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Indonesian workers abroad fight against ‘unskilled’ stereotype through community groups
Indonesian domestic workers join forces to survive in foreign countries and empower each other by enhancing new skills.
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Promoting Indonesia: Siti Mujiati (second right) actively promotes Indonesian culture with the local non-profit organization, Sayur Story. In this picture taken on July 24, Siti shares the traditional snack, wingko babat, an Indonesian pancake-like snack made from coconuts. (Courtesy of Siti Mujiati) (Courtesy of Siti Mujiati/Courtesy of Siti Mujiati)
Indonesian domestic workers join forces to survive in foreign countries and to empower each other by enhancing new skills.
"I struggled to understand my employer when I first came to Singapore in 2001. There were a lot of miscommunications, and I don't want my fellow migrant workers to experience something similar," Nur Aini, who has lived in Singapore for over 21 years, said, recalling her early days as a domestic worker there.
"I remembered my employer said 'wire', but I misheard it as 'fire', and you don't want that to happen again,” she said, underlining just how tough it can be for Indonesian domestic workers to work in Singapore and other foreign countries.
Nur is just one of the many domestic workers who has had many bitter, even inhumane, experiences. "For four years, I didn't have any day off and wasn't allowed to leave the house," she shared.
She was only allowed to contact her family once a month, which caused a problem in her marriage. In 2005, Nur decided to return home, only to find her husband had left her. She didn't want to suffer psychologically and financially so Nur chose to go back to work in Singapore in 2008 to support her son's education.
Upon her return, she began to realize that communication was one of the main hurdles for Indonesian migrant workers in Singapore. Nur decided to help fellow migrant workers find a well-balanced support group by creating an online Facebook community called Friendship Club Indonesia.
She offers free English, computer, swimming and photography lessons to provide Indonesian workers with skills to navigate and enjoy life in a foreign country.
