In October this year,
my church celebrated World Migrants Day to recognize the foreigners who leave
their families behind and come to our shores to earn better wages. These hard
working individuals who include domestic helpers are often in search of a better
life and face the difficult experience of migration in its various forms.
Their working hours are long and draining and we should accord them respect and
consideration.
We need to provide
them with decent meals and it pains my heart when I see many of the foreigner
construction workers sharing their meals during lunch time on the pavements
near the sites where they toil from morning to night.
I was delighted when
the Assistant Parish Priest of my Catholic Church, Reverend Father Cornelius
Chng highlighted the need for the congregation to treat these workers fairly
with kindness and compassion. Father Chng highlighted a very important message
in his homily where he mentioned that while we give these workers a big treat
once a year at Christmas; we tend to forget about them after the event is over.
This is very true and many of those who are needy also experience this.
During the period
when my wife was alive, we always looked forward to some fine dining that was
provided by our church 4 times a year. I also got birthday treats on
Valentine’s Day with my wife from an organization. It not only gave us
the opportunity for some fellowship, but we were treated to some great seafood
meals and set meals. This prevented social isolation and made us feel loved and
cared for.
Unfortunately, now
that my wife has died, I can no longer benefit from such fine dining as I just
can’t afford it. It is such a sad state of affairs that one has to be mentally
ill or suffer from some form of disability before support is given. Am I
that easy to forget?
His counterpart,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who was on a
working visit to India from 3rd to 7th October this year to strengthen
bilateral cooperation VIP hospitality and fine cuisine. I read in a
newspaper the sumptuous menu that was offered, and it included big prawns with
masala, fried chicken, fish curry and a slew of other mouth watering dishes.
While I am glad that our PM received the best fine dining, I wonder how those
who are less fortunate and cannot even get 3 meals a day would feel when they
read some material. Given that there are many people, including children
who go hungry on the hour, by the hour, we need to exercise some form of
sensitivity?
There are so many
elderly wheelchair bound Singaporeans who are selling tissues at the MRT
stations, some of them with legs amputated.
Visit the Philippines
and you will see street children begging for a few pesos to buy a meal. India
also has their fair share of people who are living in poverty. The most
powerful nation on earth – America has thousands of
homeless citizens.
I hope
that someday people who are financially secure will be able to find it in their
hearts to offer some fine dining to those who long for some better meals so
that we all learn to be gracious, caring and inclusive society. Will that day
come?
Raymond
Anthony Fernando
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