IDebbie Fordyce, President of TWC2 – Transient Workers Count Too, Singapore, January 2020
I first met Debbie when I started to volunteer for TWC2 in the food programme a few months before I left Singapore. She was giving an orientation presentation about our role and what we could do.
I found out at that time that I got a new job and I will move to New Caledonia however, I still wanted to help for the time I was in Singapore. I admired right away Debbie, her wisdom, her involvement, and her humility. That is the reason I wanted to interview her and take her portrait to show how generous and beautiful she is inside and outside and the example she could be for lots of people. I am extremely grateful for her time and her honesty.
Debbie grew up in the USA and came to Singapore for the first time in 1975. She came to study and then came back to live there in 1980. Her first job was with Indo-Chinese refugees. She was working with the US Refugee Resettlement Program. She did this for about 10 years. After having children and a couple of other jobs, she started volunteering with TWC2, a charity that was set up in 2004. In 2008, she set up the Cuff Road Project, a food programme for workers who are not permitted to work while their injury claim or salary complaint is ongoing. Once that was established, it became almost a full-time job. She is currently the President of TWC2.
“The Cuff Road Project got me completely involved. We deal with so many people and there are so many things that we can do for them. We do as much as time and manpower allow. Now we have a lot more volunteers engaged in a lot more projects. If we had more people, there would be a lot more ways that we would be able to help. The workers need assistance in so many different areas.”
“Of course, I find meaning in helping disadvantaged people. Some people do it just in order to help, and others do it because they like the challenge. The challenge of finding out what’s wrong and find out how it could be put right.”
TWC2 is a small organisation, with a loose hierarchy, so volunteers do as much as they are willing to do. “It’s not an organisation where someone gives orders. If a volunteer comes and sees an avenue for doing something differently, we are willing to let them try it out. They are a lot of tasks that require someone with the time and energy and expertise and the will to manage the work.”
Students who want to talk to the workers to understand them better sometimes reach out to TWC2. They can of course approach foreign workers on their own. “They are people. You can initiate a conversation with them yourselves. You do not need us to help you with that. Some students then say they feel so good after talking to these men. And we ask them in what way that has benefitted them?”
TWC2 does whatever they feel the workers need and whatever the organisation can afford. For instance, they cannot afford expensive medical procedures or housing. That is the employers’ responsibility. TWC2 mainly assists with injury compensation claims, salary claims, and investigations to name just a few of their activities.
“Let’s be frank. If you are financially stable, have skills, and choose to travel, you have the ability to do that. Most of these workers do not have those choices. They might have difficulty, for example, getting to the hospital, finding money for public transport, or buying basic needs. But mainly, their concern is seeing to their family’s needs.”
One challenge for TWC2 is to get the trust of those workers. “Sometimes they can’t understand why we would do something without any benefits for ourselves. The workers are a bit cautious when we say we will help them. They wonder why we would help them if we’re not getting any money out of it.”
“They need to realize that we actually are trying to help them, and we will spend our time and effort and sometimes our money to make this happen, without any financial benefit. It is common in their country that working for an NGO means a nice office, a job, a car, a good salary, so they assume that we must be incentivised by money as well.”
Debbie was not predestined to work in this field. “I don’t think I had any clear idea of what I wanted to do when I was young. I don’t think that I was pushed in any particular direction.”
“I realized that my life was one of privilege. And I thought that with this privilege comes responsibilities. So I needed to assume responsibility to do something for others. I assumed that everyone lived the way I did. Children usually see their lives as the norm. Then you travel abroad, and you see that there are people living in very different circumstances. So it’s good to recognize that, and to see what we can do.”
“Of course, I don’t have any expectation that I will make great changes, but that shouldn’t stop anyone from working to make small changes. Even a small act of kindness restores people’s faith in humanity. Even though you are solving very small problems, you may have made a significant change for that one person, for that one situation.”
"The kind of people who volunteer with TWC2 tend to be good people. Otherwise, they would not be doing that. Many of them bring a lot of skills as well. Some people are good managers, some have a broader picture, and some bring different points of view. It’s great working with people who are guided by not only generosity and compassion but also the desire to make structural changes and increase the general awareness of injustices."
“I guess everyone has to find their own motivation. Whatever your situation, you have something to give. We all need to be less selfish. We still have to take care of ourselves and the people who rely on us, but we all have something to give others as well.”
“It’s always worthwhile to see how we can touch the lives of others.”
If you want to learn more about TWC2, click on the link https://www.twc2.org.sg
Moreover, please follow them on Facebook and check the news on their website, which gives you a clear idea about what they do. If you have the opportunity to volunteer with TWC2, please simply do so.
https://www.facebook.com/twc2sg/