hello everyone hi I’m cyfle Islam I’m a
migrant work in the construction
industry I have been working in
Singapore for five years when I first
came to Singapore I never imagined that
I would be able to give a speech in this
kind of setting in front of an audience
of three or four hundred people in fact
one year ago I didn’t even speak English
I didn’t even know what a TED talk was I
first watched the italics video in our
oral presentation lesson at SDI Academy
and today I’m honored to be given this
opportunity to speak here thank you very
much I would like to share my experience
with all of you to be honest there has
not been much interaction between us we
use the same MIG trains walk on the same
escalators way to draw money from the
same ATMs buy vegetables at the same
supermarket and even eat at the same
hawker centre yet we do not talk it’s
like we are invisible to each other’s
existence fortunately there has been a
significant increase in the level of
awareness and interaction in more recent
years the reason there was a lack of
awareness was because we do not know
much about each other and when we do not
know much about each other
our differences are highlighted and our
similarities are neglected but we are
much more similar than we realize
I said these on behalf of all my migrant
worker brothers here and I’m an opto
maybe we may not speak the same language
even but share a lot of similarities for
example both of us are very careful in a
poor Ian
we love to queue for food offer discount
as a migrant worker we also love to
queue for shower in the dormitory after
coming back from work
I’m kidding nobody liked to queue but
you get my point okay here are however
some very deal similarities both
Singaporean and us have dreamed that we
are working very hard to achieve both of
us here for our family and loved ones
both of us sacrifice so that our
families and our children can have a
better future I’m a Bangladeshi I was
born in ISA pura this a small village
and I dropped out of his school when I
was 15 years old because of my family’s
financial problem his economic burden
robbed me of my golden life I took a job
in a garment factory I worked long hours
and even weekends but I was still only
able to save very little to support my
family one day my friends told me that
if I took a job in Singapore I could
better help my family I then went and
found an agent who told me that he would
charge me a lot of money to get me a job
in Singapore as you may have heard
agents charge a huge sum of money
raise this money my parents saw the dear
ancestral land and took a loan from a
relative this was a very painful time in
the history of my life I finally was
able to converse Singapore on April 24
2011 my life was here very difficult I
did back-breaking labor my first job was
rebar bending this is a very hard job
that requires a lot of physical strain
after work on my first day I could not
sleep at night because every part of my
body ached
I wanted to cry but no one was there to
listen myself in my room at night I was
surrounded by a sea of people maybe 20
but I have never felt alone the year and
I continued to persevere and kept on
working hard and I was one of the lucky
ones to be recognized for my hard work
by my supervisor mr. Koh saying lie one
of the special person in my life mr.
ghost angler he’s an inspiration for me
he motivated and encouraged me to do
short courses like safety supervisor
work at heart supervisor frog leaf
driving license and other technical
certifications I performed well in these
courses and my supervisor recognized my
good work then he told me I should go
improve my English and I understood no
one can expect to get a better job
without knowing English who further
improved myself I took an everyday
English course from SDI Academy I had a
lot of fun a lot of activities our
dragon boating racing Chinese New Year
picnic
we are here for mentors with our topic
sir after completing my everyday English
course I took all a presentation later
in my water presentation later I once
saw a video about ACMA I find Jackman to
be a miracle person oh he’s really
amazing guy and listen to him he said he
applied for 400 jobs and got rejected by
all of them
I remember watching this video he said
he applied for a job at KFC
24% applied for the job 23 got the job
except for Jigme again few months later
he applied for a job in the police force
davin people applied for the job 6 got
in Jacmel failed again not only these
two times he failed many times about he
never gave up the ACMA failed to get
admission to have our 10 times but now
they invite him to come and give talks
dekma grew up in China but he wanted to
learn English so he provided free tour
guide to the tourists in China for 9
long years just to learn English he
constantly kept trying to improve
himself he used every opportunity to
upskill and become better when I learnt
about Jack Ma I try to improve my future
also like him it motivated me to learn
new and higher level skill I went to my
supervisor and request him for an office
job I wanted to learn about AutoCAD
inventor designing and he allowed me to
go take a course on it at Singapore
Polytechnic and he allowed me to leave
work early to go study once I finished
my course my company give me a position
in the office a computer and an email
nowadays I help my supervisor in
Inventor designing even one year ago I
could never believe I would be able to
