The Builders of Singapore

Living each day risking their lives, with a small budget that we can’t even imagine. Living like ghosts, not getting recognized for how much they give. Their inner rage they can’t express because of how “worthless” they are. These “worthless” people are the builders of singapore, these are the people who work to give Singapore a “good name”. These people are Singapore’s migrant workers.

“People here are nice, but sometimes they would try to intimidate me for no reason…” Anthony Sega a migrant worker from India. Over social media, insults of migrant workers flood throughout the web. Messages such as, “Those Banglas on the street smell so bad…” were found throughout Facebook all over the place. Through these messages, it reveals that we’ve completely lost respect for our migrant workers who builds Singapore for us.

The total amount of migrant workers currently in Singapore is around a million people people. All these people help build our shops, homes, schools, etc… Earning about 450-650 SGD monthly. Most migrant workers send their salary back to their families, which leaves a small amount for themselves to fulfill their needs. “It would be enough for their families to live, but since Singapore isn’t such a cheap place to live in, it would be hard for themselves to get what they need...” Dylan Tsao, UWCSEA G8 student.

Do migrant workers harm us? Do they do something to annoy us? The answer to that is no. They basically work to build our homes, the malls we go to shop and the school we learn at. Let’s try putting ourselves in the place of being a migrant worker for a day. ‘Clink, clank!’ is all we would hear, metal’s colliding, workers shouting and screaming here and there, if we look down its a stairway to hell, and looking at the bright sun that tells us there’s still hours left of work. It’s finally over, it’s time for dinner. We look at our wallet and all we see is a ragged little coin and a 2 dollar note. Enough for a luxurious buffet dinner? Perhaps just a few hundred short.

Try to imagine this. If migrant workers were dressed properly, were clean and were “white” would we respect them? If yes, why? It’s probably because they wouldn’t smell bad, they won’t look bad and they just look like a “normal” person. That means we’re judging them by how they look. Just because of how they look doesn’t make them a alien. They are still human.

It’s a good thing to have migrant workers come over to Singapore to help build the community. Both parties can benefit from each other, just that some aren’t treated the way they should be with the things they are doing. It’s true that they look different from most of us, different skin tone, their way of living, their culture, etc. People in public are disgusted by them because of how they smell and look. It seems that just because they’re different from us, we’re forgetting about how we should be thankful for them. We have to start respecting them for what they do and not hate because of how they look. Just like the saying, “Never judge a book by its cover…”

Written by Youngchan

Dealing With Poverty

Most kids wake up to a delicious breakfast and a nice shower, but this never happens in the dumpsite. The kids here wake up in the morning, already hungry from not having a proper dinner the previous night, knowing that they’re gonna have to continue starving because the there is no food in the house. Yet they still go outside into the mountains of trash and work, because thats the only way to for them to live.

According to http://www.poverty.com, approximately 21000 people die of hunger everyday. Yet for these people hunger isn’t their only problem. They have to deal with infections and diseases like AIDS, Pneumonia, Diarrhea, Tuberculosis, Malaria etc., which they can’t afford to cure. Yet the saddest part is that only few are given an education, so the vicious cycle known as poverty will continue.

When I was 10 years old, I got the chance to go to visit one of the schools for the kids who live and the dumpsite known as “Smoky Mountain”. Looking back outside of the bus I saw two children, who were at the top of one of the mountains of trash which was as tall as a real mountain, sorting through the trash. At that moment I didn’t real understand what exactly they were doing. A few minute after I reached the school. When the bus door opened, I was greeted by the horrendous smell of trash. Think of the worse smell you have ever smelt. This was 100 times worse than that. It was liking smelling a rotten fruit basket which was covered in rotten egg. The school was just old shipping containers put together.

I was led into a classroom by my teacher, and I was greeted by a class full of smiling children. All of the children looked like walking skeletons. They looked like they hadn’t eaten a morsel for days. Then I realized something.

At least 5 of them hadn’t had breakfast in the morning.

No food in the house.
2 or 3 of them were orphan
At least 9 of them had lost a parent
And 99% of them would have to go back the bloody dumpsite.

Even though all the kids knew this, there wasn't one kid who wasn’t happy. No matter how many struggles they face, they were still happier than most kids who live in the city. These kids are given a chance to break the cycle through education. They could have a future in which this dump didn’t exist.

Yet even will all the NGO’s in the world, it isn’t enough. There are still millions of children that are stuck in poverty, and it will stay that way unless you do something. Unless you do your part there will be children the number 21000 will not decrease. So do you part and help create a future where no one will have to worry if they will be able to have their next meal.

By Roshan

Racism: Does It Happen in Schools?

A few months ago, in a local school in the United States, a student was restricted to join a student run activity because of his colour and was falsely accused of forcing the students to give him money.

Racism is when a person is treated less favorably and is not treated equally because of their colour or race. Racism has been a global issue for ages but now has started widening in schools as well. According to Mr. Raisdana, an English teacher who taught in a school where racism was very common, “The main source of Racism is the lack of education and money”

When someone with a dark colour comes across white people with more money and higher standards, the richer starts insulting the poor to protect their pride and identity. Why is racism a problem? According to itstopswithme.humanrights.gov.au, a Australian human rights campaign, A study of over 800 Australian secondary school students found that racism had huge mental health impacts on young people who experience it, including:

• ongoing feelings of sadness, anger, depression and being left out 
• headaches, increased heart rate, sweating, trembling and muscle tension 
• a constant fear of being verbally or physically attacked 
• not wanting to go to school 
• having little or no trust in anybody apart from family. 

These impacts can reduce people’s ability to work or study, and to achieve their future goals.

Racism also affects people’s general well being when they are denied equal access to jobs, services and education.

How to stop bullying? According to youngscot.org, these are the following ways to stop individual racism:

1. Don’t Take The Abuse
You don't have to accept any form of racist abuse. Everyone, no matter what their nationality or race, has a right to live happily and free from discrimination. Yep, that includes right here in Scotland.

2. Realize That You're Not The One With The Problem
It can be hard because your self-esteem does sometimes take a knock if you're having grief from someone, but the thing you have to remember is that you are not the one to have caused the problem. You’ve done nothing wrong.

3. Keep Some Evidence Of What's Happening
You should write down what's been happening, like a diary of events, for example, and also your thoughts on what you would like to happen. This will be useful to show others that you need help and to what extent it’s affecting you.

4. Be Prepared To Speak Out
Be prepared to speak out and tell people just how it’s affecting your life and your well-being. If you are going to alert someone to the fact that you're being threatened, abused or bullied, then do it properly.

5. Never Give Up!
You might not be able to tackle racism by yourself. Seek out support and accept help where you can.

According to racismfreeedmonton.ca,

Support and participate in initiatives to increase awareness of and combat racism.

Volunteer for an organization that reflects your values and does anti-racist work.

Get involved with boards and community groups to help ensure that they are serving the needs of diverse communities.

Support ways to identify, monitor and respond to acts of racism, such as hate crimes. (Link to the Alberta Government Hate Crimes report)

Racism is a problem that can only diminished by bystanders becoming upstanders and just stand up for it.

Written by Luvish