By Asha R He came to make a living, but ended up thousands of dollars poorer. Rony Nurul Islam, 36, is a quiet man with an easy smile, but get him talking about how he ended up in TWC2's soup kitchen, and the frustration starts pouring out of him. Rony came to Singapore in July
By Benjamin Wong It is seven in the evening. The crowd at the TWC2's Cuff Road meal project starts to pick up and workers slowly stream towards the restaurant. They wait in queue, decked out in varied attire -- some are in jeans, others in bermudas, with their t-shirts and polo-tees. Among them, one man
By Fuxiong It's my first interview with a migrant worker and I am feeling like I am thick in the head. After nearly half an hour I still cannot make sense of Mark's story. The company that hired him is not where he worked. The boss was not really the boss, but he was also
By Benjamin Wong TWC2 volunteer Siva (above at right) is decked out in a black T-shirt, grey bermudas and sandals. On the table next to him sits a stack of boxes. A worker approaches him, and Siva hands him one from the stack. The worker takes the box and looks at Siva with a slightly
By Suresh At a time when employers are crying for shortage of workers in Singapore, a worrying trend of foreign workers hanging around with no work is seen on the rise. Their employers brought them in with valid work permits, and then disappeared. Two workers from Bangladesh -- Rubel Hazrat Ali, 28, and Abdul Alim
By Chow Zhi Ying "At first I saw doctor type fifteen days' MC in his computer," reports Abu Ahasan, but the foreman, who went with him to the hospital, told the doctor: "You give fifteen days' MC, I got problem." The doctor changed it to one month of 'light duty' status. The reality was anything
By Rachel Hui Three months after a lorry collision (see story on AsiaOne) that left twenty-five foreign workers injured and one dead, Pandian, 34, the driver of one of the lorries, still cannot walk without his crutches. His hip and upper legs had been trapped inside the vehicle. “Fifty stitch,” he says, pointing to the
By Kay Tan The first thing you notice about Aktar is his wide sunny smile. And then your gaze is drawn to the strange stiff glove on his right hand. When you quiz him about it, the sunny smile slowly falls away, and his eyes film with tears. Recounting the accident brings back all the
By Nigel Lin I offer Pitchai a handshake – it is my first time interviewing a foreign worker and hey, I thought it’d be polite to do so. He takes it up, albeit rather weakly. That prompts my first question. “Is your right arm okay?” “Very pain when I moving the hand,” is all I
By Chow Zhi Ying Safiulla told the law firm that he wanted to discharge them from representing him. He was shocked to be told in return that he had to pay $1,000 before they would issue a discharge letter. Not having this kind of money, he is now stuck. But why did he need to
