A Maid's Eye view of Singapore employers

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Mai...ore-employers/

Dear A Maid's Eye view:

I am tired of this happening to my Fiancee all the time. I cannot believe this is even legal for it to happen, but this is my story for my fiancee. Please do not use my name in this post.

My Fiancee Esther has been with the same Indian family for 8.5 years. She has never had a problem with them at all. Helped raise their children, raised their dog, cooked, cleaned, and was never in trouble. Before we met she was treated very well, never abused, had some time to herself, and not worked very hard.

That all changed after we met and fell in love. We met on Facebook, through a mutual friend. It was love at first sight for me, and she has told me that when she saw me the first time, even though I was ugly (a little joke we have), she says she fell in love with me too. We talked on FB and Skype for 4 months before I came to Singapore and proposed to her. That was when all the trouble started.

After 1 year of our engagement, she has been abused with unreal working conditions, up at 6 am work till midnight or 1 am, little food, etc. Her mam is verbally abusive, mean, and watches every move she makes. Today, as an example, she told her she could have her off day, but not take anything with her, meaning money. She just told me her mam stayed in her room while she changed clothes to make sure she did not take any money with her at all.

In December she went to the market with 30 dollars her mam gave her for groceries. She came back with the groceries and the receipts. Conveniently, her mam forgot that she had given her the money for the groceries, and accused her of stealing it. She was arrested and taken to jail overnight, where she insisted, she had the receipts for the groceries in a bag in her room. She was let out in one day, and provided those receipts for the police, and after3 weeks of hell at her house, her case was dropped.

Because her contract does not fall into the new Maids rules, her employers are not forced to let her out for 1 day off per week. Since December 15, she has been allowed to leave on Sunday 3 times, and each time her mam sends her out with no money, no purse, and no way to get to her friends. She says, tell your friends to pay for you. Today I found at that she has not been allowed to send money to her family for 6 months, and has not even been paid since January 1.

Her Contract is up July 23 of this year, and her employers are already pressuring her to stay on for 6 more months. They have said, we will make it nicer for you here, we dont want you to leave, all the nice things, but when she tells them she wants to get married and start a family, they get angry and start treating her poorly again.

I do not understand why employers think of the DFW's as sub humans, not capable or deserving of even the basic rights of being a human being. She is forced to live in a closet of a room with no AC, just a fan, a curtain for a door, and her Sir sitting outside her door at night when she is on the phone with me listening to her conversations. Lately, they are making just enough food for them, (she cooks it) and making her eat rice and toast, and that is all. Their dog, gets potatoes and tuna every day, more than the DFW does.

I know what the problem is, it is a female jealousy problem. My fiancee is tiny, and beautiful, and 31 years old. Her Mam is 50, fat, and showers once a week. Their daughter who is 24 years old, is fat, ugly, and cannot find a boyfriend. The men in the house pay more attention to my fiancee than they do to their family, and I know that is what is causing all the trouble. She wears simple clothes, not tight, and stays away from everyone. What is she supposed to do when her mam is away from the house and her Sir who is her employers and Singaporean, asks her to massage his feet and legs? It disgusts me to know that she is subjected to this kind of torture. It is not right.

It is time for the Singaporean Govt to step up and make major changes in how these women are treated. I am sick of how my fiancee is treated, and she has a better life than a lot of DFW's. When I hear of DFW's getting beaten for not locking a door, or given 3 kilo of rice and hot dogs for their food for the month it makes me so mad. You ladies to not have to take this from your employers. There are 200,000 of you in SG alone. What would happen if all of you on one Friday or Saturday all just walked out to show your solidarity to the government that you are tired of being treated as sub humans. the first rule that has to go is the rule that an employer can send a DFW back to their home for any reason at any time. That rule is the reason not one of you can take the action you need to improve your working conditions.

I learned a long time ago, that if you treat people with kindness and respect, not only will they like you but they will want to work for you. It seems to me out of 200.000 DFW's in SG only about 25% are happy with their jobs, and the rest are treated like slaves.

Please be strong ladies. You are better people than the people you work for. You have love, intelligence, and respect for humans. I see your faces smiling at the parks on your Sundays off and wonder how you can be so happy with such bad working conditions, and then it hits me. You are with the people you love, trying to make a better life for you and your families. Keep Strong ladies, there are people all over the world working to make it better for you there.


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