Stories about workers’ experiences, the many ways our volunteers help, insights and facts that TWC2 have unearthed

7 04, 2012

Mr Xu calls our hotline: “I am being sent home tonight.”

2019-08-30T16:36:03+08:00April 7th, 2012|Articles, Stories|

5:30 pm. Our social workers Kenneth Soh and Raymond Ang were tidying up their desks -- not to go home, but to set off to Little India where Transient Workers Count Too's soup kitchen operates. Then the phone rang. A worker, speaking in Chinese, introduced himself and said he had a huge problem. "My name

5 04, 2012

Toothache as existential crisis

2019-08-30T16:36:03+08:00April 5th, 2012|Articles, Stories|

By Xinlin Basir Ullah is a stout man with an easy smile. However, when he came to TWC2 last Tuesday, it was not a smile but a face contorted in pain that we saw. He had a bad toothache in his right jaw which had been troubling him for the past two months. Lately, however,

4 04, 2012

Injured worker goes home, loses 13 kg in 7 months

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00April 4th, 2012|Articles, Stories|

Asad is the man above. The picture on the left was taken in August 2011 before he left Singapore; even then he was slim, around 60 kg. The picture on the right was taken in March 2012, seven months later. He had lost 13 kg  and looked ten years older. While in Singapore, he was

2 04, 2012

SMU students create video sensation from Little India interviews

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00April 2nd, 2012|Articles, Happenings|

By Francesca A striking new video of candid conversations between Singapore Management University students and Bangladeshi construction workers has become a YouTube sensation in Singapore. Between its release on March 7, 2012 and the end of the month, more than 37,000 people have viewed the seven-minute student film, “Unsung – The Invisible Workforce behind this

1 04, 2012

Cloudy case — TWC2 draws the line

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00April 1st, 2012|Articles, Stories|

This is an uncommon story. It's a story about a case in which Transient Workers Count Too decided we couldn't help any further. Like any organisation, funds and volunteers' time are limited, and if we are uncritical, expending resources on less deserving cases, then more deserving ones go unattended. However, this side of our work

28 03, 2012

Soap kitchen day

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00March 28th, 2012|Articles, Happenings|

A group from Paya Lebar Methodist Church came by to our soup kitchen at lunch on Saturday, March 24, 2012, to give out goodie bags stuffed full of useful things to the workers we serve. Things like soap, toothpaste and shavers may look like unglamourous and utilitarian items, but for workers left totally broke, they

28 03, 2012

Steady and focussed, reports Committee at AGM 2012

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00March 28th, 2012|Articles, Happenings|

Reporting on yet another successful year helping 1,908 migrant workers, the Executive Committee of Transient Workers Count Too described an organisation that is in steady hands, very focussed on its mission, at the Annual General Meeting held on March 25, 2012. Of these 1,908 workers, 1,458 came through the helpdesk of our Cuff Road Project,

27 03, 2012

Worker flees captors through jungle at night

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00March 27th, 2012|Articles, Stories|

Jahangir waited till all seemed very quiet outside the room where he was held. It was 11 p.m. He climbed out of his window  and tip-toed across the grass to the fence. Summoning a burst of energy, he climbed and topped it in a single bound, half-tumbling into the jungle on the other side.  But

26 03, 2012

Overview of income and expenditure in 2011

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00March 26th, 2012|Articles, Facts, research, analysis|

In a brief presentation made at the Annual General Meeting held on March 25, 2011, Transient Workers Count Too treasurer Alex Au gave a cautious assessment of TWC2's financial health. Recalling how at the start of 2011, the previous (interim) treasurer Russell Heng predicted a cash crunch in 2011, Alex spoke about how TWC2 tightened

24 03, 2012

Old dreams asunder, Ahsanur finds new hope

2019-08-30T16:36:04+08:00March 24th, 2012|Articles, Stories|

By Spiegel In Bangladesh, men who have returned from labours in distant Singapore often regale their young compatriots with glowing tales of a city of abundant opportunity, where hard work finds good reward. But for many seeking a better living and lured by the promise of this distant island nation, the reality can fall badly

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