Singapore: Treating others with dignity and respect

Photo Taken By Ian Tan

“They are everywhere!” That’s a common gripe of a local in Singapore, feeling frustrated by the increasing number of foreign workers in our country.

As a youth ministry worker in Singapore, I know of many students, myself included, whose first reaction is to despise and avoid migrant workers. At a special holiday programme in partnership with HealthServe, a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing healing and hope to migrant workers, my attitude towards them was challenged and I began to see things in a new perspective.

The HealthServe volunteers “educated” us that migrant workers are also individuals created in the image of God; they too need God and care. He concluded with two key points: (1) respect rather than despise (2) engage rather than avoid.

More recently, I was at a local bank and saw a Chinese migrant worker feeling very lost, not knowing how to deposit his cheque even though the staff had already explained to him how do it. God prompted me that I should serve him, so I went forward to help him. His gentle 谢谢 after helping him was extremely heart-warming and I knew what I did was pleasing to God.

I pray and hope that more young people in Singapore will come to treat migrant workers with the same dignity and respect that we accord to each other as created beings of God. We need to be at the forefront of reaching out to and loving these people.

ERIC TEO | SINGAPORE