JJ is a 40-year-old Chinese migrant worker from Taizhou, Jiangsu. He first came to Singapore in 2006 after his ex-boss in China ran away with money and has worked in three different construction jobs since. In July 2018, he was injured when metal shards entered his left eye. Because of his injury, his employment was terminated and he was not able to work. He claims that though the company paid well he was injured due to improper provision of personal protective equipment, moreover, safety supervision at his work site was lacking and that worker injuries sometimes went unattended.

He has undergone 3 surgeries to remove the metal shard and fragments lodged into the back of his eye sockets. The surgeries has caused him a deal of pain and discomfort. He didn’t tell his elderly parents about his injury as he didn’t want them to worry but kept in constant contact with his wife and son.

He heard about HealthServe when he was at the hospital and happened to meet SX, a Chinese migrant worker who was receiving help from HealthServe as well, SX promptly referred him to come to our Geylang Centre to meet our caseworkers.He has received both casework and social assistance which has been helpful in relieving some of his financial burdens. He has admitted that he wouldn’t know what to do without HealthServe’s help and appreciates the company of fellow migrant brothers without whom he would be sad, lonely and bored.

For two months he has also been attending counselling sessions as he finds that these sessions help him to address internal hurts, which he found much harder to deal with than his external injuries.

As of December this year he has received his compensation and returned home to China. He has expressed gratefulness to HealthServe and even donated part of his compensation as a way of showing his gratitude and paying it forward to others.