Hazirah (not her real name) lost contact with her Bangladeshi husband after he supposedly left Singapore to look for employment in Brazil in 1991. Without any support from her family or close friends to confide in, the then-pregnant Hazirah was left to raise three children single–handedly.  

To make ends meet, she juggled night shifts at a factory, and cleaned houses in the day beyond her motherly duties.

“I didn’t want them to feel like they had no money to go to school or to buy things. I’ll try my best to provide for them,” she said.

In 2021, her husband suddenly came back into the picture, after her eldest daughter coincidentally found him admitted in the same hospital she was working at. 

Due to his deteriorating health condition, he had no recollection of what happened over the 31 years of him not being with his family.

Even so, Hazirah took on the role of his caregiver, bearing the financial burden of his medical bills and helped him to apply for a long-term visit pass (LTVP).

“I do this all because of God. With whatever problems I have, I trust that God still has something good in store for me,” she said with great hope. 

Now, she lives in her daughter’s house, together with her family. But, due to her strained relationship with her son-in-law, she spends most of her days cooped up in her room with her partially bedridden husband – only leaving when she has to use the toilet or to cook meals.

Having to be on standby for her husband round the clock and dealing with her own worsening leg condition, Hazirah is unable to commit to a full-time job, resulting in a heavier financial burden.

She depends on the welfare support of Social Service Offices (SSO), as well as ACMI to tide over.

ACMI’s Assistance and Well-being team helps low-income transnational families through case management, counselling, information and referral services, education sponsorship for non-Singaporean children and by serving their immediate needs where necessary. In Hazirah’s case, this includes connecting her with other organisations for added support, as well as helping her with her immediate needs, like getting a commode wheelchair for her husband. 

Help us continue supporting low-income transnational families like Hazirah’s and other vulnerable migrants whom we serve!