The Sacrifice of Singapore’s Domestic Helpers

without an employer family, helpers have no work or resident rights. So Facebook pages are filled with home-bound expats seeking to place their valued helpers with someone new, like a human buy, swap and sell.

And peopel can be soulless. Need a toddler-sized bed to house your helper? Advice about how to sack one for giving you cheek? That’s also on Facebook.

Some Sundays, it can seem like all of Singapore’s helpers are out at once, and perhaps they are. It is indeed the one day each week they can socialise with those who truly understand each other’s sacrifice.

The bargain is this: in exchange for cooking,cleaning and looking after their employers’ children (or ageing parents),the helper gets a room – often so small and dank they’re nicknamed bomb shelters – and a share of the meals.

With these big Singapore expenses covered, much of their $S600-$S1000 ($700-$1170) monthly wage – more in certain specific cases – is carved out and sent home to their children.

Last Sunday, I sat with a few groups of helpers lunching on Orchard Road to ask about their lives. After some convincing that I would not report their names or identifying particulars,the most striking revelation was that each of the women,about 10 in total,was a single mother from the Philippines,and were in Singapore with the sole purpose of sending money home for their children’s upbringing and future.

One woman has been in Singapore for six months, the longest she’s ever been separated from her children. She is miserable.

Another has been here for 15 years, having missed nearly all of her now-teenage children’s lives. She has learnt to live with her choices.

“We have no other option,” one says. “This gives a better life for our families.”

One of the women says she makes $S850 a month and keeps a little over $S130 for herself. In one of the world’s most expensive cities, that doesn’t go far.

None of those I spoke to had serious problems with their employers, but they knew of mental and even physical abuse in some households.One confides she has worked through “jealousy” issues with a mother-employer.