Filming Day 2 - Gaining a nuanced perspective of the FDW community

On the second day of filming, our team visited two of HOME's branches (situated at Guillemard Road and Lucky Plaza respectively) and spoke to four foreign domestic workers (FDWs) with several years of working experience ranging from 7 years to 24 years in Singapore. As active volunteers within HOME, the interviewees helmed and managed the help-desks which responded to queries and potential cases of exploitation faced by Indonesian and Filipino FDWs.

Various pertinent issues faced by the FDW community were highlighted through open-ended interview sessions of varying lengths from approximately 20 minutes to an hour. Such issues encompassed their living and working conditions and challenges faced in their employment and social spaces and they are as follow,

1. Personal and secondary anecdotes that explored economic abuse (delayed payment of salaries), employment exploitation (long working hours without sufficient rest days or hours), the invasion of privacy (withholding personal documents and restricting access to personal communicative or mobile devices) and verbal and physical abuse

2. New FDWs often face difficulty in integrating into the existing social and cultural landscape. This is further compounded by a lack of awareness of their rights which exacerbates their marginalization in situations of mistreatment

3. Mistreated domestic workers often seek help through informal channels and avenues (e.g. Word-of-Mouth communication through an informal social network or via Facebook chat affordances)

4. Overall volunteering experiences at HOME and their personal motivations to continue volunteering

HOME conducted a cross-sectional quantitative study on the working and living conditions of FDWs as well as their state of well-being in 2015 (titled "Work, life and well-being of foreign domestic workers in Singapore") and collected data from 670 employed foreign domestic workers (FDWs) from Indonesia, the Philippines and Myanmar. Relevant figures are included to lend further context to anecdotes obtained from our interviews.

On challenges and issues faced

“It’s the stories of the sexual abuse. I didn’t realise that there are cases that are happening like that. It’s unusual that employers, or old people would do that to the helper.”

7% of surveyed FDWs were victims of sexual abuse (mostly in form of improper sexual comments) at least once by their employer or employer’s family.

“the first time they are working here a lot of problems. One is language, second for the daily habit is different and the equipment at home is also very different from what they are used to. Because Indonesians, usually the equipment for cooking and cleaning is completely different and they live on the ground, not on high-rise buildings.”

Around one-third of FDWs experienced difficulties due to language barriers when

communicating with their employer or employer’s family.

Desire to be treated as an equal

“For my fellow domestic workers, I wish that they would have more privacy - that’s one thing that’s very important for us. And respect as a human being”

27% of the respondents faced some form of invasion of privacy (most commonly by searching the

FDW’s room, checking the FDW’s belongings or phone) at least once by their employer or

employer’s family.

“So far I think they should appreciate their helpers more. Because we came here to work, they should treat us like humans too. They should understand that we came here to work, it’s difficult for them to adjust, and they need to explain and be more patient to their helpers. “

65% of surveyed foreign domestic workers felt that they were not always treated with dignity by their employer or employer’s family.

On why they volunteer

“I told them that because I know that I can help. I know that I can listen and I can relate to my fellow domestic workers and I know I can talk to them. So that urged me.”

- a Filipino FDW on her personal motivation to continue volunteering at the help-desk since she began nearly three years ago

“When we come together, I feel like here’s my second home here. I don’t feel like I am alone here, I got a lot of friends and family. This is where I really enjoy.”

- Jenny, an Indonesian FDW expressed the sheer joy of volunteering at HOME and of the social support gained from the meaningful relationships that she has formed with fellow FDWs. She started volunteering at the help-desk since July last year.

After-thoughts and in retrospection

Here are some of insights that our team members gleaned from the experience:

"I think what was particularly striking through the different anecdotes was how each of the interviewees individually displayed profound resilience when faced with seemingly insurmountable adversity and how they did not merely succumb to being a victim of their own circumstances but doggedly translated that distress into a positive impetus to tirelessly champion for the rights of other mistreated domestic workers. In all, what remains distinctly unanimous is their unified rallying call for their employers and Singaporeans at large to treat them as equals and as their human counterparts and in hindsight, it remains nothing less than they deserve." - Beverly

"When we asked them what they wanted to tell Singaporeans, they all had a common response - they just wanted to be treated as humans. That was the most impactful moment for me - how sometime in their journey, they weren't respected and were deprived of basic human rights. Yet, they didn't see themselves as victims, but focused on empowering their community by volunteering to help other domestic workers." - Saras