Project done by : Denny and Claresta
You can visit the website using this URL : http://share-foreignartist.rhcloud.com/
After careful consideration, me and Claresta have decided to develop a platform to facilitate continued interactivity between our groups and the foreign workers. The platform is based on the idea of integrating WordPress (the platform that OSS uses and is more familiar to our group) and Confession pages (usually in the form of Facebook page, quite popular in Singapore’s culture. e.g. NTU Confessions , NUS Whispers , SMU Confessions, etc).
1. Write a narrative of how your idea developed. (Begin by giving some response to the 1st dance and games night)
Initially, many of them were quite reserved. After the games and second meetups, I noticed that some of them had become more willing to tell their stories. However, there were also a few of them who remained reserved.
During the games and dancing session, I could sense mutual respects between our groups and them. Some of them seemed awkward but tried to fit in anyway. During the ‘blow wind blow’ game, I also noticed the leader had to explain the rules to one of the workers in Bengali. It seemed like some of them couldn’t understand what we say instantly. This communication issue is one of the prominent challenge faced by foreign workers.
After the dance, we stopped at the alley near the dorms and had some small talks to get to know them better. I learnt that they only earn as much as $600-800 for a work starting at around 7 and ending at around 8 (more than 12 hours). Clearly, they are underpaid. Moreover, there is also the fear of getting injured and get sent back home (although some companies may pay the expenses).
From the beginning, me and Claresta have been planning to provide a solution to help lighten the foreign workers’ issues in the long-run (long-term). At this point in time, the evident issues that I have observed are wages and communication. There is nothing much we can do about the wages, but certainly there is something we can do to help them fit into Singapore communication-wise.
2 What about our meet-ups and the conversations you had created the interest in the area you ended up researching? Use your documentation photos etc.. to explain this process.
Photos taken by: Scott Nathaniel Lim
Denny: Likewise, during the second session when we talked in the restaurant, I had a bit of trouble understanding them. I was interacting with the leader and one other worker. While the leader was more willing to express himself, the other guy was more reserved. He felt a bit reluctant to talk about certain matters.
The guy also mentioned about his Indonesian friend in Singapore (only 1 person). After befriending them on Facebook and looked through their friend lists, I noticed that a majority percentage of them are actually fellow Bangladeshis. It didn’t seem like they have a lot of friends from Singapore despite having stayed in Singapore for few years.
I also learnt that they have been missing their families despite keeping in contact with them occasionally. Indeed, having to work in a faraway country (Singapore), it is important to have supports not only from their families, but also from their friends in Singapore.
Additionally, I was also impressed by the fact that they have variations of hobbies just like ours. Initially, I though they would be technologically impaired. Turned out I was wrong. One of them (the leader) really likes to take photography and shares them.
Claresta: During the second meet-up, I talked to one of the Indian worker. We talked about his job, our families, the difference between my culture and Indian culture and many more. After the meet-up, I realized that most of them came to Singapore alone. Hence they don’t really have anybody they can rely on or share their stories and struggles with. Therefore, I’m thinking of making a platform where all the workers can interact and write about anything freely.
Us : Taking those into consideration, me and Claresta decided to build a platform where we can really support them emotionally as a friend. We included features including (but not limited to): anonymous posting (so they won’t get into trouble), thumbs up (encourage them), contents sharing (they can share happy memories through photos too), and translation from English to Bengali and vice versa (hopefully reduce the language barrier). This will hopefully create a small long-lasting affinity in our small community consisting of our DA20002 group and the workers.
3. Discuss your exchange with the foreign workers.
In my opinion, it was really an enlightening experience meeting the foreign workers. We get to know a lot of things about them that otherwise we would never have known (either because they are not publicized or we just never cared enough). Personally, I was pretty inspired by them. I admire how they were able to cope with their current situation and acted like it’s no big deal. I admire how they have the courage to take risks that would otherwise change their life forever.
I also believe it is a good experience for them. It was a great opportunity for them to be exposed to Singapore’s culture since it doesn’t seem like they have a lot of Singaporean friends to guide them.
We want this exchange to not only last for couple of weeks. Instead of just, “come and go”, we want to be able to keep in touch with them. This is one of the reason we build Afterwork.
4. How did you initially see the foreign workers? Did you even consider their experience before our meet-ups?
Denny: Before the meetups, my perception of a typical foreign worker is someone who works from about 8.00 am to 6.00 pm with minimum wages (above $1,000). I did not know they had to pay an agency fee to get a job in Singapore. I thought they are living under a normal environment with edible food.
Not only that, the idea of them sharing the same hobbies as people I know never crossed my mind. It surprised me. I thought their lives are all about work and nightlife. I also find it amusing that not only they have hobbies, some of them are actually good at them (e.g. photography and dancing). I wonder where did the guy learn the dance moves from.
Claresta: At first I saw them as hardworking and brave people because they need to work in foreign country just to make a living and feed their families. However, I didn’t know that their living condition is much worse than what I thought. Their hostel is really cramped, their food is almost inedible and their salary is quite little.
