Maid who worked in Singapore for 28 years says she has to go home for good in a week

SINGAPORE: A foreign domestic worker who spent 28 years in Singapore finally wrote in a social media post that she had to return home after spending more than half her life here.

Robina Navato or Bhing, 50, has been through many challenges and has also touched many other lives during her time here. “As a domestic worker , it gave me a privilage to meet different kinds of people, serve different families, learned their culture and connect with them. Being a domestic worker here gave me a chance to be a volunteer to help my fellow domestic workers. It started with HOME, and it is still the best thing that ever happened to me”, she wrote.

“But unexpectedly, in a week time, I will go home for good. It’s untimely..it is not planned. This is not how I wanted to retire. Due to my condition, I was diagnosed with cervical cancer, it is stage 2. I need to go for treatment as soon as possible. I need to do chemotherapy and radiation. I choose to go home because I need my family’s support”, said Bhing in a Facebook post on Tuesday (June 20).

Bhing is a single mother with three children. As the sole breadwinner of her family, she crossed borders to earn money to send home.

During her time here, she found comfort in writing, sharing her thoughts and feelings about the situations of her fellow domestic workers.