister" and has already shared a lot about us to his family. 

When we had to leave, he looked sullen and made us promise that we will meet again. 

I wanted to share his story in hope that it will touch you in some way. I want you to know that we can make a difference to someone's life and a little kind act can go a really long way.

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Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone has someone who left them, someone who loves them, their fears, their insecurities, doubts...Show compassion, kindness and love to everyone you meet, you never know what they are going through. 

I hope my story has inspired you to be nicer to people around, especially, our foreign friends, they come from afar, away from loved ones, and it must be really tough for them.

So the next time you see a foreign worker, flash them a smile. A simple smile of gratitude/acknowledgement/recognition, could be what they need to light up their day, and make them feel a little better. 

Let us make our world a place filled with love and warmth.

Thank you for reading till the end!

Here's a song I would like to share to conclude this post. The lyrics are very meaningful. We are all connected by humanity. Listen to it and feel the love. 

The Housemartins- Caravan of Love