How the ground-up movement Dipa Swaminathan founded rallied an entire nation into helping Singapore’s migrant worker community during the pandemic
During Singapore’s circuit breaker period in April and May, many took the opportunity to indulge in calming activities like baking and gardening. But that was not the case for It’s Raining Raincoats (IRR) founder Dipa Swaminathan and her team of some 40 core volunteers. They worked around the clock coordinating widespread efforts to offer aid to Singapore’s migrant worker community, most of whom were quarantined in crowded dormitories.
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"The requests for help from workers were endless and seeing the issues they faced was heartbreaking. There weren’t enough hours in a day for us to help." Swaminathan founded this ground-up movement in 2015 to help improve the lives of migrant workers in Singapore and to encourage their integration into the broader community.
At the peak of Singapore’s outbreak, IRR mobilised hundreds of volunteers to distribute 600,000 hot meals and 120,000 care packages and helped 12,000 workers with their mobile data top-ups so that they could stay in contact with loved ones while in isolation. The organisation also co-authored a mental health booklet with the Singapore Medical Society of Ireland and coordinated fundraising efforts for families of deceased or terminally ill migrant workers during the pandemic.