Tales of the Pandemic: The view from inside Singapore’s migrant dorms

In April, Singapore put several dormitories housing 20,000 migrant workers under lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19, prompting criticism about conditions. Writer and Bangladeshi migrant worker Md Sharif Uddin gives his account from inside

 

Md Sharif Uddin is a writer and migrant worker from Bangladesh. His collection of diary entries and poems, Stranger to Myself, chronicles the heartache, burdens and memories of his time working in Singapore, winning best non-fiction title in the 2018 Singapore Book Awards. He also participated in the Singapore Writers Festival in 2017 and 2018, and the 2018 Singapore Poetry Festival.
I try to find shelter in my diary again as I write down the feelings that I can barely express.
The circuit breaker means a new chapter, a new experience in our lives. Thousands of workers are crying as they face a distressed life, confined to their dormitories. He is 62 years old. Although his two children are grown up and live separately from the family, he has to send them money every month. He also wastes a large portion of his income on drinking and in the casinos. If I ask him something, he looks at me like a child.

How could migrant workers possibly be safe when we are living so differently from ordinary citizens! Many companies use lorries to ferry workers to their workplace. It is obvious that we can be infected easily when we are seated so close

This article was written by MD SHARIF UDDIN

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