SG based journalist features his children’s Filipina nanny and her sacrifices

The story of a Filipina nanny in Singapore is now one of the top stories on the Medium website. Rob O’Brien, a Singapore-based journalist, wrote about Marifel, his children’s nanny.

Women who sacrifice valuable time with their families to find work overseas deserve respect, but they don’t often get it.

In O’Brien’s article, Marifel: the woman who left her children behind to look after mine, he talked about how they found Marifel through an agency, how most domestic helpers are treated, how they make sacrifices in their own lives, and how grateful he is that Marifel is with them.

Marifel is a Filipina nanny who has been working in Singapore for 11 years. Marifel has been working for them for five years and has been taking care of O’Brien’s two children.

O’Brien mentioned the sacrifices domestic helpers and nannies in Singapore go through, not because they want to, but because they had to. However, unfortunately, these domestic workers get “very little back.”

O’Brien also narrated his trip with Marifel to the Philippines as well. He met Marifel’s family and saw the home they were building that was a product of Marifel’s hard work. He was able to see how Marifel was a wonderful mother and see her smiling and laughing with her husband. He also witnessed how Marifel said her goodbyes to her family members, how she was used to it working abroad for many years.

What was striking was how O’Brien talked about the realities of how a first-world country’s system works. How Singapore needs many Marifels in order to support their growth and yet these women not only get so little back, but are sometimes are subject to abuse and exploitation. And while O’Brien may be mistaken as just one of those guilt-ridden expats, he clearly stated that he is just grateful for how Marifel left her children behind to take care of his own. How she potty-trained them, put them to sleep, taught them songs, and influenced them with her “tiny Filipina accent.”

It is rare to find someone who puts the spotlight on the people who make the household work because the parents need to do their own responsibilities. But O’Brien did that and more, by giving a face to the many women who sacrifice their lives with their families just to make ends meet.

I wish I could believe that myself, but Singapore has taught me that the system is in no hurry to allow domestic workers to fulfil any of their dreams. At the very least I can leave here knowing and respecting what Marifel gave up to come here. That helped me appreciate the impact she has had on my fairly selfish life. And for that I am grateful I met her. (Rob O’Brien, Medium)

To read the full text of Rob O’Brien’s article, please click here.