reach this position that I would be
sitting on a chair and doing this kind
of work my next target is to obtain a
diploma in mechanical engineering but my
study level is very low since I left
school early they told me to add to a
foundation course and if I do well in
that they will let me pursue a diploma I
go now as to do my foundation course oil
Oh as I said earlier migrant workers are
more than just a guys in yellow helmet
and high visibility vest in it all that
you and I are very Ally I too have
dreams just like you I too have ambition
and drive I do want to become the best
possible version of myself so that I can
give more opportunities to my brothers
and my sisters and a better life all
parents circle compass and guide of our
life my mama and papa love you so much
Singapore and all of you also shared the
same patient sixty years ago just 60
years ago Singapore was a third world
country but today its number one country
its development number one it got
world-class facilities comparable to US
or Europe it is possible because you all
made sacrifice you all the work the long
hours and very hard to make all this
possible
it is this similarity of ambition that
binds migrant workers and Singaporeans
together as for the differences as for
the differences are small little
differences of what makes us unique and
add flavor to our society this brings a
diversity to this country and I
sincerely believe that I sincerely
believe that a diversity is a strength
and not a weakness we both add value to
each other life so let us take a step
towards one another and meet each other
halfway and as we do that we are
building reach for each other it doesn’t
have to be very difficult really it
doesn’t have to be very difficult next
time you sit next to a migrant worker in
the MRD are standing in front often in a
queue just try to strike up a
conversation you will realize very soon
that there is more similarity between us
than meets the eye and if you feel the
language barrier is the
then if you feel the language barrier is
the problem one can always fall back on
the universal language of Miley thank
you very much
[Applause]
migrant work in the construction
industry I have been working in
Singapore for five years when I first
came to Singapore I never imagined that
I would be able to give a speech in this
kind of setting in front of an audience
of three or four hundred people in fact
one year ago I didn’t even speak English
I didn’t even know what a TED talk was I
first watched the italics video in our
oral presentation lesson at SDI Academy
and today I’m honored to be given this
opportunity to speak here thank you very
much I would like to share my experience
with all of you to be honest there has
not been much interaction between us we
use the same MIG trains walk on the same
escalators way to draw money from the
same ATMs buy vegetables at the same
supermarket and even eat at the same
hawker centre yet we do not talk it’s
like we are invisible to each other’s
existence fortunately there has been a
significant increase in the level of
awareness and interaction in more recent
years the reason there was a lack of
awareness was because we do not know
much about each other and when we do not
know much about each other
our differences are highlighted and our
similarities are neglected but we are
much more similar than we realize
I said these on behalf of all my migrant
worker brothers here and I’m an opto
maybe we may not speak the same language
even but share a lot of similarities for
example both of us are very careful in a
poor Ian
we love to queue for food offer discount
as a migrant worker we also love to
queue for shower in the dormitory after
coming back from work
I’m kidding nobody liked to queue but
you get my point okay here are however
some very deal similarities both
Singaporean and us have dreamed that we
are working very hard to achieve both of
us here for our family and loved ones
both of us sacrifice so that our
families and our children can have a
better future I’m a Bangladeshi I was
born in ISA pura this a small village
and I dropped out of his school when I
was 15 years old because of my family’s
financial problem his economic burden
robbed me of my golden life I took a job
in a garment factory I worked long hours
and even weekends but I was still only
able to save very little to support my
family one day my friends told me that
if I took a job in Singapore I could
better help my family I then went and
found an agent who told me that he would
charge me a lot of money to get me a job
in Singapore as you may have heard
agents charge a huge sum of money
raise this money my parents saw the dear
ancestral land and took a loan from a
relative this was a very painful time in
the history of my life I finally was
able to converse Singapore on April 24
2011 my life was here very difficult I
did back-breaking labor my first job was
rebar bending this is a very hard job
that requires a lot of physical strain
after work on my first day I could not
sleep at night because every part of my
body ached
I wanted to cry but no one was there to
listen myself in my room at night I was
surrounded by a sea of people maybe 20
but I have never felt alone the year and
I continued to persevere and kept on
working hard and I was one of the lucky
ones to be recognized for my hard work
by my supervisor mr. Koh saying lie one
of the special person in my life mr.
