I could not help but be moved by The Sunday Times story on foreign workers fearing for their jobs.

They pay thousands to come to Singapore, have huge debts to repay, take home little and send all their money back to their original country.

When I drive along Little India on a Sunday, it is easy to grumble at the crowds gathered along the shops making the place inaccessible. But sometimes we should stop and chat with some of them and our view of them changes almost immediately.

I once had a long chat with one of these foreign workers and he told me that getting together to eat, drink and chat was among the few things they could afford to do.

For many, it was their only form of entertainment. When they splurge, it is to buy a few beers. Many of them send almost all the money they earn back home to where their families are.

When I spoke to my helper recently about the falling rupiah and how she could now change the money she was earning to millions of rupiah, she replied that falling value of the Indonesian currency was making life for her family even more difficult. The price of everything had shot up and it was impossible for anyone to buy even the basic of food items, she said.

Sitting down and chatting with some of these low-income workers often gives me a totally different take on life and the world around us. I find that I not only appreciate more what I have but also appreciate these people more because in many ways they are like any of us. They have families to take care of, they worry about feeding their children, they slog to give their children a good education and hope that their children have a better life than them. They have more things in common with us than we realise.