• Betchay

    A single mom who has worked abroad since 2010, Betchay strives to provide for her son and grandchildren while gaining agency for herself after leaving her husband.

  • Sara

    A ten-thousand-dollar-lottery-winner, Sara continues to work as a domestic helper in Hong Kong as she “finds joy in [her] work” and relies on the stability of her job for a sense of security and comfort.

  • Anonymous

    A resilient mother to three, this woman shares the story of navigating through her eldest son’s death from cancer two years ago. Despite the tragedy, she continues facing life with positivity, working abroad to provide for her other two younger children.

  • Coleen

    A single mother to five and grandmother to three, this woman finds self worth and self agency by working abroad and finds pride in being the breadwinner of the family.

Betchay

Q: When you take care of other children as a foreign domestic worker, are you reminded of your own children back at home?

A: “Of course, because… [during] my work in Singapore I take care of the family, I take care of the children. Then I feel that I take care of [other people’s] children, but my kids, nobody cares.”

“When I retire, I’ll have a farm, a farm for the fruits and the rice fields. And I want to [open a] shop for my son [to do his welding work] so he can support his family.”

Coleen

“When I separated from my husband, I wanted to leave my home country and my children, so I can move forward.”

“I left the Philippines because even though I was [already] working in Manila, my income wasn’t enough to provide for my five children.”

“My youngest son was so sad when I left. I breastfed him [until] he was five years [old], so it’s [my motherly] instinct to be close with him.”

“I teach my children to be humble, never do anything [bad] to others… I always pray for that.”

“Even though we are not perfect… I never stop praying to God.”

Sara

“I want to earn my own [money]... not from others, from my strength.”

“Even if I’m a helper, [you] need to respect me because I’m the one who takes care of [you]”

Q: “So why did you not go back home after you won the lottery?”

A: “Because… I’m old already. If I go back home, the money is easy to [be] spent. That’s why I think that I need to work more until I [no longer] can.”