OVER 40 of Nee Soon East’s local and migrant cleaners enjoyed a well-deserved treat earlier this month (11 Jul) in appreciation of all they do for the community.
Nee Soon MP Jackson Lam took them for a hearty dinner — fried vegetables, omelettes, sweet and sour chicken, cereal prawns and other tasty goodies — at Block 348. There, he distributed to the cleaners hard copies of professionally-taken photos from a photoshoot especially organised for them some weeks earlier.
“Many of the cleaners shared with me that they have never had a professional taking photos for them,” said MP Lam. “The photos they have taken, we then developed for them. They can keep a copy. Or send the photos back to their families to show the friendships they have made in Nee Soon East community [in the case of migrant cleaners].”
The professional portrait photos also hold great significance and usefulness for the migrant cleaners. Many of them send the photos back home to family, for matchmaking opportunities, said activists who had helped organise the dinner.
Often, cleaners go unnoticed in their daily work. A professional photoshoot also gives them the dignity of being seen — not just as workers, but as individuals with stories, personalities, and lives worth celebrating.
“An initiative like this reinforces that they’re part of the community, not apart from it. It helps build a sense of inclusion and belonging,” said PAP Nee Soon activist Charmaine Yap.
“We hope initiatives like this photoshoot start conversations, build empathy, and remind us all to continue supporting structural improvements to the lives and working conditions of those who keep our estates running.”
The photoshoot and dinner are the latest in the PAP’s Nee Soon East branch’s appreciation events for cleaners.
The branch regularly invites them as guests at community events. These include outings around Singapore every quarter, Lunar New Year lo heis, and viewing the Orchard Road Christmas from an open-top bus.
MP Lam promised more events and efforts to strengthen community bonds in Nee Soon East.
“I hope to see in Nee Soon East not just as a place where people live, but as a place for everyone,” he said.
And he summed up the importance of Nee Soon East’s cleaners to the ward — as well as the sacrifices that they make.
“They are the unsung heroes in our community. Behind every block, these are the cleaners keeping it clean, and they take pride in their work. They are the ones who left their families to do this in Singapore,” said MP Lam.
