When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit Singapore earlier in the year, Zainal (not his real name) was left quite high and dry.

The 61-year-old Singaporean rigger at Jurong Port could not return to his home in Batam because of the travel restrictions that were imposed in March.

Zainal stays at Jurong Port whenever he receives an assignment. In between jobs, he would normally return to Batam where he lives with his wife and three children.

However, since travel restrictions kicked in, Zainal could not return back to Batam.

With nowhere to go, he resorted to spending his nights at a coffeeshop in Jurong.

Fell off table while sleeping

Speaking to Mothership over a video call, he explains that crashing at a coffeeshop was the most feasible option available.

Yes, it is scary to be out in public during a pandemic, but he had no other choice.

And while he has siblings in Singapore, he did not want to trouble them.

"They have their own responsibilities and their families to take care of," says Zainal.

Sleeping in a coffeeshop was not ideal but it was marginally better than being out on the streets.

Zainal would wait until the coffeeshop was deserted at the end of the day before he snuck in and bunked on one of the tables.

Once, he says, he suffered a sprain after falling off a table in his sleep.

From then on, he slept on the floor of the coffeeshop instead.

"It's not a big injury. It was just difficult to turn my body," he says.

Occasionally, he would be kept awake by groups of people drinking late into the night near the coffeeshop, but most nights the coffeeshop is deserted making it easier to avoid unnecessary contact with people during a pandemic outbreak.

"As far as possible, I just don't want to get Covid-19 lah. I want to stay safe for my family."

Then April came and Singapore entered its Circuit Breaker period. The announcement worried Zainal because it meant that his days at the coffeeshop were numbered.

"I couldn't do anything. All I could do was wait for it to be over."

Urged to seek shelter at Assyakirin Mosque

For around two weeks, the Jurong coffeeshop was Zainal's home away from home until a Social Service Officer from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) found him.

"The SSO told me there's a mosque I could go to in Jurong and it's nearer to my work place too," he says.

The Assyakirin Mosque is one of 35 organisations that have stepped forward to offer shelter to homeless people and rough sleepers during the Circuit Breaker.

Other organisations include the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Catholic Welfare Services, Singapore Anglican Community Services and Kassim Mosque.

They provide what MSF calls "Safe Sound Sleeping Places" (or S3Ps in short) thaat provide shelter 24/7 and meals to those who need it.

Zainal is one of nearly 300 people who have approached these organisations for shelter during the Circuit Breaker, said the Minister for Social and Development, Desmond Lee, in Parliament recently.

Like Zainal, many of them were affected by travel restrictions.

"It's good lah," he says of the shelter provided by Assyakirin Mosque.

Here he gets to rest properly and most importantly, he says, it's much safer at the mosque than being out there in a coffeeshop.

"It is nice to have people to spend time with rather than to be alone," says Zainal. There were six other men who are staying at Assyakirin Mosque at the time of our chat.

And then there are the little amenities, like a washing machine, dryer, free WiFi and clothes, that he is grateful for.

Having free WiFi allows him to contact his family over in Batam regularly. Of course he misses them, says Zainal, but there's nothing much he can do about it.

"My children and grandchildren (in Batam) keep asking me when I'm coming home!"

Misses his children, grandchildren

As he's currently between assignments, his days at the mosque are pretty carefree. Occasionally, the shelter residents will head out to buy their meals together.

The mosque also provides him with a cash allowance of S$10 every day as well as a care pack which includes a toothbrush, some toothpaste, cups, a pillow, and a sleeping bag.

His iftar meals were provided for at Taman Jurong Community Centre as part of the SGUnited Buka Puasa initiative.

The mosque also provides support for its shelter residents' mental, emotional well-being through counselling sessions.

Recently, the mosque also brought Zainal to a clinic and pharmacy to seek treatment for a medical condition.

On his future plans post-Circuit Breaker, Zainal is thinking of a more stable, long term accommodation here in Singapore, specifically a public rental flat under the Joint Singles Scheme.

This, he says, will make things easier so he doesn't have to rush from Batam to Singapore whenever he has a job assignment.

A social worker from the Fei Yue Family Service Team at Taman Jurong is assisting Zainal in his search for a suitable flat in Jurong.

At the time of our chat, Muslims all over the world, including Zainal, were preparing to celebrate Hari Raya, a time of family reunion albeit a more sombre one this year.

For Zainal, however, the uncertainty of whether he would be able to return home made the festival an even gloomier affair.

"Of course I miss my family but there's nothing much I can do. If the government says I cannot go back then I cannot go back yet. I just have to be patient and wait for it to be over."

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Stories of Us is a series about ordinary people in Singapore and the unique ways they’re living their lives. Be it breaking away from conventions, pursuing an atypical passion, or the struggles they are facing, these stories remind us both of our individual uniqueness and our collective humanity.

Top image courtesy of Assyakirin Mosque. Quotes were translated from Malay through an interpreter.