Stranded after a bus strike in Venice, Italy, Ms Charissa Kow could not get from her lodging at a far-off campsite to the city centre, despite attempts to hail a cab or hitchhike.

She recalled that shuttered supermarkets, lifeless shopping centres, and frequent train shutdowns were also commonplace occurrences in Europe when she was visiting Sweden in 2014 as part of a six-month-long student exchange programme — and yet, she did not hear any locals complaining about such inconveniences.

These “eye-opening” experiences were what spurred her and three other university students to start a campaign to encourage greater appreciation for night shift workers, who help Singapore to operate efficiently as a “24-hour” nation.

They have themed the campaign “Strangers of the Night”, and on March 21, started a two-week-long photo exhibition at *SCAPE on Orchard Road to showcase photos and videos carrying snippets of interviews with these night workers.

Ms Kow, 23, an undergraduate at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said: “It’s not everywhere in the world where, if you’re hungry at 11pm, you can just go out for supper or easily hail a cab ... Everything is available at our doorsteps in Singapore, but people easily forget that it’s the people behind the scenes that keep this country going.”

Among the night shift workers interviewed, was a Filipino supermarket manager at Giant who has been tirelessly working the night shift for 10 years, and who would eat just one meal a day.

He talked about not getting enough recognition on the job from both customers and bosses, who, for example, tended to give employee-of-the-month awards to day shift workers.

Another worker, a night garage supervisor from Malaysia, took on the night shift after he was married, so as to cut down the travelling time between Singapore and Malaysia, and return home in time to at least have breakfast with his wife.

Ms Cheryl Teng, 23, another student on the project team, said: “There was (something) he said that struck me, ‘Which wife wouldn’t want their husband by their side at night?’ But it’s a sacrifice that he chose to make ... Other than the physical toll, people don’t see that these workers need social interaction too.”

Ms Teng, Ms Kow, and two other undergraduates Ng Yuin Yi and Dipshikha Ghosh, all 23 and from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at NTU, headed out last December to nightspots to uncover stories of these “invisible” graveyard shift workers for their final-year project.

They pounded the grounds at places such as Mustafa Centre in Little India, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Changi Airport and popular supper spot Swee Choon Tim Sum restaurant in Jalan Besar, speaking to the likes of wet market stallholders, newspaper vendors, security guards, policemen, and even trailing a night bus driver all the way back to Woodlands bus depot.

Most workers interviewed were “surprised and touched” that someone was interested in their work, the team said, adding that Singaporeans tended to have a sense of “entitlement” towards this overlooked group.

To help thank them, the student team led 30 other university students on a “Gratitude Marathon” in February to distribute care kits to 300 of such workers across Singapore.

The kits contained herbal supplements, eye masks, healthy snacks and handwritten cards from university

students.

For now, the students hope that more Singaporeans will join them in this campaign through small gestures, such as offering a simple thanks, or acknowledging night workers they

encounter.

Ms Wu Jiezhen, 26, executive director of social enterprise The Hidden Good, said: “You can say hello to the security guard down at your school building, or people who run the restaurants at night ... It doesn’t take too much effort to appreciate someone and show they are valued as people.”

Up next, the team will organise another Gratitude Marathon in May, in line with Kindness Day SG, an initiative by the Singapore Kindness

Movement.

The event will be open to the public, and the team is looking to head to districts in the western and northern parts of Singapore.

The Hidden Good, which celebrates the good deeds of citizens and a partner in the students’ campaign, plans to help sustain their project by making it an annual event.

The Strangers of the Night photo exhibition at *SCAPE runs until April 3, in collaboration with the Singapore Kindness Movement, National Youth Council and The Hidden Good.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by Toh Ee Ming

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