There's no better way to build empathy than to just sit down and listen to a person's story.

Here's one, from Subramani Santhilkumar, from the town of Naamakkal in the state of Tamil Nadu, in India, told by way of an interview presented by filmmaker Eysham Ali:

Senthilkumar opens by saying he has a wife and two children — his family: two parents and a younger brother. Sounds pretty normal, right?

As with many others, he is in Singapore because he can earn more money:

And he explains that he needs to earn a living for himself and his family...

As a person.

He was asked what he thinks about how foreign workers have changed Singapore's landscape. Here's what he said:

"It won't happen with just a migrant worker. No one achieves anything alone. The local workers and the foreign workers created something because of everyone's effort."

The humility.

We also learn from him that he has 15 days of leave each year; that's when he heads home to spend time with his family:

"My one year of happiness with my family is in those 15 days."

Naturally, the topic of kids came up:

"They don't understand. Everyone has their father and mother; they only have their mother."

And this extremely painful moment:

"There are no words to express how lonely it feels. When you experience it, it is so horrible."

But at the end of the day, this is a choice Santhilkumar has made.

As he puts it, this is the sacrifice he makes, having spent the last 15 years loving his family over the phone, and seeing them for 15 days each year.

And this is his story — one of the stories of more than 1 million foreign workers here on work permits.

You can watch and listen to Santhilkumar's full story in the film here:

Top photo: screenshot from video

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