Mr Shah is a Bangladeshi construction worker who first came to Singapore in 1997. He came to our Geylang clinic on Tuesday for chills but he tells us it’s not his first time there. In fact, he’s “come a lot of times” since his first visit to our clinic more than 10 years ago in 2009! He also shares that he’s even volunteered with HealthServe at some of our events in 2010, as a Bengali translator helping fellow migrant workers who couldn’t speak English very well.

Back home in Bangladesh, he has 4 children who he misses dearly. He tells us that once, he left home when his oldest daughter was just 11 months old, and didn’t see her until she was 7 years old and in primary school! During that time, he would communicate with his family by writing them letters. Now, that same daughter is 22 years old and has graduated from University with a degree in English. His method of communication has changed too — he’s now able to call his family about three times every day.

Over the 2 months of Circuit Breaker he wasn’t able to work but luckily, it was not too difficult for him as he’d spend his time resting at home or talking to his family. Mr Shahjahan is now back at his job, having started work in the second week of June.

We are thankful to bump into old friends at our clinic like Mr Shah. Thanks to generous donors we can continue supporting work permit holders like Mr Shah.