S10032528k Ivan Ng

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I personally have not had a maid before, however, I still have some opinions on domestic helpers here in Singapore. With the recent conference held about these helpers, it has sparked a few points of interest in my mind.

At the conference, there was a maid who was abused by her employers before and she was supposed to share her experience with the floor. However, she got too emotional and she could not even complete her story. However, I feel that this does not portray the whole story of the fates of domestic helpers here in Singapore.

What of the happy endings? What of those maids who find good families, those who also eventually formed a family here?

A childhood friend of mine had changed his maid three times in a decade. Out of these three maids, one ended a happy story, one got fired and the last is still working with them. I feel that even though it is a hard life for them working here abroad, there are still happy stories that do come out.

The one who ended a happy story was my friend’s first employed maid actually. She had worked with them for several years, almost coming to 7 years, and she finally told them one day that she was going to quit. Not because they ill treated her or anything but because she was getting married. No, she wasn’t dating secretly, her employers knew but they allowed her to do so because they felt that she was only being human to love and be loved. She left her employers and married a Malaysian and still keep in contact with her employers.

Another friend of mine has two maids. Now these two maids have been with the family ever since my friend was a child. So if you grew up with your maid, naturally you feel attached to them and her domestic helpers are more like a kin rather than an employee. The relationship has grown so well that they would think for each other. For example when her friends come over, the maids would try cooking little snacks for them as they feel that my friend’s friends as important as their own friends. Sometimes I would even catch my friend poking fun at the maids and they in turn most of the time poke back. It is a heart warming sight to see.

I feel that the side of domestic helper life portrayed in the conference is biased because good things that happen like these were not mentioned, think about it. Employers are also humans, even if a dog lived and served us as our pet for maybe 2-3 years, we would already treat it like family, least to say another human being! In Singapore, not all domestic helpers have a sad story to tell. Thank you.