When school re-opened after the Circuit Breaker, children from YWCA Ang Mo Kio Child Development Centre were taught on how they can exercise social responsibility. The theme “We Appreciate, We Care” teaches our young children to count their blessings and to be grateful. This theme was specially selected for the SSDB project to instill the values of gratitude and to give back to the society especially during the current COVID-19 pandemic by showing our appreciation to frontline healthcare workers and hardworking foreign workers in the dormitories who were greatly stricken by the COVID-19 virus.
During one of the “News Talk” sessions, the children from YWCA Ang Mo Kio Child Development had the opportunity to learn about the migrant workers who have been affected by the COVID-19. Children also came to know that the many tall buildings and greenery that beautifies Singapore were the hard work of many migrant workers.
Teachers read to the children newspaper articles on how the migrant workers were infected with COVID-19 due to the poor living conditions in the dormitories. As much as our government reaches out to them by providing food and shelter with paid salary during the quarantined period, our young children decided to reach out to them too. The first step that they took is to create a thank you card to show appreciation to them.
The teachers explained to the children that migrant workers are people who go to another country to pursue employment such as like childcare teachers, nurses, construction workers, etc. In the news article that they read, the migrant workers being referred to are mostly construction workers housed in the dormitories. These dormitory workers have to share a small room with around 10-12 people and during this pandemic, when one of them gets infected, the virus easily spreads to the rest. A lot of these workers were infected with the virus causing a halt to the construction and maintenance sectors which eventually affects the economy of Singapore and the lives of Singaporeans who depended on them.
During the discussion the children realized that migrant workers are important and that they should show appreciation and care towards them.
