Tag Archives: Volunteers
TWC2 activity: volunteering
One million free meals served — a bittersweet moment for TWC2
Media release, 12 July 2018: 1,000,000 – that is the number of free meals served by local charity Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) since the inception of its free meals programme in 2008. Affectionately known as The Cuff Road Project (TCRP), the meal programme began when a group of TWC2 volunteers realised there were huge Continue Reading »
$55 a day and the bright side of things
By Philomène Franssen based on an interview in April 2018 It is quite an unusual story that I got to hear at TWC2’s Cuff Road Project food programme, one Monday evening. Indeed, as a volunteer member of the Communications team, when I sign up to interview one of the migrant workers that TWC2 assists, I Continue Reading »
Mithun’s first 20 minutes with TWC2
By Zhan Nanxin, from an evening in March 2018 Like many other first timers, Sheikh Mohammad Mithun comes to Transient Workers Count Too’s Dayspace in Little India unsure of what to expect, hoping for advice and help. What catches our eye is the large bag of medication in his left hand. That’s quite unusual. He Continue Reading »
How our volunteers put injured workers on the road to recovery
By Cheong Kwok Wy Enshrined in the constitution of the World Health Organisation, the notion of basic healthcare is widely regarded as a fundamental right for every human being. By and large, Singapore does provide that right to every transient worker that comes here, such as through mandatory health insurance. Our Work Injury Compensation Act Continue Reading »
“Excuse me, can we talk to you a little bit?”
Photographs by Nguyen Phi Yen, from an evening in April 2018 Every weekday evening, volunteers with Transient Workers Count Too are there on the streets in front of our meal stations. It’s warm and humid, but we’re there because we want to make it easy for foreign workers to approach us if they need help. Continue Reading »
Injury compensation case goes well, then all fouled up by lawyer and lover
By Janson Chang, based on an interview in September 2017 Remo (not his real name) is one man among many as he sidles forward in the queue to have his meal card stamped. He doesn’t say much, and is about to head off after receiving the stamp – till a closer look at his Special Continue Reading »
Donation campaign a huge success, distribution of 3G phones begins
42 delighted men received 3G phones from Transient Workers Count Too 21 March 2017. It was the first of a series of phone distribution events that has been planned in advance of the cessation of 2G signals throughout Singapore on 1 April 2017. The remaining batches of eligible migrant workers will be getting their 3G phones over Continue Reading »
How the rich get richer, the poor get poorer: Mondol’s experience
One of the major themes when analysing the current crisis of neoliberal capitalism is the way economic rent has run amuck, exacerbating the rich-poor divide. Economic rent is the profit extracted by a party who has access to a resource that others do not have and which others feel they need. That party does not Continue Reading »
MOM’s Labour Court skirted with enforcing an illegal ‘contract’
Volunteers at TWC2 were alarmed to hear from Sohel Rana, in mid July 2016, that the Assistant Commissioner of Labour presiding over his Labour Court case might be planning to rule in a manner contrary to written law. It would seriously undermine his claim and set an extremely bad precedent. Md Sohel Rana’s case had Continue Reading »
The artist in Parthiban blooms amidst injury and loss of a hand
By Katia Barthelemy Photos by Dipti Nagpaul-D’Souza, a journalist with The Indian Express One of the nice aspects of volunteering with TWC2 is the reward you feel contributing a bit to restoring migrant workers’ faith in Singapore. The tougher side is that more often than not, you are only confronted with real bad stories and cases. That makes Continue Reading »