The photograph was no bigger than a credit card.
A migrant worker held it for a moment before slipping it into his wallet: a picture of his two young children, printed seconds earlier from a small instant photo printer at the dormitory.
Father's Day at the TS Group dormitory at JTC SPACE@Tuas was filled with games, prizes, food and the noise of a few hundred men enjoying their one day off. For a brief moment, his attention was fixed on the photograph in his hand. He just wanted something he could hold.
A Day Apart
Most fathers in Singapore spent the day over a meal, or a photo with the family squeezed into one frame. For many migrant workers in Singapore, it was another day far from home, where a video call, if the signal held, was as close as they'd get to an embrace.
That tiny photograph said more about the day than anything on the programme.
Games And RemitSure
EFGH volunteers joined TS Group on 21 June to mark the occasion with the dormitory's residents. The plan was straightforward: games, refreshments, conversation, and an introduction to RemitSure, which lets users compare remittance options and potentially cut the cost of sending money home.
The Real Highlight
What nobody planned for was how much the photographs would matter. Many workers chose to print photos of their children or families back home. Others printed photos of themselves or of friends they had made while working in Singapore. Nobody suggested it, they just knew what mattered most.
For men who spend months, sometimes years, away from their families, a printed photo isn't paper. It's the reason they put up with the long hours and the unfamiliar surroundings and the daily ache of being somewhere else.
A Loud Morning
The morning itself was loud and warm. Workers piled into the games, cheered each other on, and cleared out every prize within 40 minutes.
"The mood was really positive," recalled Tan Ghim Chong, an EFGH volunteer. "Everything went smoothly. Everyone got into the games and the prizes disappeared within 40 minutes."
Quiet Sacrifices
Behind the smiles, though, was the usual story. Several workers said they were still waiting for salaries to clear, and most of that money was already spoken for before it landed. Ageing parents. School fees. Spouses running households thousands of kilometres away. The conversation drifted toward remittances naturally, because every one of them had someone waiting at home. That's just where the talk went.
Where RemitSure Fit
That's where RemitSure came in. Comparing transfer options, even saving a little each month, can stretch further than it sounds: school fees, groceries or daily necessities. The small things that add up.
People, Not Tech
For Manoj Chamam Lal, another EFGH volunteer, the technology wasn't the story. The people were.
"What surprised me most was the strong turnout on a Sunday morning, especially considering it was their only rest day," he said. "The workers were genuinely curious and eager to learn more." As the conversations went on, that curiosity turned into something closer to enthusiasm. "You could see their excitement grow as they realised the value it could bring to their families back home."
Becoming Ambassadors
The clearest endorsement didn't come from EFGH's volunteers. It came from the workers. By the end of the event, 12 residents had signed up to become RemitSure ambassadors, offering to bring the platform to their own friends and colleagues.
None of the volunteers were counting downloads. The morning was measured differently: in conversations over coffee, in fathers showing off photos of children they hadn't seen in too long, in friends needling each other over a card game.
Photographs In Wallets
By afternoon, the games had ended and the booths were packed away. Workers returned to their rooms with snacks, small gifts and freshly printed photographs tucked carefully into their wallets.
Until they can be reunited with their families, those small photographs serve as reminders of the people they work so hard for. Behind every remittance is not simply a financial transaction, but a father trying to provide for the people he loves.
By Therese Lim
Communications Associate
Embed Financial Group Holdings
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