Photo book to honour food delivery riders wins international award
Three years ago, he was in between jobs for a period and worked as a Grab driver to support his family.
Mr Tan Chin Hock, now a business development executive and an author-photographer, told The New Paper that the "uncertainty and stress" of the job was tough to bear.
So when he saw food delivery riders working amid even tougher circumstances during the pandemic, he decided to document their daily struggles in a photo book to recognise their hard work and raise awareness.
Mr Tan, 43, said: "Food delivery riders are everyday heroes of the pandemic, helping us to stay home and stay safe.
"I hope we can be more understanding and appreciative of their work, like allowing them to slow down and be more careful in bad weather."
The photo book, titled Drenched To Fill You Up, received a silver award under the non-professional book category at the Moscow International Foto Awards 2021 last month.
This is Mr Tan's fourth photo book. The latest book is not for profit, with electronic copies on offer to donors who contribute to his fund-raising campaign on Giving.sg to support St Luke's Hospital.
His visual tribute has been recognised by food delivery companies, with some stepping up to provide more support and opportunities for their riders.
Ms Sarah Tan, general manager of Deliveroo Singapore, said: "We hope that through this photo book, the wider community will continue to show appreciation, compassion and patience to our riders."
She added: "Riders are at the heart of all that we do, so we regularly engage them through various initiatives, including providing upskilling and training opportunities. We are committed to supporting our riders in their professional and educational development."
Last week, the company announced it will be expanding its learning initiative, in a move to encourage more riders to complete training courses under its learning programmes.
It has also created a scholarship scheme with education platform OpenClassrooms to fund associate-level degree programmes for its riders.
DIGITAL MARKETING
Mr Poon Hong Wai, 34, a full-time Deliveroo rider for three years now, completed a digital marketing course and graduated with an associate's degree in digital marketing this year.
He said: "I learnt a lot from the programme in hard skills related to marketing and greatly improved my soft skills such as writing reports and giving presentations.
"I really appreciate this initiative and hope other riders will benefit from the courses too."
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