S10032486J Wendy Song

I'm really clueless aboout ODEO so I used youtube instead.



I will be talking about the life of a foreign domestic worker. Anoymi is a Filipino maid who came to Singapore in the year 2000 to work as a maid. She has served about 4 families before. In year 2001, she encountered a horrible experience with her male employer.

Anoymi:
My Sir likes to do something, or it’s like sexual harassment. Go in to my room, never knock the door. He is wearing underwear only and he asked me to massage him.

I strongly believe that maids are ought to be treated nicely also. Why can’t their employers treat them as their own family? The experience that Anoymi has encountered was definitely a big trauma to her. After all, she is a woman. Just by entering her room without knocking on the door is an act of impoliteness. Maid’s privacy should be practiced. Another bad experience that Anoymi has encountered was,

Anoymi:
Washing four cars everyday.

A normal human being, I am sure, will not be able to take the heavy workload of washing four cars everyday. What more, she is only a woman.

Regarding the sexual harassment Anoymi has encountered from her male employer, there is nothing much she can do to solve these problems other than informing the agency.

Anoymi:
I need to ask the assistance of our embassy like the Filipino embassy or our agency. The go and talk to my employers but didn’t believe it. She is the one who caught the act that my Sir is doing that.

Later on, I asked her how she feel about all these issues.

Anoymi:
It’s ok with me even if they treat me like this because we, foreign domestic workers, we can understand which way do we stand. But in our own, we like that they will treat us also nice.

Anoymi understands the situation that she has to put up with. After all, she knows that she is just a foreign domestic worker working in Singapore for a living. But don’t they deserve some basic respect too?

Now, let’s listen to how are her rest days like.

Anoymi:
I do have my rest or taking a nap very late because I am taking care of a newborn baby so it’s ok with me. But in the afternoon, I can take a nap. For how many months I didn’t go out with my friends, but it’s ok. They will always bring me out, my employers.

Most maids in Singapore currently get very little sleep. They will need to finish their work for the day before they go to bed.

Anoymi:
Last time, 11, 12pm. My previous employer is 2am. 2 or 3am. Because I need to do everything before going to sleep. But now, 2am is the earliest also because really, I need to take care of baby, prepare everything, but it’s ok with me. I have a lot of things to do but I can manage and I can finish it very fast and early.

I think the employers should let their maid rest early, Probably before 1am so they can get enough rest and prepare for work the next day. Sometimes, having not enough sleep can cause the maid to fall sick easily too.

Anoymi:
This current employer like Mum Yvonne and Sir Edmund, and the whole family. They treat me as their own family also. They bring me out in anywhere they go. I really love them like that because they really treat me very nicely.

If you can treat your maid nicely, I am sure they will be grateful to you. They are just like anyone of us who yearns for a family who loves them and care for them. Hopefully, Singaporeans will start to put themselves in their maid’s shoes and treat them as their own family.