SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper took to social media to say she had to buy her own food and toiletries, share a room where she did not get uninterrupted rest, and had to clean another house twice a week.
She added that she was only paid $600 and got a day off only once a month.
In her anonymous post to a support group for foreign domestic helpers and employers alike, the maid shared that it was her first time working in Singapore and she had only been here for nine months. Her main job was looking after a 20-year-old bedridden patient. The helper explained, “I’m the one who buy my things including my (breakfast, toiletries, and data) I only have once a month off which is I need to do everything in the morning like shower the girl,feed her , cook her lunch , wash clothes , and set the table . When I come back six pm I need to cook the girls food and do some household chores , they don’t even buy dinner for me even I come back early”.
The helper wrote that at night, she did not have any privacy. She had to share a room with her employer’s children. She added that she was not allowed to close the door, and if the kids could not sleep at night, she also could not sleep as they only had one bed and the noise would carry very easily. On top of all this, the maid wrote that twice a week she would have to clean another house. “Twice a week we go to ahma’s house to clean a bit , my question is do I have any right to ask my employer to give me twice a month off?” the helper asked.
She then worried that her employers would not allow her to take two days off in a month. The helper also wanted to know if she had a chance to get a transfer. She added in her post that she was not complaining about her job scope but just wanted some time to rest and unwind.
Here’s what netizens who commented on her post said:
