While many of us continue to do our best to practise safe distancing and stay at home, where we can be safe from Covid-19, there are many unseen heroes devoting their time to working on the frontlines of fighting the virus.
48-year-old Alex Chua, a Lieutenant-Colonel with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), has been documenting the lives and the work of people dealing with managing the infection in Singapore’s migrant worker dormitories.
Chua (right) and Major Jonathan Ong (left), who are part of Information Team as Photo Journalists for the Inter-Agency Taskforce, at Woodlands Dormitory. Photo courtesy of MINDEF.
He records the stories and takes photos of the various individuals involved, such as the chairman of the Medical Board of Sengkang General Hospital, and shares them on Facebook as #storiesfromthefrontline.
And not only has he been documenting the hard work happening on the frontlines, he has also had an active role participating in it.
Chua, who has been in service with the SAF for 28 years, became involved in the dormitories when he assigned as a team lead for a Forward Assurance and Support Team (FAST).
For one month (Apr. 10 to May 10) Chua and his team were deployed at Woodlands Lodge 1, where they helped in setting up systems and processes in migrant workers’ dormitory routines, as well as putting in place infrastructure such as isolation rooms, to help control the spread of Covid-19.
Documenting through photography
During his time working on the FAST team, Chua, a photography hobbyist, took photos to document their experience.
And when he found out that his team was being rotated out of the dormitories, he asked for permission to continue working on the ground.
He then volunteered to join the Info Team in the Inter-agency Task Force, in which his role would be to visit the dormitories and capture moments of frontline workers in action.
He was excited to start in his new role, as he wanted to share about the hard work that he had witnessed behind-the-scenes at the dormitories:
"When I was told about my new mission, I was anxious to start because I noticed that there were a lot of negativity in the news published revolving around the MWs.
In my course of work as a FAST Leader, I saw a very different picture and I wanted to quickly share what I had witnessed and also show how everyone there was putting in their all and contributing to the fight against Covid-19."
Capturing people’s stories
Taking photos of the frontlines has given Chua the chance to capture the stories of different people, including migrant workers, dormitory staff, and healthcare workers assisting with swabbing and medical care.
Some of his posts feature more lighthearted interactions...
...while others dig deeper to share more about the individual being shown.
Chua shares one particularly memorable interaction he had with an Indian migrant worker remitting money home at the mobile remittance station at Avery Lodge.
Chua noticed the worker, 46-year-old Jaganathan Jeeva, hand the remitting officer "a lump of money".
Chua was struck to find out that Jaganathan sends home 80 per cent of his salary every month to support his mother, wife, and two children pursuing undergraduate degrees, keeping only S$150 for himself to buy food and phone cards.
"It was very humbling to talk to a man who selflessly puts his family as the top priority while leaving just the bare minimum for himself," says Chua. "We have so much to learn from this man."
Photo via Facebook / Alex Chua.
Chua has also gotten to witness some heartwarming scenes in the dormitories.
He shares that his favourite photo out of all of the ones he has taken is one he snapped of 63 migrant workers who had recovered from Covid-19 after 23 days in isolation facilities, and were finally "graduating" to the block for recovered workers at Woodlands Lodge 1.
Photo via Facebook / Alex Chua.
Chua admits he felt "a bit emotional" taking the photo, as he had seen the workers over that past month as they came through the medical post to their various isolation facilities.
Challenges on the frontlines
And of course, there are inevitable challenges that come along with being on the frontlines of the Covid-19 outbreak.
When it comes to speaking with interviewees, Chua explains that it sometimes can be difficult to get people to open up, although he understands why:
"People are generally shy and don't like the spotlight on them. Humility is my biggest challenge.
And it is only right.
People just want to do their job and do it well. They are not there to show people how good they are."
As a result, he says, he normally spends some time speaking with them in order to slowly uncover their stories. Then, once he shares with them why their stories are important and promote positivity, they often open up and are more willing to have their stories shared.
And there are the inevitable physical challenges as well.
In order to make sure that he is able to stay safe while shooting, Chua dons personal protective equipment (PPE) for between two and three hours, the duration of a typical shoot.
The experience of taking photos while wearing PPE is "generally uncomfortable", Chua says, as the PPE traps the heat of the hot sun that he’s in.
Chua shared in a Facebook post how his hands looked after just one-and-a-half hours of wearing gloves, which are part of the PPE.
Photo via Facebook / Alex Chua.
Hopes to show how things are on the ground
So what keeps Chua going throughout this?
"I want to spread positivity. Especially in times like this when we are bombarded with negativity in the news and on social media.
I also want people to see what the front-liners are doing to fight this pandemic and how the MWs [migrant workers] are coping with the situation."
He shares that from getting to know the migrant workers in the dormitories, he has also learned not to take things for granted:
"We see some of the MWs working and leaving the dorms at 5am and coming back again at 8pm.
Their jobs are very laborious and they go through this routine almost every day.
The biggest thing is to appreciate the life we have and be thankful."
He’s also been struck by how selfless many people are in their willingness to help others when the situation requires it, even if that means sacrificing time with family and dealing with long working hours.
He leaves his parting words for everyone involved in the Covid-19 response:
"Everyone must play their part. Every single moment of effort is important. Lives are at stake.
Because everything we do, small or big, contributes to the lives and well-being of every single MWs."
You can check out more of Chua’s photography and #storiesfromthefrontline on his Facebook here.
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 photos via Facebook / Alex Chua.