5. Along your journey what to, and when did you change your ideas/plans in response to what you learned/experienced or observed from contact with the foreign workers?
At first, me and Claresta were thinking of becoming their “voice” and spreading awareness regarding how bad their situation is. Foreign workers are not seldom stereotyped as rude, harsh, and violent by locals. We wanted to let the public know that not all of the workers are like that. We also wanted them to know why some workers behave this way (although, honestly speaking, living in torture does not justify bad actions). Our ultimate goal was to implant a better image of foreign workers into the society.
We considered doing a social experiment and surveys. We thought of asking random people how they would feel regarding a certain person with good profile, only to reveal that the person is a Bangladeshi after that. We wanted to see their response and compare the number of acceptance versus rejections.
When we proposed the idea, Prof Kelly suggested doing a live performance instead. The idea was to apply black tints all over my body and make people think I’m disguising as a Bangladeshi. We would then record their responses. After careful consideration, we decided to drop the idea as it could become a very sensitive issue and people might take it the wrong way. We also fear the possibility of things becoming viral and people recognizing us.
During the second meetups with the Bangladeshi, we realized that they really appreciate us becoming their friends. When we were about to leave, one of them actually initiated a conversation and hugged me before departing, even though I have not talked to him before. We then brainstormed for a way to keep contact and provide them prolonged emotional supports as a friend.
Our idea at first was to make a website for sharing contents (photos, videos, etc). The problem with this is that there already exists a similar platform like Instagram and Facebook. Why use a new one?
We also considered making an interactive dictionary (from Bengali to English and vice versa) where we would provide pictures and a word in English. They would then try to guess the word in Bengali, and based on the number of votes (or same answer), we can deduce that the answer with higher number of votes is indeed the right translation for the word. Vice versa, they can also provide us images and Bengali words. We would try to guess it in English and based on the highest number of votes, we deduce it is the correct translation. Problem with this idea is that it may not actually always result in correct translation. Moreover, there already exists Google Translate for Bengali to English and vice versa. Again, there is no need to remake the same thing.
Lastly, an idea to make a platform where they could post things anonymously without fear of being identified (confession pages) came to us. Not only this achieve our initial objective of keeping in touch, it also achieve our secondary objective: to provide them emotional supports (since it is more likely now for them to confide in us by being anonymous). The proverb for this is “killing two birds with one stone”.
6. What new knowledge did you gain from the interaction with the foreign workers and the action you took executing your project?
After knowing them and hearing their stories, I realized that not only they are underpaid, they also had to work more than 12 hours a day. On top of that, I learnt that they had to pay more than $10,000 (in debt) to find a job in Singapore. During their stay in Singapore, most of them (especially newcomers) also have to undergo a terrible living condition (bad living environment, bad food, etc). All these prolonged sufferings accumulated would normally cause mental illness sooner or later. If I were them, I would probably never have taken the risk to work in Singapore. They really amazed and impressed me by their ability to cope with this kind of life.
We wanted things to be fairer to them. Having being in debt, being exploited by employers, and sometimes judged by the society, it seemed like they are able to cope only due to the support of family and friends. We wanted them to know that there is a place for them in Singapore. They don’t have stay in their comfort zone with their fellow foreign worker friends. They also have local friends that accept and appreciate their existence.
7. What did you gain or what are the strengths/weaknesses/ differences & responses to learning that does not follow the conventional path of lecture/ tutorial and studio practice: learning by creating experiences beyond the classroom? a. how did you feel about creating a project where there was no clear path to follow–where you had to develop a unique path?
On one hand, I personally think the conventional way of lecturing/tutorial is a bit more challenging from the execution point of view. Since everybody is essentially doing almost the same things, it really depends heavily on their skills on that particular (possibly technical) requirements of the project (e.g. when an art piece is graded mostly based on how well the structure form is drawn and not the subject of interest). This is especially useful if the assessment is intended to be based on a specific skills the students possess, and not purely from the creativity point of view.
On the other hand, in projects with no clear path to follow, the challenge is shifted to brainstorming of ideas. Executing of ideas are generally easier, especially when you chose to do something related to your area of expertise (which I exploited in this case, as an engineering student as well as a media student). Grading becomes more subjective and difficult, especially if there were no clear marking criteria showing what the lecturer expects from the final result.
Nonetheless, learning by experience beyond classroom is usually more fun than the conventional path of lecture. I would surely recommend it, but only once in a while. A balance should be achieved between conventional lectures and experiences beyond classroom.
Features:
- Guest Post : the ability to post as anonymous. This will hopefully allow them to tell their stories and ask for advice/supports without fear of being identified.
- Translation from English to Bengali and vice versa : to facilitate communication and hopefully serve as an effective tool for them to learn English (or us to learn Bengali)
Post in English
Post in Bengali - Gallery : serves as a memory. This will give the more “personalized and private” feelings. Also a good tool to tell outsiders that we are a small community.
- Like Buttons : to show supports to the workers and encourage them to post more.
p.s. thanks for taking the time to read through! 
