our priority

The students attending aidha’s courses on the Singapore campus are mothers and wives, daughters and sisters. They have left their homes in the small towns, villages and cities of Southeast Asia’s developing countries to find the employment and income that will keep their families fed. At home, they are missed. In exchange for their wage, they feed and care for our children, clean our homes, and shop for and prepare our dinners. They make lives work – both in their place of employment and in their own homes so far away.

Because of them and because of the remittances they send home, children are fed and clothed and sent to school. Homes are built and the economies of developing nations revel in the inflow of foreign funds. Migrant remittances to the developing world now amount to over US$300 billion annually. This sum far exceeds that of foreign aid. The migrant community is one of the world’s most vital development assets.

There are an estimated 170,000 foreign domestic workers employed in Singapore. While their employment provides enormous advantage for their families, it is hard. UNIFEM Singapore reports that an estimated 1 in 6 households in Singapore employs a foreign domestic worker, most of them from the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Of the 170,000 foreign domestic workers currently employed in Singapore, over half do not enjoy a regular day off.

Presently, the Employment of Foreign Workers Act excludes domestic workers from protections guaranteed to other workers, such as standard number of working hours and rest days, and access to employment benefits.

aidha works to support this most vital community. With savings, business skill, and support, aidha’s inspiring students can end the poverty in which their families and communities live.

To  read more on domestic workers, their plight and their potential, click here to look at the article penned by aidha’s president, Dr. Sarah Mavrinac, for Global Asia, A Journal of the East Asia Foundation.