Following the success of “Silent Voices: Tales of Our Migrant Workers”, the book that spun-off from a 2018 NIE Group Endeavours in Service Learning (GESL) project, the student teachers behind the effort have continued to create opportunities for Singaporeans to appreciate migrant workers better as individuals with hopes and dreams.
Mentor of the project, Dr Zhang Aidong (Senior Lecturer from the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures) said that besides staying in contact with the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC), the student teachers have continued to promote awareness for the book. As a result of their efforts, MWC has recently gotten Ben & Jerry and Unilever on board to contribute towards the Migrant Workers’ Assistance Fund. | Read More |
Said Mr David Sim and Ms Tan Yuan Ting, the project’s student leaders, “We certainly hope that our book can be used to reach out to more organisations with the interest to lend their support to our cause.”
Work on the book had started in early 2018, when the team learnt that MWC was interested to capture the stories of local migrant workers. After the team’s proposal was approved by MWC and NIE, the roles and responsibilities were divided and a few committees – including a creative team, liaison team, business and finance team, editing team and logistics team – were formed. Thanks to the National Youth Council’s Young ChangeMakers Grant for $3,000.00 and a sponsorship by Sterling Law Corporation for $500.00, the book was completed and launched on 27 May 2018 at the NTUC May Day Migrant Workers Celebration held at Tuas View Dormitory.
Minister for Manpower, Ms Josephine Teo; Secretary-General of the NTUC, Mr Ng Chee Meng; and Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Dr Koh Poh Koon were among the guests at the book launch.