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A Mile in Their Shoes: Two lucky FDW’s Experiences Smartly dressed and seated in a Starbucks café, one might very well mistake Dewi and Yenthi for foreign tourists. Yet they are part of the more than 140,000 FDWs in Singapore, working tirelessly for numerous families to perform various chores like cleaning, cooking, washing, marketing and taking care of their employer’s children. BACKGROUND
On the other hand, Yenthi’s home is continents away in Sri Lanka, where she has one sibling, a sister currently working as a teacher. Like Dewi, she could not go to University due to family finances, and could find no jobs in Sri Lanka. Hence, despite hearing stories of maid abuse from friends, she decided to work overseas as a domestic servant, and has worked in the Middle East before coming to Singapore. FIRST EXPERIENCES During her first 3 months in Singapore, Dewi had no friends and cried a lot out of homesickness. Coming to Singapore was a hard decision for her, she says, as her son was only 2 when she left. Also, like Yenthi, she had heard stories of maid abuse in Singapore. To make matters worse, though the first family she worked for treated her well, one of the men gave her “too much attention”, she recounted. However, she feared to go to the police as that meant she would have to leave the family. Yenthi’s first experience as a domestic servant was only slightly better, as she found herself confused by the new and foreign city she was working in. The British family she was working for was kind to her, but she notes that the Middle-Eastern city she worked in was “not safe”. She later came to Singapore to work, first for a Russian then a Chinese family. GOOD TREATMENT
Both maids strongly agree that most important in their welfare is their “madam”. It is the female employer that tends to dictate the maid’s duties and privileges, and good madams also look after the maid’s emotional welfare. Both maids say they get along very well with their employers, and often confide in and take advice from them. THE TRAVAILS OF BEING A MAID
In this vein, Yenthi urged all employers to be understanding of their maids, especially first-time ones. Dewi chipped in, begging employers not to work their maids too hard as “we are not machines”. She also asked employers to be patient as most maids come from villages and may not, for example, know how to operate rice-cookers or washing machines. Both maids also wished to point out another source of maid abuse: the maid agencies themselves. Even before starting work, Dewi says maids are routinely mistreated at the maid agencies. According to her, maids undergoing the mandatory training are made to live in terrible conditions, and are treated “like dogs”. Yenthi added that as most maids are adults, treating them like idiots and not allowing them to speak up was unnecessary and degrading to the maids. Nonetheless, Yenthi notes optimistically that a few agencies give maids more freedom and choice. While most maids must depend on luck to get a good employers, these agencies allow the maids choose the families they want to work for, or to decline to work for a particular family. They also allow maids who are being interviewed by prospective employers to ask a few questions of their own, to get an impression of the household they may end up working in. HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
Having taken up enough of their time, both of us GloPos writers thanked the
two maids for the interview, and wished them all the best in the achieving of
their dreams.
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Dewi
comes from East Java, Indonesia, and had led the simple life of a villager before
deciding to work overseas as a domestic servant. Coming from a large but poor
family, she studied only till high school and is the only girl in the family,
with 7 brothers. Married with a son, she came to Singapore in hope of earning
more money, and now makes more than her brothers, most of whom are as factory
workers, teachers and non-teaching staff in schools. .jpg)
Despite
past unpleasant experiences, both maids admit that their current employers treat
them very well, and count themselves among the more fortunate maids in Singapore.
Yenthi notes that she had heard that Singaporean families were bad to work for,
but added that her current employer’s family is all right, though in general
Chinese families can be traditional, superstitious, and occasionally quite “naggy”.
Both maids eat together with their employers’ families, and are given
a considerable amount of freedom not granted to other maids, they say. Dewi,
for instance, is allowed days off and both her employer and children treat her
with respect. Similarly, Yenthi is given permission to study sewing, cooking
and even has computer lessons outside. She too is given off days on public holidays
and weekends. Tellingly, both maids own cell phones—which they say is
rare among maids. How is it that these two are treated so well?.jpg)
While
they enjoy a great deal of freedom and respect, other maids are not so lucky,
Dewi and Yenth insist. Both have friends who have been mistreated by employees,
and Dewi says one of her friends gets beaten up by her employer, though she’s
too afraid to ask for help. She says that all too often the abused maid’s
fear stems from losing their job if they report such abuse, and most maids dread
the prospect of returning home as they had borrowed heavily from friends and
relatives in order to go overseas to work. Less severe instances of mistreatment
include not giving maids off days, not allowing them to choose their own food,
and not allowing them to talk to other maids, says Yenthi. Though understandably
angry about maid abuse, she admits however that it is not always the employer
that is at fault. Sometimes, she reasons, there is a misunderstanding, and some
employers have reasons for what they do. For instance, some employers ban their
maids from speaking to other maids as they fear their own maids being negatively
influenced by the others..jpg)
Like most
other maids, both Dewi and Yenthi have set simple but long-term goals for themselves.
Dewi hopes to earn enough money for her now-6-year-old son’s future, which
includes sending him to University. She also hopes to save enough to set up
a small business back home, as she says she does not like to depend on others
for her living. For her part, Yenthi is saving to buy herself some land and
a house back home. More ambitiously, she also wonders if she can save enough
to buy land to build a boarding school.