ghost angler he’s an inspiration for me
he motivated and encouraged me to do
short courses like safety supervisor
work at heart supervisor frog leaf
driving license and other technical
certifications I performed well in these
courses and my supervisor recognized my
good work then he told me I should go
improve my English and I understood no
one can expect to get a better job
without knowing English who further
improved myself I took an everyday
English course from SDI Academy I had a
lot of fun a lot of activities our
dragon boating racing Chinese New Year
picnic
we are here for mentors with our topic
sir after completing my everyday English
course I took all a presentation later
in my water presentation later I once
saw a video about ACMA I find Jackman to
be a miracle person oh he’s really
amazing guy and listen to him he said he
applied for 400 jobs and got rejected by
all of them
I remember watching this video he said
he applied for a job at KFC
24% applied for the job 23 got the job
except for Jigme again few months later
he applied for a job in the police force
davin people applied for the job 6 got
in Jacmel failed again not only these
two times he failed many times about he
never gave up the ACMA failed to get
admission to have our 10 times but now
they invite him to come and give talks
dekma grew up in China but he wanted to
learn English so he provided free tour
guide to the tourists in China for 9
long years just to learn English he
constantly kept trying to improve
himself he used every opportunity to
upskill and become better when I learnt
about Jack Ma I try to improve my future
also like him it motivated me to learn
new and higher level skill I went to my
supervisor and request him for an office
job I wanted to learn about AutoCAD
inventor designing and he allowed me to
go take a course on it at Singapore
Polytechnic and he allowed me to leave
work early to go study once I finished
my course my company give me a position
in the office a computer and an email
nowadays I help my supervisor in
Inventor designing even one year ago I
could never believe I would be able to
reach this position that I would be
sitting on a chair and doing this kind
of work my next target is to obtain a
diploma in mechanical engineering but my
study level is very low since I left
school early they told me to add to a
foundation course and if I do well in
that they will let me pursue a diploma I
go now as to do my foundation course oil
Oh as I said earlier migrant workers are
more than just a guys in yellow helmet
and high visibility vest in it all that
you and I are very Ally I too have
dreams just like you I too have ambition
and drive I do want to become the best
possible version of myself so that I can
give more opportunities to my brothers
and my sisters and a better life all
parents circle compass and guide of our
life my mama and papa love you so much
Singapore and all of you also shared the
same patient sixty years ago just 60
years ago Singapore was a third world
country but today its number one country
its development number one it got
world-class facilities comparable to US
or Europe it is possible because you all
made sacrifice you all the work the long
hours and very hard to make all this
possible
it is this similarity of ambition that
binds migrant workers and Singaporeans
together as for the differences as for
the differences are small little
differences of what makes us unique and
add flavor to our society this brings a
diversity to this country and I
sincerely believe that I sincerely
believe that a diversity is a strength
and not a weakness we both add value to
each other life so let us take a step
towards one another and meet each other
halfway and as we do that we are
building reach for each other it doesn’t
have to be very difficult really it
doesn’t have to be very difficult next
time you sit next to a migrant worker in
the MRD are standing in front often in a
queue just try to strike up a
conversation you will realize very soon
that there is more similarity between us
than meets the eye and if you feel the
language barrier is the
then if you feel the language barrier is
the problem one can always fall back on
the universal language of Miley thank
you very much
[Applause]
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