Migrant Workers Housed in New Location Decided to Volunteer & Trim Grass Around HDB Blocks

People typically have two types of reactions when they find out that migrant workers are shifting into the neighbourhood.

One, a warm welcome because that’s the least you can do for people who’ve helped build your homes and schools.

Or two, desperately hoping it was all a dream; and if it’s not, making enough noise so the powers-that-be can take back their decision.

Here are a few examples:

If you belong to the latter group, the following article you’re going to read might just change your mind.

Migrant Workers Housed in New Location Decided to Volunteer & Trim Grass Around HDB Blocks

Because of the Circuit Breaker, a lot of town councils found themselves lacking the manpower to do the work needed around the estate, such as trimming the overgrown grass.

After all, most workers are stuck in their dormitories and not allowed to come out to work.

On Sunday, 19 Jul 2020, about 10 residents decided to roll up their sleeves and get to work, trimming the overgrown grass around HDB blocks at Toh Yi.

These residents are foreign workers who are temporarily put up at the former Ngee Ann Polytechnic staff apartments at 90, 92 and 94 Kismis Avenue.

They managed to cover about 1.5 hectares worth of grass on that day.

Why Did They Do It?

The answer is simple yet heartwarming: they wanted to give back to the residents in the area.

One of the migrant workers, 32-year-old Natesan Muniaiah, who stays at Blk 92, said they are “very happy to do this” as “they are staying in the area”.

Back in May 2020, about 1,030 migrant workers were moved to the apartments.

Then, the residents prepared care packs for the workers and continued to supply them with food and other supplies.

Even when the workers were hard at work cutting the grass on 19 Jul, a resident was seen coming out with water and chilled drinks for the workers.

A resident had said that she was glad that the workers are helping to trim the overgrown grass as they could hold water and breed dengue mosquitoes.

Dengue In S’pore

On 30 Jun, it was reported that the number of dengue cases reported in Singapore this year has already surpassed what was reported last year.

Potong Pasir was reportedly the area with the highest risk of dengue and it also happens to have four large clusters with more than 100 infected. In fact, their infections this year was more than the total for the past five years.

Chairman of Potong Pasir’s Citizens’ Consultative Committee, Mr Chua Kian Meng, said he has been really concerned since the cluster started in April.

But because of the circuit breaker, they couldn’t get workers to maintain the drains and common areas. This was also the case for condominiums.

Possible Largest-Ever Dengue Epidemic This Year

If the numbers at the front weren’t enough to scare you already, the NEA also warns that this year might be the largest-ever dengue epidemic here.

So, do the 5 step mozzie wipe-out, don’t treat Gravitraps as ashtrays or rubbish bins, and watch out for dengue symptoms.

Symptoms for dengue include fever, severe headache with pain behind the eyes, joint and muscle pain, nausea and vomiting.

If you have dengue haemorrhagic fever, your gums and nose may bleed and bruise easily.

If you have been infected before, you may be protected from that strain, but you can still be infected by the other strains of dengue virus.

And that is very possible since NEA has said that a strain of the dengue virus, which has not been seen for a decade, could just make a reappearance in Singapore.

Now that you know how heartwarming migrant workers can be, you might as well just watch our video on how WiFi routers work and how you can make them fast even at home: