Our Essential Staff
The students of NUS, especially those who reside in UTown, are dependent on a force of workers whose tireless efforts sustain our lifestyles.
How much do we notice these individuals, not as a blended monolith, but as the distinct persons they are?
What do they sacrifice for our sake?
Simple gestures of appreciation matter far more than we think: research has shown that we consistently undervalue how much our small expressions of gratitude, letters, compliments, etc. can increase other’s happiness.
The Care! Campaign has a simple goal: to humanize those who work around us, to help bring awareness to the effort that goes into sustaining the student lifestyle, and to encourage fellow students to reach out in small ways.
Empathy often starts from a place of understanding. How much do we know about the work that goes into preparing and serving our food? If breakfast is served at 7:30 AM, when is preparation started?
How many bathrooms do the cleaners take care of in a day?
When others are home with their families, who remains on campus during the weekends?
How well do we know the essential staff?
Some may be familiar faces who we see every day–but do we know them?
Have we reached out?
Meet Auntie Suriyati
Auntie Suriyati is 54 and has worked at NUS for 10 years, in various residential colleges including Tembusu. She works to support her very sick father, and some times has to wake up as early as 3 AM to care for him. During her free time she prepares food for herself and her father.
Currently she is in charge of the bathrooms, and in a pair with Auntie Suriani they clean all 21 floors of Cinnamon. Previously she cleaned the suite rooms. Sometime the students leave the bathrooms in a less than desirable state, which requires a lot of extra effort to keep clean, but recently they've done a good job of keeping clean.
While COVID had a lot of restrictions that made the job harder, she is happy that things are opening up. If one of the pair is absent, the other partner needs to cover the whole building by themselves. There's very little time for breaks, as it will postpone the time they finish at. There's also not a lot of time to socialize, as the job requires their full attention.
As students keep things clean, it helps them finish faster, and makes for a smoother workday. She noticed how as the year progresses, the students notice their work and start to work harder to keep the halls clean-making their job easier.
Meet Auntie Wen (right)
When you come to scan for breakfast at the Cinnamon Asian cuisine counter, she’ll be one of the first friendly faces that you’ll see. Born in a village near Fuzhou, China in 1963, Auntie Wen immigrated to Singapore in 1996, knowing only Mandarin and Fuzhounese. Not knowing the lingua franca of Singapore: English, Hokkien, Teochew or Cantonese, she often had to rely on neighbors to help translate.
It was only later when her two sons grew older and mastered English that communication was no longer a problem. For years before coming to work in NUS, she used to work in a factory, long hours and exhausting work. When she was recounting this story, she said repeatedly “life is good now!”. Having worked at the DH for a few years, she’s made friends with fellow aunties and uncles. She can also recognize the students who come to eat, though would like to know more of their names.
A typical day for Auntie Wen starts early at 4am in the morning. After having a brief breakfast, she would take a work taxi and then a bus before arriving at NUS around 6am, where she would starts working until 10am. The dining hall staff take a break at 10am, resume at 12pm and stop at 2pm. After that, Auntie Wen goes back home. She lives with her husband, who is also still working. Her sons have both graduated university and are independent now.
Work at the DH starts early and involves long hours of standing, but it’s not too taxing for Auntie Wen. Now 60, she has no intention to retire and wishes to continue working here for as long as she can.
Meet Uncle Peng Cheok and Auntie Shiew Joo
Uncle and Auntie Soh make the most of the school schedule, with trips to Australia in the winter, and volunteering over the summer break.
They love interacting with the students as if they were their own grandchildren. Uncle Peng Cheok mentioned that he likes to keep up a happy mood, as the students notice when he's not as cheery. He says it's hard to makes others happy when you yourself aren't, so he always tries to keep up a smile for the student's sake.
Auntie Shiew Joo wanted to work at NUS, so Uncle duly followed. They both hope to work for a few more years, and bring happiness to the students' lives.
What goes into food preparation?
Food trucks deliver the ingredients needed for daily preparation of fresh meals. Depending on the individual, the chefs can get to work as early as 2 AM to start meal preparation. Cooking takes 2-4 hours to be prepared for the breakfast meals. The chefs for breakfast and dinner are on different shifts, so the night workers can sleep at a consistent time in the afternoons and vice versa.
Food is prepared and tested before being served to students. Most food is prepared at Cinnamon dining hall and then transported to Saga for meal time. Timings are a little different for YNC dining halls, which serve lunch as well as breakfast and dinner.
After meals have been served, the Aunties and Uncles will work in simple preparation for the next day, such as preparing 'Grab and Go' sandwiches for the next day's meal.
Halal stalls are prepared in accordance to Halal requirements, in a separate designated kitchen with a separate pantry with specialty chefs.
In shifts of two, each pair of Aunties or Uncles is in charge of either toilets, suites, lounges - for all 21-22 floors. With that much to cover, there's a few ways we can make their lives easier:
- Always flush! Used toilet papers should be placed in the trash or flushed down the toilet, not anywhere else.
- Try to throw the bulk of your trash down the designated chutes, the corridor trash cans can fill up quickly.
- If you need to place your garbage in a trashcan, make sure it makes it into the can. On top of the dustbin is not a substitute for in!
Those suggestions may seem simple, but many students don't follow them. Combined with the amount of students present in the resindential colleges, it creates a lot of extra work for the staff.
That said, each of the workers mentioned how much they enjoyed working for the students. A simple 'Hello' or 'Good Morning' coupled with taking better care of our waste can help make their day.
Auntie Suriani
Auntie Suriani is 62. Her children are all grown and independent now, so she mostly works to get out of the house and to socialize. Her son works in the media, so she has a lot of camera gear around the house. She enjoys greeting the students, and the challenges associated with her job.
Uncle Soh
Uncle Soh is 68 and loves to serve the students. He works the breakfast shifts, from 6 AM to around 14:00 in the afternoon. Make sure to say 'Hello' when picking up breakfast at Saga dining hall!
Auntie Kamala
In her 70s, Auntie Kamala has worked at NUS for 3 years. She lives not far from NUS and has lived there for 48 years. She is the mother of four, and one of her grandchildren is in her 20s now. All of her family live close to each other. After her half day of work at the DH, she often spends her spare time going to her daughter’s house and cooking with her.
A Little Appreciation Goes a Long Way
Please drop a message on our whiteboard from 13/11 - 18/11 at the Yale NUS library, or drop a message in the collection box. If you happen to miss either, send us a message over Instagram - we'd love to pass your message onto the staff.
Better yet, start up a conversation or share your gratitude in person. A little goes a long way!
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