AESTHEHumanities! Weekly

Transcription

1 ISSUE 9: Term 2 Week 3, 06 April 2017 AESTHEHumanities! Weekly Exclusively brought to you by the AES Humanities Department ALL ABOUT THE BIG WORLD WE LIVE IN Crossing boundaries, meeting needs Distributing food and raincoats to foreign workers in Singapore Our foreign workers often have to withstand tough working conditions under our unpredictable weather, but thankfully, volunteers from the initiative Itsrainingraincoats are here to help. Recently, they gave out two crates of fresh fruits to workers exposed to the afternoon sun, which they greatly appreciated. There is nothing more beautiful than someone who goes out of their way to make life beautiful for others. ~ Mandy Hale ~ EXCLUSIVE NEWS TODAY And this is not a one-off activity either. Lawyer and founder Dipa Swaminathan and her volunteers of this initiative have been giving out raincoats and regularly distribute unsold food from Starbucks on Saturdays to more than 70 migrant workers.

2 Dipa s initiative is not limited to giving out food and raincoats too, as she has also rendered assistance to workers many a time. According to Facebook page, People of Singapore 1, who interviewed her in 2015, she had brought two foreign workers who were caught in a terrible thunderstorm home to seek shelter and warmth. Afterwards, they started opening up to Dipa, only to hear from them that their employer has not been paying them for a few months. Her work didn t stop there, obviously. To make things even worse, one of them, Murugan, tried to kill himself a few weeks after Dipa met them, pressured by the lack of income to repay his debt to his agent for bringing him to Singapore. Luckily, with Dipa s help, and that of the police and HOME Singapore, they could bring the employer to justice. Dipa had written several s to different contractors about workers continuing to carry out work in the rain without adequate protection from the elements. 1 The People of Singapore Facebook Page embraces an inclusive definition of people in Singapore by featuring the different stories of people who born, live, or work here. 2

3 Those s has since successfully convinced companies to purchase and distribute raincoats to the workers. Despite her efforts, even up till recently, Dipa still sees workers without protection from the rain. One of these cases was similar to what happened in 2015, as she ran into a foreign worker was drenched with no shelter in sight. Even with such incidents, we are sure that with Dipa and the volunteer s efforts, we will see fewer workers standing in the pouring rain without adequate cover, and more smiles from them. 3

4 An appetite for giving Helping companies to donate leftover food Pork ribs, roast beef, pastas and cold cuts - all this leftover food from restaurant LeVeL33's buffet used to be tossed out with the garbage. But in July last year, the upmarket establishment in Marina Bay decided to put the uneaten food to a better use, giving it away to the Hiding Place, a drug rehabilitation halfway house in Choa Chu Kang. Every Saturday, the excess from the restaurant s brunch buffet is packed into small containers and picked up by Hiding Place staff. The food is usually enough for about 20 people. While some people may reject such food as leftovers, the beneficiaries at The Hiding Place see it as a welcome treat. Every week, we get this food and we are really blessed because it is very fresh. Frankly speaking, this is part of a luxury for us... because all this is very good food, said Satiyan Sankaran, 62, as he scraped up the last bit of food that was left on his plate. 4

5 Even when we are in Singapore, there are still people who don t have such luxuries that we are having and I want to thank the various establishments for giving us this food, Mr Sankaran added. But while LeVeL33 is putting excess food to better use, statistics suggest that its strategy is not being widely adopted. Over the past decade, the amount of food waste generated in Singapore has increased by about 45 per cent to 790,000 tonnes in And only 13 per cent of it was recycled and the remaining 87 per cent was disposed of. MORE COMPANIES DONATING PERISHABLE FOODS Nevertheless, a trend seems to be developing - more companies are donating excess perishable food to those in need via charities and non-profit organisations. In 2014, Marina Bay Sands (MBS) started giving dry food such as bread to Food from the Heart, which distributes food to those in need. And since May, the hotel started giving away 5

6 unserved food from its banquets to the less fortunate via the Food Bank Singapore 2. Before it started to make the donations, MBS wanted to ensure it could do so without the food spoiling. It now blast chills items before they are passed on for distribution. We spent nearly a year doing it in-house and taking microbial tests for the food. I think liability 3 is absolutely a concern, but we can take measures and methodical steps to minimise it as best as possible, Mr Teng added. Besides MBS, the Food Bank Singapore has also seen more partners contributing to its Food Rescue Project, which collects cooked food from restaurants and eateries and distributes it to the needy. Started last year, the programme currently has about 12 partners such as online supermarket RedMart and Hilton Singapore. But charity organisations hope that more food establishments can be persuaded to come forth to donate. 2 Food Bank Singapore is a place where companies or people can come to deposit/ donate their unused or unwanted foods which will then be collected and allocated to the Needy. 3 Liability: being responsible should anything happens to the food donated. 6

7 NOT ENOUGH FOOD DONATIONS With the amount of food that is going around, it's definitely not enough, said Anson Quek, executive director of Food from the Heart. The organisation, which redistributes bread and non-perishable food items, has so far collected about S$700,000 worth of food items this year, to support 25,000 beneficiaries. The group hopes to expand its network and support 50,000 beneficiaries by But Mr Quek noted that many companies still have the mindset that their brand would be affected if anything happens to those who are given leftover food. Mr Quek urged companies who are hesitant to donate their excess food to participate in their food distribution activities. For companies who are not sure about food donation, participate in our food distribution. Go down to the ground to see who are the beneficiaries so they know where the food goes to. It will give them peace of mind. HUMANITIES PASSPORT: Question: What is one way volunteers met the needs of migrant workers in Singapore? 7

8 Sources: First Article: Second Article: In conjunction with Humanities Week and Sec 4/1 VIA project, AES will be having our very own food donation drive! Do look out for the posters around school and more information on AES Manna. 8