Domestic Workers in Singapore Best Graduates of the Open University

KOMPAS/MEDIANA

Open University Complex in Pondok Cabe, South Tangerang, Banten.

Medio March 2022, 33 female migrant workers in Singapore earned bachelor's degrees from the Open University. The two best graduates spoke of the bitterness of life as domestic workers.

A photo captures two women wearing black gowns. With broad smiles, they show off the certificates from the Open University. For most, this might be a casual graduation moment, but not for these two. It is a sign of graduation from the hardships of life as a female migrant worker in another country.

The woman on the left of the photo is Lofi Loliyanti, 38, the best graduate from the Department of English Literature at the Open University (UT) with a 3.53 GPA. Poverty forced the mother of three to leave her family in Klaten, Central Java, in 2012, to work in Singapore.

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At that time, Lofi's youngest child had not stopped breastfeeding. What is there to say? She and her husband were only vendors of small bowls of chicken noodles for Rp 1,000 per serving. Their income was not enough to support three children.

”I wanted a better life. In Indonesia, our money would always be used up to buy daily needs, even though we both worked hard," Lofi said in Singapore when interviewed via video chat from Batam, on Monday (21/3/2022).

When she arrived for the first time in Singapore, Lofi got a job taking care of the elderly. She was not fluent in English. In addition, she was often sick because she missed her baby. It only lasted for four months.

In 2013, she returned to Singapore as a domestic worker. Slowly she adapted to the demands of domestic workers there.

After being dismissed, Lofi had time to return home. In 2013, she returned to Singapore as a domestic worker. Slowly she adapted to the demands of domestic workers there.

“Initially it was difficult to communicate with employers who used English. Once the employer said ‘daughter’, but I heard it as ‘doctor’," said Lofi chuckling. The experience was very memorable. From then on, she took the hope of learning English seriously. In 2018 she enrolled in the Open University English Study Program of the Singapore Study Group. “My friends [in the village] already [got their degrees] a dozen years ago. I really wanted that," she said.

Being a student while working was definitely not easy. Lofi studied upstairs at 9 p.m. when the employers went to sleep. However, that opportunity did not come every day.

AFP/ROSLAN RAHMAN

People chat at the Merlion Park pier, Singapore on Wednesday (5/2/2020).

Once, Lofi's employers wanted to go to London. All day she prepared things to be taken by her employers on vacation. Fatigue prevented her from studying that night. In fact, in the next morning she had to take the third semester exam. As a result, she got C and D grades in three subjects.

“The most difficult thing was to set the time first. Second, manage the money," she said.

Lofi received a salary of Sing$800 or Rp 8.47 million per month. She sent Rp 6.8 million to her family in the village. She had to pay tuition amounting to an average of Rp 1.9 million per semester.

Since 2018, Lofi has been supporting the family alone. The condition of her husband, Yunan Afif, 44, continued to decline after returning home from working abroad. In 2016-2018, he worked as a crew member of a Trinidad and Tobago-flagged fishing vessel.

However, Yunan was not as lucky as Lofi. He only received Rp 800,000 for three months. He was discharged in 2018 due to hyperthyroidism or excess thyroid hormone, which caused fatigue and an irregular heartbeat.

The company in Tegal, Central Java, which used to send Yunan to work on foreign fishing boats only gave compensation of Rp 80 million. In 2020, he developed symptoms of a stroke. Since then, he has no longer been able to work.

It's never too late

In the photo, the woman beside Lofi is Sukempy Widyastuti, 38. From Purworejo, Central Java, she was also a domestic worker in Singapore. When she left her village in 2009, Sukempy only had a junior high school certificate. However, she had a strong desire to continue her education as far as possible. She took Package C in Singapore in 2013.

"Seeking knowledge has no [age] limit. As long as we want it, we can definitely do it," said Sukempy on Tuesday (22/3).

However, her journey to study was not easy. In 2014, her husband died at the age of 42 from a heart attack. Since then, she has been supporting her two children alone.

Sukempy's wage as a domestic worker was Sing$700 or around Rp 7.4 million per month. Every month, she sent Rp 4.3 million for living expenses and the schooling of her two children in the village.

In the midst of a mediocre situation, Sukempy ventured to register for the English Study Program at the Open University. "One day I had to go home. I am already old. If my education was still the same as when I left, it would be difficult to find a job. So, I had to go to college, while there was an opportunity," she said.

She also often used the time on the bus to study when taking her employer's children to school.

Sukempy studied whenever and wherever she could. Often she had to study late at night after a long day at work. She also often used the time on the bus to study when taking her employer's children to school.

On March 13, Sukempy graduated as the second-best graduate of a UT student from the Singapore study group, behind Lofi, with a 3.38 GPA. With them, there were 31 other female migrant workers who had also graduated from the Open University.

Currently, there are 196 Open University students in the Singapore study group. According to the Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore, Suryopratomo, the government encourages all Indonesian migrant workers in Singapore to continue their education as far as possible.

After completing their studies at the Open University, the dream of Lofi and Sukempy to return home became even more intense. However, the responsibility of paying for the children still holds them back. They still have to wait.

Three of Lofi's children are still in school, the eldest has just entered class nine of a vocational school. Furthermore, she wants to find work in Canada so that her income can improve and the future of her three children is more secure.

Kompas

Indonesian migrant workers maintain physical distance while queuing for their health and immigration check on Thursday (21/5/2020) at the Batam Center International Ferry Port in Batam, the Riau Islands. Afterwards, the workers were placed in quarantine at the Tanjung Uncang Dormitory in Batam.

Meanwhile, Sukempy will stay in Singapore until her two children graduate from college in the next three or four years. When the time comes to return home, she hopes to get a job as a kindergarten teacher.

“I have hopes that the government will help migrant workers who have completed their education so that later they can get decent jobs in Indonesia. When we go home later, we don’t want have to work as helpers like when we were here," she said.

Hopefully the determination and hard work of these educated female migrant workers will receive attention from the government.

(This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo)