SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic helper took to social media because she said that her employer did not provide food for her to eat in the mornings.
In an anonymous post to a support group for domestic helpers and employers alike, the maid said it was her first time working in Singapore. She had been working for her employers for about four months. She said: “now I’m 4 month (sic) my employer never give me breakfast”. The helper added that she had even told her agency about the issue and asked them to resolve the matter, but there had been no progress. The maid asked others in the group if she could change her employer.
In response to a question in the comments about her other meals, the maid wrote: “I buy my own when my off come I buy coffee and biscuits and my lunch I wait my employer finished eating and the left over I eat”.
One netizen commented, “My suggestions be like: Do you think your job is worthy enough? If the answer is yes, buy your own breakfast and offer your employer to have your breakfast with you. Somebody has to teach someone something. But if you don’t think the job is worthy, then find another one. But be very careful the chance you got worse than that still huge. So think about it carefully. For bread only 3.5 and jam only certain amount or any type of breakfast that you want”.
Another group member wrote: “You can request to change employer, provided your employer is willing to release you, rather than repatriate you. Per MOM guidelines, employers should provide 3 meals a day on top of your monthly salary. Please ensure what you had stated – no breakfast provided is true, not that employer provided food and you are picky with food and decided not to eat the food provided. If is the latter, you do not have a case. Lies can be easily verified if your employer’s house has got CCTV installed”.
Read related: Maid said her first employer made her work 19 hours/day with no rest and food
Earlier this year, another foreign domestic helper working in Singapore for 17 years took to social media to share her heartbreaking story and struggle as a migrant worker. She shared that she came from a broken family with no support. She had many challenges from both her employer and her family back home. She added that her first employer made her work 19 hours daily without proper rest and food.
While she managed to finish her contract with them, she did not even have a phone to contact her family. The maid also wrote that in the six years she worked, she did not have a day off. “I just focus [on] my job sometime (sic) was stressful think about family back home. We miss them but we need to give them better future. With employers always ensulting (sic) me that I m stupid ,stubborn ,poor and uneducated”, the helper wrote. /TISG