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

The night she came screaming into the kitchen was the night the motorbikes took off. Fernando is left nursing his financial wounds. This story sounds a bit of a farce, except that it's real. The events Fernando Wawalege recounted happened only a few weeks earlier. He had come to Singapore from his native Sri Lanka

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

Jaya sits in a park near the TWC2 food project on Rowell Road. We arrive at a black door with no number on it. Jayasurenda (Jaya for short) from Sri Lanka, is about to show me where he has slept for the last 6 months while waiting for his case to be resolved

On the day before his departure, Mohammed Dulal Harunur Rashid brought a little self-made poster to Transient Workers Count Too's office. It said "I and my family never forget TWC.TOO . . .  Long live TWC.TOO. Every social worker and associate." It was one of those touching moments when everything we did seemed worthwhile. It

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

Introduction by Alex Au: Even as Debbie Fordyce was explaining to a group of students from the National University of Singapore (NUS) the problem of homelessness and lack of social space for foreign workers, ten to twelve uniformed officers swept into the same area to shoo away men resting in the shaded space. It was

By Benjamin Wong Approaching Zakir Hossain, one immediately notices the giant white cast that covers his left forearm. What comes to mind are the stories, the turn of events so commonly heard: an accident occurs, a worker gets injured, his work permit gets cut, he isn't able to get an operation, and maybe is even