TWC2’s flag flies on Lazarus island for a day

“I very happy today,” Soma, a migrant worker from India, says to your writer. “Thank you, Tee Cee Two,” he adds, garbling our name.

Rajesh looks up while taking off his trousers, wanting to chip in. With a big smile, he tells us it is his “first time I come here.” When we ask how long he has been working in Singapore, he has to stop and think; it’s been a long time. “I think seven years, maybe eight years. But I never come here before.”

Why is Rajesh taking off his trousers? Because we are at the beach and he is getting ready to plunge into the water.

It’s Sunday, 27 April 2025, and TWC2 is having another outreach event. Outreach to migrant workers is a key part of TWC2’s work. If they don’t know about us, they may be at a loss where to turn for help if they face a problem down the road. It may be anything from a salary payment issue, to not knowing how to resign from the job should they need to go home for a family emergency, to what their rights are with respect to medical care.

Of course outreach events should also be fun – the better to get plenty of sign-ups and good attendance. We chose Lazarus Island for this event. The month of April is hotter than usual, but it is also relatively dry. Perfect for a beach outing.

We opened the event for registration only about eight days in advance, knowing full well that the response will be good – it almost always is for our outreach events. We had only 300 places available and it was not possible to accommodate every one who expressed interest. This was especially as we aimed for a balance of participants from three migrant communities: Indian, Bangladeshi and Burmese.

The much-anticipated Sunday morning arrives and workers pour in ceaselessly to Marina South Pier, hoping to get onto the earliest available of three ferries that we have chartered.

At left, workers queue up to get their ferry tickets from our staff and volunteers. At lower right, the first boarding group is being organised.

They are each given a wrist band, a hand fan and a bottle of water. At about 09:15h, the first ferry is ready for boarding and the excitement only grows.

The first group boards our chartered ferry.

The Singapore skyline

It’s not a long ride, only about 25 minutes, but along the way, the men get a fantastic view of the skyline. Some of them might have been the construction workers who helped build these skyscrapers.

Not long after the first ferry, the second boat glides into the Lazarus Island bay where its jetty is. Your writer, waiting by the shore, notices something unusual. There is nobody on the bow of the ship or leaning out from any of the exterior railings. The passengers are all seated inside and that’s not how they normally are.

The second ferry approaches Lazarus Island.

It turns out that our case officers were giving a talk while en-route. That is in fact the primary purpose of an outreach event – to raise workers’ awareness of possible problems and what they can do about them.

On disembarkation, the groups walk about 400 metres to our “base camp” – a function room that we have rented along the beach. Many of them help carry our various supplies including lunch.

Many people help move our supplies from the island jetty to our base camp. Others have brought their own towels, food and drink.

The function room we rented faces the beach and the sea; it serves as our base.

View from inside the function room.

TWC2 Case Officer David gives a talk. With nearly 300 participants, we cannot accommodate everyone in the room at the same time, so it has to be done batch by batch.

Once settled in, we continue giving our talk, but we have to keep it very short. Many are eager to go out to the sand and sea.

A team from DBS Bank is also present. They help workers troubleshoot whatever difficulties they experience with their banking app. In the photo above, the DBS team can be seen preparing their help desk at the top right while TWC2 Case Officer David gives his talk.

When they have set up, the bank folks also add to the fun mood. They have organised a simple game, complete with prizes. One migrant worker, who also volunteers with TWC2, later shows us what he has won: a 3-in-1 USB charging cable. “This is very useful, ” he says appreciatively.

The simple game involves spinning a wheel.

Easy to get beautiful pictures when the sea is calm.

The indispensable photo.

Out in the fresh air, the workers invariably whip out their phones. But only for a while. Once the de rigueur photos have been taken, the phones are put away in their bags and attention is paid to the water and sand.

The enticing bay, though it’s a hot day.

Construction workers doing what comes naturally.

Some of the Burmese workers we included in this outreach event.

Back in the function room, workers can also chat with our case officers to discuss any specific issue weighing on their minds. We also have help from our affiliate group, the Overseas Foreign Workers in Singapore (OFWS); they help with logistics and crowd management. We hope they also get some time to enjoy the island for themselves.

TWC2 Case Officer Soon Guan (left) answers a question from a worker (right).

Volunteers from OFWS. They are migrant workers too, and TWC2 hugely appreciates their helping out on their rest day.

Lunch is provided by TWC2. It’s chicken rice; everybody loves chicken rice. But the Burmese sub-group is admirably well-organised. They have brought salads and additional dishes to share among themselves. Snacks from home too.

Packed lunches provided by TWC2, with a meaty piece of chicken within.

Burmese workers sit together in one large group so that they can pass around the additional dishes and snacks that many of them have brought.

TWC2 staff and volunteers also organised beach balls, kites , water pistols and other beach toys. There is good demand for them.

Every twenty or thirty metres along the beach, a group of participants etch out notes of appreciation into the sand. We are touched. And we hope everyone is getting a lovely break from routine. We’re also very thankful to our donors for making this possible, as well as our staff for the hard work in the lead-up to the event and sacrificing a Sunday to make this a success.

They’re Tamil workers, thus the Tamil syntax “TWC2, I love”.

The Bangladeshi workers add “BD” after the words “I [heart] TWC2”.