Not Just A Worker Exhibition

Not Just A Worker is an exhibition that brings together 79 photographs by seven migrant workers, all of whom are participants of the project Topophilia and Topophobia: A Tale of Two Cities. The project is based on the “photovoice” method, where participants are mentored on aspects of photography while also engaging conversational about the issues embedded in their works. In exploring the twin narratives of topphilia (love of place) and topophobia (fear of place), the project seeks to unveil the emotive complexities experienced by migrant identities. The knowledge of pleasant, poignant and ambivalent episodes are produced not only in the participant’s capacities as workers, but also as users of the city.

https://allevents.in/singapore/not-just-a-worker-exhibition-opening/1281314888588118

The Best of You Exhibition

The Best of You

The Best of You movement is about finding quiet moments in our busy lives to take stock of our accomplishments and appreciate our lives. In asking this question, we want to inspire you to celebrate the accomplishments, life experiences and the people that have brought out the best in you.

Started in 2014, this movement is powered by these tributes to one’s life accomplishments and experiences. Coming from all walks of life, these are tributes that speak of courage, regret, community, love, encouragement, redemption and, most of all, empowerment.

I came across this Exhibition on 7th October at Buona Vista. I participated in the initiative by writing my story on a postcard and having it illustrated by Sharlene Leong.

: Story of a migrant worker

: Story of a migrant worker

: Story of a migrant worker

: Story of a migrant worker

: Sharlene Leong (right) illustrated my story

: Sharlene Leong and me

Existing Visual Solution: Invisible Voices

Invisible Voices on DR-NTU by Liu Longhao

This project is to bring audiences on a journey to know about the lives of migrant construction workers in Singapore. There are a total of 322,700 of them here and the number is counting on. We see them around us and acknowledge their existence but how much do we know about them? Many try and draw sympathy to this group of minority beings but few take the effort to truly empathize them. Thus, my team and I made this documentary, which shows the lives and voices of these people who walk among us but are generally treated as unseen. We do not aim to educate audiences on the right and wrong, but we hope they can bear a more open mind when they see or hear about migrant workers after watching this documentary.

https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/31556828108751.5636fc173143f.jpg

Thoughts for FYP

In his FYP report, this statement struck me the most:

I had a long conversation with the founder of Healthserve, Doctor Goh Wei Leong on the migrant workers’ community. When I told him that I wanted to do a documentary about the migrant workers and Healthserve, he told not to do one which emphasized only the sadness of workers as it would not bring out a good message, that I inevitably agreed on. I believe what is crucial is to bring out inspiration despite the inevitable negative stories of this group of people.

My project should be a platform where it is inspirational for people who sees it. My goal is to be a channel of migrant workers to have a stage to be inspirational for others..

Existing solution: MWAW Lunch Tag and ICOON

• MWAW 2016 • Lunch Tag #1 & #2

Have you ever wondered how a genuine conversation with people who helped built the infrastructure of your home will go? Do you want a chance to meet people you would otherwise pass by, and actually interact with them?

The two Lunch Tags allow two people who would have never otherwise met to sit down and connect over a simple lunch. RSVP here: http://tinyurl.com/rsvpmwaw !

Lunch Tag #1
31st Jan, 9am – 1pm, at Yale-NUS College Elm Dining Hall
This will kick-start with a friendly lohei decoration competition involving both participants and migrant workers. After which, everyone will be paired up to have lunch together at the Yale-NUS College Elm Dining Hall.

Lunch Tag #2
3rd Feb, 11.30am – 3pm, at Botanic Gardens
In the style of a picnic, this Lunch Tag will take place out in the nature at Botanic Gardens. There will also be games where participants will interact with foreign domestic workers from the HOME Shelter in a different setting than what we usually do.

https://scontent-sin6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/12622326_1110041615702747_8802435550716071044_o.jpg

Through a meal, people could have a more personal conversation to know each other. How would my FYP be different from this existing event is that:

It would not be a big event. For a meet up, there will only be 3 locals and 3 migrant workers.
I will document each session in the form of either photography, audio, or video, to be later be compiled for my installation.
I will design a set of conversation starters, accompanied by English and Tamil or Bengali translation. If needed, I will also design pictograms to help the conversation flow seamlessly.

http://www.icoon.eu/images/frontimages/editions_communicator/icoon-bildwoerterbuch-communicator.png

Look refugees in the eye: Powerful video experiment breaks down barriers

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/05/look-refugees-in-the-eye/

The film shows natural, spontaneous reactions between people meeting for the first time in a warehouse near Berlin’s old Cold War-era crossing, Checkpoint Charlie. The refugees came from Syria and Somalia and had lived in Europe for less than a year.

Thought

In this experiment, it is clearly shown that by having a communication, the barrier between people of different culture will melt down.

Existing platform: i am a migrant

i am a migrant is a campaign and platform. We create a place for the personal stories of migrants. We want to challenge the anti migrant stereotypes and hate speech in politics and society.

i am a migrant lets migrants tell their own stories – on this website, in social media and many other places worldwide. Together we want to show: Migration has a human face. Migration is diverse.

