We feel lonely, sometimes to the point of tears, but we don’t let those tears come because we are not supposed to cry. Or how we feel a surge of love for a partner but we don’t say anything because we’re frozen with the fear of what those words might do to the relationship.
-Mitch Albom
Have you seen these people? Most singaporeans will be familar with them! We may not know each and individual of their names but collectively most of us call them FW (Foreign Workers)
Despite their numbers in our country, they hardly have a voice and more often that not, they are being discrimated against.
picture with credits to the online citizen
Why do they have to come so far to work? Ans: To make more money so that their families back home have a better life. However not everyone is lucky! Some of the transient workers who came to Singapore had to sell off land and homes in order to pay for their passage to Singapore, very much like how our forefathers did when they sailed down from China to Nanyang.
The luckier ones will get a job at the construction site with a company who have pre hired them. They are paid $18 a day and stuffed into a house with 20+ people and bad sanitation. Given similar conditions, would you have survived it?
Not only do the workers have to survive in such bad living conditions, they have to stay healthy! because unlike the rest of us, there is no such thing as medical leave for them. no work = no pay. some meaner bosses dont even pay for their medical expenses even some may be industrial accidents!
Havent you heard about how one of the Kallang slashing accident's victim is one of the transient worker? when he passed away, his belongings only amounted to a rice cooker and 2 sets of clothes! These are the people who gave us smooth roads when the roads in their country are as bumpy as ever. Air-Con shopping malls and even the house we live in now are all thanks to them! If not for them, no Singaporean will toil in the hot sun for a mere $18 a day!
Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) was established in 2004 and seeks to improve the welfare of migrant workers in Singapore. TWC2 believes every migrant worker has a right to basic human and working conditions.
The Cuff Road Project is an initiative by Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) and One Singapore – a local campaign to end global poverty - to provide free nourishment for 450 destitute migrant workers who were duped by their agents, or suffered injuries at work and are now surviving without any wages.
Since March 2008, The Cuff Road Project has provided 100,000 meals to thousands of men.
I am sincerely appealing to you, reading this right now to lend a helping hand!
Donation do not necessarily have to come in astronomical amounts of money. All The cuff road project ask for is just $2! For $2 you can provide the transient workers a meal consisting of one warm meal of a slice of Indian pancake and a cup of coffee or tea! McDonalds set easily cost up to $6 and yet most people are still not full thats why we have the McDelux breakfast! and all the transient get is a slice of indian pancake!
How much is a cup of starbucks? A grande easily cost $6 and even bubble tea cost $3!! To us its juz a cuppa Koi for after lunch pleasure but to them, it is a meal and MORE!
Currently serving 450 meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner are available at four participating restaurants. Where each meal costs $2, is supplied 12 times a week.
While food cannot substitute wages, the men are comforted by the food and friendships made with volunteers and peers in similar situations.
To sustain the destitute workers until the end of the year, S$70,000 is need for The Cuff Road Project to carry on.
Its the GSS now! How many of you have bought clothes from the Mango or Zara sale? Despite the sale, each piece of clothing cost enough to fill the tummy of each of these transient workers 3 meals a day!
The Cuff Road Project by Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) hopes to receive enough donations through GIVE.sg, to sustain 450 destitute migrant workers meals until end of the year.
Having read till here, if you feel for them as much as I do, please click on the link to donate.
As this is an online donation cause, all donations are made via eNETS. It is required that all donors need a debit/credit card to donate, and for auditing purposes, all donors must also have a give.sg account before donations can be proceeded.
We know this is extremely troublesome, but this is for donation transparency, so that after which if need be, we can provide everyone where each sum of money came from, and where it goes to.