SINGAPORE - Mr Rahman Mizanur, 33, is a Bangladeshi construction supervisor from Gazipur city, north of Dhaka. He has been working for a medium-sized construction company for 10 years. He leads a team of workers.
In the last two years, I have moved into three dormitories because of split work arrangements and cost, got infected with the coronavirus twice, and saw my work pool shrink from 70 foreign workers to 20. Many were homesick and frustrated and my employer had to let them go.
From April 2020, I did not leave my dorm in Sungei Tengah for four months because of infections among foreign workers.
I went from 55kg to 62kg because all I did was eat and sleep. Many workers felt depressed and paranoid with arguments happening frequently.
In those early days, my worried parents gave me stress from their frequent video calls asking about my health and welfare.
I told them and my three sisters I was okay, there was nothing to worry about and if I fall sick, the Government here will take care of me. They are concerned but I told them not to listen to rumours. We were not dying like flies.
As a supervisor, I had to be a positive voice in our dorm when many of my roommates were anxious. Some got news of family members dying of Covid-19 back in Bangladesh and India. It made them afraid they could be next.
When we went for our PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests in mid-2020, most of us were surprised we had been infected. I had no symptoms. I was first infected in July 2020 and got a second infection in December 2021.
In August 2020, we were excited when we could go back to work. But we had to follow strict regulations on masks and testing. Projects often stopped when new infections were detected.
Many workers connect with loved ones back home via video calls. By June 2021, some had made up their minds to go home as they were homesick. I advised them to stay because there was no guarantee it was going to be better back home or that they would be allowed to return here.
The persons I miss most these two years are my Indonesian wife and my daughter, who are in Jakarta. I got married in March 2020, a year after meeting her in Singapore where she worked as a domestic helper. She now owns a mini-mart near Jakarta.
My two-year-old daughter, Mim, was born in 2020. I have yet to carry her. I saw her grow up only on video calls. I'm praying hard that in the next few months I will be able to see them.
In Singapore, my company paid our salaries even when we were quarantined and unable to work. I'm glad my company supports us. They have guaranteed my job. I repay their kind gesture by working hard. I hear that workers who left last year are finding it hard to get jobs in their home countries.
Being put in a difficult situation with colleagues in Singapore has made our bonds stronger at work. There is more trust among us.
I always believe what we have lost will come back to us if we have faith and just endure.
I'm looking forward to once again feasting with my countrymen on Hari Raya Aidilfitri after our morning prayers. We will eat at a restaurant serving Bangladeshi food like briyani, spicy mutton and my favourite dessert, shemai (a sweet vermicelli pudding). When I finally get to fly to Jakarta, I don't have any plans. What I really want to do is hug my little Mim.
