Unlikely friendship between visually handicapped and Caldecott MRT station worksite workers
SINGAPORE – When Mr Edwin Khoo exits the fare gate at Caldecott MRT station every workday morning, he is glad to hear the familiar sound of safety boots knocking on the ground as a sighted guide approaches him.
Mr Khoo, who is visually handicapped, is head of Braille production and the library services centre at the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH), which stands across the road from the station.
His guide? One of five migrant workers deployed by Samsung C&T as guides for visually-impaired pedestrians, as well as to marshal commuters around the construction areas at the station.
Samsung C&T is building Caldecott station’s Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) extension, a project that started in 2013.
“The workers are always there at the same spot waiting for us. It’s become a norm for them to approach us immediately when we exit the fare gate,” said Mr Khoo, who added that he has started to build rapport with the guides.
“Sometimes I feel like I don’t need the help as I know the route, but meeting them is really about talking to them and enjoying their company,” said the 44-year-old.
A spokesman for Samsung C&T said the deployment began on Nov 15 last year, when an exit at the station was closed to facilitate TEL extension works. This deprived visually impaired commuters of their usual route to SAVH.
At any one time, at least one worker is stationed at four locations – outside the station gantry, and at three corners of a T-junction between the station and SAVH.
The five serve as guides throughout the day, from 7am to 11pm outside the gantries and from 7am to 9.30pm at the junction.
Photos of the workers guiding the visually impaired in the area have made their rounds on the social media recently, bringing attention to an unlikely friendship forged between the visually handicapped and the workers.
In one of the pictures is Mr Moorthy Manikandan.
“My colleague and managers have been showing me the photo since it was put up online. Everyone in the dorm has seen it. It’s nice and heartwarming. I am very happy,” said the 35-year-old from India.
“Passers-by also expressed their thanks after seeing the photo online. They come and say ‘thank you’. But I feel it’s okay. I’m just doing my job,” he added.
Another guide, 38-year-old Periyasami Vasanthakumar, said: “Helping people makes me very happy. We work for money, and that is important, but when work involves helping people, I feel very fulfilled.”
Mr Khoo said that the workers take a lot of pride in their work, evidenced by instances when they insisted on offering their help even when he was among sighted friends.
“They know us so well now that when we leave or arrive at the office at unusual times, they will ask where we have been. It’s very sweet of them,” he added.
“The conversations are very simple and light-hearted, but the workers are earnest in how they express themselves, and there is a sense of inclusiveness that goes both ways.”
Another SAVH staff member, librarian Kelvin Tan, said: “Talking to them is very easy. We can talk about anything like what they usually eat or how our days are.”
After meeting the guides on an almost daily basis, some like Mr Bablu, 50, have become familiar to him. “He’s always very bubbly and chuckling to himself,” said Mr Tan.
SAVH executive director Joshua Chegne said Samung C&T went beyond its call of duty, even providing umbrellas on rainy days to keep commuters dry.
“These acts of kindness give (the visually handicapped) a sense of security, especially during heavy downpours when the audible pedestrian signals at pedestrian crossings can be drowned out and imperceptible,” he said.
“They are indeed jewels and little gold nuggets to us all at SAVH.”
Mr Chegne added that since construction on the TEL extension began, the construction firm has constantly kept SAVH informed of changes that would affect accessibility of the area for the association’s clients. It also engaged with SAVH clients as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Asked if he would miss the workers when the project ends later this year, Mr Khoo said: “I’m grateful for the opportunity that this initiative has given us to correspond with someone from a very different background from us, because otherwise there might not be a chance like this at any other point in my life.”
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