HOME celebrates International Migrant’s Day, featuring SG’s volleyball-playing domestic workers

SINGAPORE: International Migrant’s Day is celebrated on Dec 18 each year, but local migrant workers’ rights group HOME (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics) will mark it early this year with a photo exhibition and film screening this coming Sunday, Dec 3. The exhibition, called On Sundays We Play, features a group of volleyball-playing migrant domestic workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, and India, giving audiences a glimpse of their passion for the sport, which they play on Sundays at the site of Singapore’s old airport in Kallang.

HOME collaborated with the people behind the project, and its 24-Hour Rest Day Campaign will be spotlighted in the exhibition. The campaign calls for migrant domestic workers in Singapore to have a full day of uninterrupted rest. The event will be held at UltraSuperNew Gallery at 168 Tyrwhitt Road from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm. Aside from the photo exhibit and the film, a book will also be launched. Entrance is free, and interested parties may avail of tickets here to select a time slot for visiting.

“The quiet and disused fields along Old Terminal Lane come alive every Sunday as the site is transformed into a sporting carnival and social playground: domestic workers turn into athletes in shiny uniforms and embody sporting prowess and sass on the courts; colorful ceremonies feature team parades and glamorous muses; friends gather on the sidelines to cheer, picnic with home-made food and sing mobile karaoke; and games of charity are played to raise funds for sick family members back home or disaster relief for home-town villages,” the announcement about the event reads.

The event recognizes migrant domestic workers as an integral part of Singapore’s care economy, who have left behind their families and children to work in Singaporean households. Several workers have played social volleyball in the fields along Old Terminal Lane.

“Playing volleyball is more than just a game. It is reinvigorating physically, emotionally, and mentally for these women. It is also an opportunity to generate informal networks of social and economic support among each other. They play rain or shine,” the announcement adds.

With On Sundays, We Play, the multifaceted identities and talents of Singapore’s migrant workers are celebrated. “Witness how these women create a sense of place in Singapore and build their individual and collective resilience,” it adds.

A sociologist and photographer team, Selvaraj Velayutham, James Loganathan, Kristine Aquino, and Amanda Wise, is behind this initiative. The book launched during the event was published by Gantala Press, a feminist press in the Philippines focusing on women’s voices on the margins. /TISG