Foreign Workers Have Needs and Dreams Too

During my mother-in-law’s recent hospital stay, I was glad to have the help of one Indonesian domestic helper Yati.

Many of the nurses in the geriatric wards are from the Philippines and China. The young doctors who attended to her are either from India or China. My mother-in-law has difficulty communicating with the healthcare staff in her dialect. She was able to communicate with Yati in Malay language.

During my mother-in-law’s week long stay, Yati helped with the feeding sometimes, wiping her drool and keep her company during our absence. Several patients in the ward have their domestic helpers by their sides. These caregivers will stay with them during their hospitalisation. Some of them are almost as good as the trained nurses as they go about their chores of looking after their elderly charges.

Looking healthy and cheerful, Yati has been taking care of a 84 year-old lady who has dementia for the past 6 years. I am impressed by her tender loving care for her charge as she treats her just like her own mother. Yati is 27, married to a farmer in Jawa Timur and has two young children whom she misses very much. Fortunately for her, she has a caring employer who treats her like a family member. Although she is given a day off every week, Yati seldom takes a break as she prefers to save her money for her family back home.

Yati was a great help to the overstretched nurses in our ward as she would sometimes help with the feeding of the patients or helping them adjust the beds so they could rest comfortably.

In the same ward was another Indonesian maid Tong who looked malnourished and exhausted. She was timid and kept to herself. Her employer was a fierce middle-aged lady who often raised her voice at her. When any maid tried to befriend Tong, her employer would glare at them or scold them.

We observed that her employer only give her bread or leftovers from her meals. Whenever her employer was asleep, some of us or the nurses would secretly slipped some food and drinks to her.

Through the limited conversation Yati had with Tong, we learnt that she is only 19 and comes from a small village in Surabaya. She has been here for only 10 months. Not used to our lifestyle here and the tiring working hours, she is homesick and a little depressed. Worried for her, Yati secretly gave Tong her contact number.

These domestic helpers have left their families and country to work in a foreign land, often heavily saddled with debts. Many of them are away from home for the first time. They can only count on luck to find a caring employer whom they have to live with for at least two years. They should be treated as fellow humans with needs and dreams just like you and I.

Resilience In Times, Training Throughout Life

For the past two years, I have been going to Helen for my monthly massage. Helen is in her mid-fifties. She is a divorcee with 3 grown up sons. Her eldest son has a congenital heart disease and does only odd jobs. Her second son is also a divorcee and works as a salesman. Her youngest son is serving his National Service.

Ten years ago, Helen was a rich tai-tai of a building contractor. She lived in a spacious condominium and had a maid to take care of household chores. She drove a luxurious continental car,spending her time playing mah-jong, meeting other tai-tais for meals or shopping.

One day her less well=off sister-in-law pulled her along to sign up for a masseuse training course supported by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). Helen went through the course to keep her sister-in-law company. Never did she know she would depend on this skill for her livelihood.

When her husband left her for a younger woman, Helen found herself with a totally different life. Suddenly she was the breadwinner. She bought a HDB flat and worked as a masseuse in Holland Road. Her monthly salary was only S$1500 which was not enough to feed her kids. Her ex-husband was also not prompt in his maintenance payments. She signed up for advanced training and found a better paying job at another spa.

Helen is very hardworking and eager to learn. Her company has sent her for several upgrading courses.  She is popular amongst her customers and sometimes has massage sessions booked back to back. Although she is busy, she derives much satisfaction from her job as she gets to meet interesting people and lose weight. She has lost 16 kg since she started working in this spa. 

I am fortunate to have Helen as my masseuse. She responses to my breathing and sounds and is methodical in the way she massages. She does not short-change me by skipping any parts of my body or shortening the session. She usually asks me which part of my body needs massaging before she recommends a suitable massage. I feel totally relaxed after her pampering.

Against all odds, Helen has remained resilience and taken charge of her own life.

Enhancing Employability In Singapore - Ruby Tuesday

During the Christmas holidays, several classmates from my ICDL (International Computer Driving Lesson) Certification Programme met for lunch. We have been keeping in touch with one another after the completion of the course.

One of our classmates Haslinda became the envy of the group. After completing the ICDL course, she signed up for more courses to upgrade herself. She was recently promoted to Administrative Executive in an interior design firm and received a 2-month performance bonus for the year.

Haslinda, a bubbly girl with numerous ear piercings and tattoos on both arms, would sit next to me during our 3-week computer course. During our chats, she revealed that she dropped out of secondary school as she was playful. She has worked at fast food restaurants, coffee houses and as a salesgirl, earning meagre hourly wages.

Although she is only 23, she is already a mother of 3 young kids and separated from her husband of 6 years. With 3 children to feed, she was finding it tough to work on shifts and make ends meet. She approached the Community Development Council (CDC) for help.

They found her a job as a receptionist at an interior design firm and also arranged for her to attended computer courses to upgrade her skills and enhanced her employability.

As Hasinda has only a Secondary 2 standard, I would often help her as she was struggling with the technical terms. She was determined to get her certificates, so she studied hard. She passed with flying colours. At the end of the course, her Boss was so pleased with her newly acquired skills that he gave her a raise and encouraged her to sign up for more relevant courses.

trainer teaching us Spreadsheet Function 

She is now earning a monthly salary of S$2000 including overtime pay, a far cry from her previous hourly-paid service crew jobs. Seeing how much Haslinda’s life has improved, we are happy for her.