Maid alleges that she was only given one meal a day, and woken up at 5am with water splashed on her

A video of a foreign domestic worker crying about how her employer has mistreated her has been circulated on social media, going viral.

In the video, uploaded on October 4, a maid was seen crying to another woman at the lift lobby of a Housing Development Board (HDB) block. The helper, named Castina, said that she was originally from a town in Java called Indramayu and that she does not want to work in Singapore anymore because it has been “depressing”.

The maid alleged that she was only given one meal a day, was woken up daily at 5am and that she would have water splashed on her face if she did not wake up.

Castina also told the woman filming her that her employers did not allow her to call her family back in Indonesia, and that even if she was hungry, she would be scolded if she asked for more food.

Castina was so afraid because she alleged that her employers would lock her up so that she was unable to leave, and they did not allow her to change her employer despite her requests to do so.

The woman filming Castina asked her to be patient.

Yesterday (October 6), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) posted an update on Castina’s situation.

They wrote, “We are aware of a recent social media post of an FDW who claimed her employer only gave her one meal a day. MOM is investigating the matter. The FDW is currently housed at the Embassy”.

The MOM also said that employers are reminded that they are responsible for providing their FDWs with three meals a day. Any FDW facing well-being issues should call the MOM FDW Helpline at 1800 339 5505. /TISG