Local musician raises money to buy meals from hawkers to give to migrant workers

Singapore – During Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), many hawkers experienced dwindling sales as dining at hawker stalls and restaurants was prohibited. To help them, a local musician started raising money to buy meals in bulk from them and give the food to migrant workers.

The campaign is called WeEat.

“Phase 2 has been very difficult for hawkers in places located at business districts and who cater primarily to office officers,” reads the WeEat description.

“At the same time, migrant workers may not have had the opportunity to taste the various ranges of hawker food found in Singapore.”

WeEat, in collaboration with the Covid-19 Migrant Support Coalition (CMSC), Shabir Music Asia and 24asia.news, aims to serve hawker food to migrant workers.

It certainly means more orders for the hawkers.

Surprise bulk order

Hawker Noorjahan Manja Shahul Hamid had mostly been sitting outside her Indian Muslim stall, Bismillah, on the second floor of Amoy Street Food Centre during Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), reported Today.

So, she could not believe her good fortune when she received a bulk order last week.

“In my heart, there was some doubt about whether this was for real. It would have been a pain if I cooked everything and they did not come to collect the food,” shared Ms Noorjahan.

When a volunteer from CMSC arrived to pick up the order of 170 packets of Maggi goreng on June 5, her worry was put to rest.

Shabir Tabare Alam, known for his Tamil compositions, including the 2012 National Day song Singai Naad, got the idea for the initiative after reading the plight of elderly hawkers trying to survive amid the heightened measures.

The campaign, which is featured in rayofhope.sg, has a goal to raise S$10,000. The goal has been reached. To date, the campaign has raised S$10,090.

It plans to fund around S$500 worth of orders per hawker.

Mr Shabir hopes that the initiative will help provide rental relief for some hawkers.

WeEat will end once the funds are exhausted, although Mr Shabir aims to revive it again should another partial lockdown be imposed./TISG

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