This is why we are interested in the stories of all migrants, regardless of whether they have been away from their home country for 40 years or 40 days.

Your support is needed! Become part of our campaign and help us share the personal stories of migrants.

This is how it works:

You want to tell your own migration story?

Write down your story and upload it together with your picture on iamamigrant.org

Create your personal i am a migrant poster to put on your wall, to send to your family and friends and to make your social media profile

You know somebody with a compelling story, who you want to write about?

Ask migrants about their personal story

Record the interview with a smartphone or recording device

Write it down

Take a good quality picture

Upload directly to iamamigrant.org

Tell your friends and share the i am migrant profiles

i am migrant is a global campaign supported by a broad alliance of partners, including International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI).

Thoughts

I think that this website is very beautifully done. It has the ability to share migrants’ stories from all over the world, that might help the visitors to know more about them. The page also has an interactive a map showing global migration flows! Unfortunately, they do not feature Singapore inside.

News coverage of migrant workers in Singapore

Efforts that have been taken to improve the lives of migrant workers in recent years, as compiled by TODAY:

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/big-read-making-singapore-better-place-workers-who-come-afar-0

Through her interactions with the foreign workers, Ms Sim notes that many have sought help from the NGOs (non-governmental organisations). “The Government, the unions, and NGOs have done their fair bit,” she says. “So (now) it’s for Singaporean individuals to know what role they can play… to show basic respect for another individual and better co-exist together.”

An MOM (Ministry of Manpower) spokesperson says the ministry is “heartened by various efforts from the different groups showing their appreciation towards these workers”.

She adds: “Some Singaporeans have also reached out to some of these workers in their own ways through various ground-up initiatives throughout the year, or by volunteering their time with NGOs.”

Stories of migrant workers:

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/big-read-searching-good-life-miles-home-0

Thought for FYP:

How to encourage the public to have more respect towards the hardworking migrant workers? What are the ways to do so?

Solution from a Visual Designer

What I potentially make for my FYP is an installation featuring:

A video or photo of a migrant workers telling their storiesInspiration: Singapore Dream by Sean Cham
Bashar came to Singapore in 2008, and has worked in many different companies, but mostly as an electrician and engineer. He was born in Bangladesh, and left for Singapore after a few months of studying in Medical School at a young age of 20. Bashar has four other siblings, one of whom is his twin brother. They have grown up together since young, doing everything together. When Bashar left for Singapore to work, his twin brother felt lonely and joined him in Singapore a year later. He left Medical School to support his family, as they were facing financial difficulties and his father was ill. His father passed away two years after he left for Singapore, due to blood cancer. He was given a choice to go back to Bangladesh to visit his father, but he chose not to. He had to work hard to pay hospital bills, amounting to S$10,000, and worked even on weekends to earn money for the family. When he isn’t working, he will spend his Sundays at East Coast Park or Kallang River with his twin brother, enjoying a quiet and peaceful stroll. His dream now is for his younger brother, age 19, to complete his degree in Medical School and be a doctor. Bashar, together with his twin, works to pay for his younger brother’s education, in the hope that he fulfills the dream he never had the chance to complete. Source: http://www.nvpc.org.sg/newsletters/-/asset_publisher/qxyfn1XUjh5T/content/singapore-dream-a-photography-series?inheritRedirect=false

2. A pair of migrant worker’s shoes for the visitors to walk in.

Inspiration:
In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus explains to Scout that “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it” (36).

3. A booth for people to write their heartfelt gratitude towards migrant workers.

Inspiration:

#migrantmail was a collaboration between Geylang Adventures and Waiting for Lorry. They went around collecting handwritten letters and taking polaroids of migrant workers with the objective of curbing homesickness by sponsoring the letter back to their hometown.

The collected letters might be collated in a book or uploaded to a website. It should be translated to Bengali, Tamil, Mandarin, etc. so the migrant workers can read them as well 🙂 Published by The Young Entrepreneur Mastery, 2004
It contains heartfelt letters from youth.

5. Make a visual journey of my finding processes. It would feature the photos that I take.. The email excerpts..

6. Visualizing the population of migrant workers in Singapore. The map can contain: places of work, residence, entertainment to show how close are they to us in daily life. I hope to encourage people to be more friendly to the migrant workers, everywhere they are.

Inspiration:

World Processor 1988 2014 Igo Günther © Knechtel Photography.

Deeper on the Migrant Topic

This afternoon, I had a phone conversation with someone from StandUpFor.SG

What’s interesting about the conversation was he helped me to dig deeper why I want to work on this topic about the relationship between migrant workers and Singaporeans.

Now, I know how it feels like to be powerless knowing other people gossiped about me. I know how sad it is to not be able to defend myself.

Let’s look back at my previous post about the incident of a bus driver scolding a foreign worker for talking on his phone.

