Kind Foreign Worker Who Sheltered Old Lady At Tiong Bahru Market Earns Praises From Netizens

Too often we hear of people badmouthing foreign workers.

“Eh, avoid them ah. They tiko one later go after you.”

“If you don’t study you’re gonna end up like them.”

“Come back home late some more; later ah neh come kidnap you.”

And honestly, I’m not so arrogant as to disregard their claims altogether. I’m not a sentient entity. I don’t know the real truths of this world.

Yet, the fact remains that despite all the ill assertations about these foreign workers, there are ones that continue to convince us that hey, foreign workers aren’t that bad.

And this particular man is one of them.

What happened?

On Friday morning (18 Jan), Stomper Jessyca witnessed a foreign worker sheltering an elderly woman with an umbrella, during a heavy downpour at Tiong Bahru.

Heartened, she subsequently shared the moment, that was caught in a photograph, with Stomp.

“I saw this heartwarming moment when an elderly woman received shelter from a foreign worker especially in the heavy rain,” she told Stomp. The woman was identified as a vegetable seller at Tiong Bahru Market.

According to Stomp, the woman was seen bent over and utilising a walking stick, as the foreign worker walked slowly alongside her while holding an umbrella over her.

“I praised the worker for his kindness,” Jessyca said.

“He just replied with the earnest of smiles.

“He was quite humble.”

Netizens rave about it

After news broke out, Netizens flocked in droves to heap praise on the foreign worker.

A heartwarming notion, considering how more often than not, Netizens are too busy flaming people to notice the goodwill in this world (just kidding Netizens, love you xoxo).

One even started a potentially earth-shattering debate…

Although curiously, nobody really bothered to counter this particular point.

Wonder why.

Foreign workers

Yet, one can’t help but wonder one thing:

Why all the disrespect towards foreign workers in the first place?

Because let’s face it; without foreign workers around, Singapore wouldn’t be half as accomplished as it is. After all, who’s gonna do all the dirty work these foreign workers have to contend with?

Nobody.

As it is, it’s one thing to not respect these quiet superheroes, but it’s quite another to diss them altogether. Thankfully, however, there’ve been multiple scenarios in the past that suggest that people aren’t as contrary to foreign workers as we thought.

For example, back in 2015, AsiaOne wrote about kind-hearted people who make it a point to routinely contribute to foreign workers, whether it’s things as trivial as fruits and eggs.

And in August that year, a Singaporean encouraged three construction workers in an off-peak train to keep their seats, after vacating them to make way for some Singaporean commuters.

Granted, these gestures might not exactly be news-of-the-year material. But if there’s one thing for sure…

It’s that slowly but surely, people are getting the respect they deserve.

And really, who knows? Perhaps one day…

We could all become Tom Hardys.

A long shot, but not impossible.