Sheryl Chen, 22, Sharing Her Encounter with Xenophobia

Everyone on the bus was silent seeing the scene, except Sheryl Chen who stood up and defend the foreign worker. Why were they being apathetic?

Because it is a way to avoid sadness from being empathetic, by being numb. (I will do more research about this).

And how do foreign workers avoid being sad, receiving such bad impression from other people in the society? By not talking to them.

If people are avoiding each other, there will be no conversation. Therefore, the problem would not be solved.

Luckily, there are some initiatives being done to foster the conversation. One of them is Human Library SG. I am thinking to volunteer as a sub-committee to delve into this society problem deeper 😀

[IMPORTANT]

The diction of my future FYP Result is important. Instead of using negative world, like “Don’t be suspicious towards others”, I should use more affirmative words like “Let’s build trust”.

Existing Initiative: Migrant Workers Awareness Week 2016

http://mwaw2016.pen.io/

1. Lunchtag #1 & #2
31 January, 0930 to 1300 & 3 February, 1130 to 1500
This event allows two people who would never otherwise have met to connect over a meal.

Lunch Tag #1 will kick-start the event with a friendly lohei decoration competition involving both students and migrant workers, which will be followed by lunch in the Yale-NUS College dining hall.
Lunch Tag #2 will be held, picnic-style, at the Botanic Gardens. This lunch will involve foreign domestic workers from the HOME Shelter and interested members of the public.

2. Empowerment through Writing: Voices from the Margin
31 January, 1830 to 2100
in collaboration with Banglar Kantha, a Bengali newspaper
*Only the Poetry Reading and Cultural Night component [6.30-9pm] is open to the public.
Support the Bangladeshi migrant workers by watching their performances and listening to their poetry under the stars!

This event comprises four segments:

i. Writing Workshop: for migrant workers to improve reading and writing in English
ii. Post Home: a platform for migrant workers to send postcards to their loved ones back
home
iii. Poetry Reading: where poems written by participants will performed and translated
iv. Cultural Night: to end off the event, there will be a night of music and dance where
our guests will showcase their talents through performances and a fashion show.

3. Speaker Series
Opening Panel – Migrant Workers: Persons or Projects?
1 February, 1145 to 1400
Covering a broad range of issues from manpower needs and planning to migrant workers’ rights on the ground, the opening panel aims to deliver a discussion which takes into account economic, social, and political factors. This panel will be moderated by Prof. Sheila Hayre from the NUS Faculty of Law, and graced by our Guest-Of-Honour, Mr Victorio M. Dimagiba, Jr., Minister & Consul General of the Philippines Embassy.

Distinguished speakers include:
Mr Tan Fang Qun, Deputy Director of Workplace Policy and Strategy Division in Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
Mr Jolovan Wham, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME)
Mr Alex Au, Treasurer of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2)

Foreign Domestic Workers: Foreigner or Family?
3 February, 1145 to 1400
What unique issues do foreign domestic workers face? How are their rights protected when they work behind closed doors? This panel aims to zoom in to the issues pertaining to foreign domestic workers here in Singapore.

Distinguished speakers include:
Ms. Caryn Lim, Deputy Director of Workplace Policy and Strategy Division, Foreign Manpower Unit in Ministry of Manpower (MOM)
Mr. John Gee, Chairman of the Research Sub-Committee at Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2)
Mr. Desmond Chin, Chairman of Nation Employment Agency
Prof. Sheila Hayre, Senior Lecturer at NUS Faculty of Law

Sex Work: Labour or Vice?
4 February, 1145 to 1400
There has always been controversy surrounding the issue of sex work. Is it legal or illegal? Is it more of a grey area? Moderated by Prof. Jaclyn Neo from NUS Faculty of Law, this panel aims to bring an informative and comprehensive discussion of issues surrounding migrant sex workers. For a more genuine perspective of what is happening on the ground, Lisa, one of Project X’s Program Coordinator and Outreach Officer will be joining us at this panel as well.

Distinguished speakers include:
Ms Vanessa Ho, Coordinator of Project X
Ms June Chua, Founder of The T Project
Ms Sallie Yea, Labour Migration and Human Trafficking Scholar
Ms Lisa, Program Coordinator and Outreach Officer at Project X

4. Learning Journeys to Geylang & Tuas View Dorm
2 February, 1500 & 1800
Participants will be given the chance to explore the heart of where many migrant workers live and work, in order to give an up close and personal experience in understanding their different situations. Each Learning Journey will focus on a different area specific to a category of migrant workers.

5. Dialogue in the Dark
4 February, 1700 to 1830
Participants will converse with migrant workers from varying occupations, such as sex work to construction. These conversations will be held in the dark, where visual differences between both parties become blurred.

6. A Day in the Life: an Exhibition
31 January to 4 February
A Day in the Life chronicles the journey of migrant workers: how they came to seek employment abroad, and the hardships faced upon arrival in Singapore. This exhibit seeks to raise awareness about several issues regarding migrant workers such as unfair practices, rights and privileges, situations of abuse, and living conditions.

lydialex

A documentation about my creative journey

existing solution