FDW

How "lucky" can we get, what are the odds of being so 'lucky'

 

To quit the suspense, we are referring to my ex foreign domestic worker (FDW). Now I am sure most of the seasoned employers have a fair share of hiring terrible FDW. Speak of their horrible experiences with these FDW, it can be complied into a book 10 times the thickness of our oldish phone directory. Of course to be fair there are also a handful of very good and helpful FDWs out there so if you happen to hire one such good one, congratulation. Now we do know that the current guidelines and what's is and what's not are certainly very lopsided. Much protection have been offered to the FDWs and very little or close to NIL for the employers. The most common scenario will be 'holidaying FDW', they are armed with the wrong attitude to look look see see and if they are unhappy, challenged the employer to send them back to agency for transfer. The poor employer pay through their nose and got themselves into a fix with both the agency and MOM. Because of that the employer is always at the mercy of both the agency (especially after signing the contract) as well as the irresponsible FDWs.

 

Now back to our story, digress too much. Our very first FDW came for 6 hours before calling it quits giving ridiculous excuses such as refuse to share room with the baby, prefer to sleep in the living room, do not wish to eat in the kitchen, demand a mobilephone. It came as a great shock to us especially so being first time employer and so close to the festive season, Chinese New Year. The drama is supposed to end when the Myanmar counsel her and she changed her mind and decide to stay. The next episode being discovery of her 'medication' as she unpack her belongings. She claimed that those are her medications for heart and she had to take it daily otherwise showing me the actions of epilepsy. Seriously it scare the hell out of me when we had just gone through the trauma of Mum's heart attack and no way am I going to be responsible for another case. After some serious consideration and much discussions, we decide to send her back the following day. It was not a tough decision and the decision making process was escalated when she showed me her black attitude face in the morning while happily greeted the Sir. Because of this pathetic 6hrs, we had to pay agency fee, service her loan and not to forget the levy plus her food & lodging for the next 14 days or until she is transferred, whichever comes first. So we are at the mercy of the agency because we have paid thousands of dollars for her loan and agency fee.

 

So after a long delay and the post traumatized period, we finally decide to hire another Myanmar FDW after interviewing her over Skype. She is ex-Sin for 2yrs 3 mths and apparently had experiences caring for young baby. She finished her contract with 2 employer and decide to head home because of some health issues with her mum. We are expecting her very poor English and communication barrier but little did we expect it to be that bad. Her language is near to NIL and we had a tough time orientating and training her, familiarising her to the chores and household. I had to demonstrate everything from the start. It took a good 2 months before she get into the routine although she still tend to cut corners here and there thus requiring constant monitoring. Besides that to her credit, she is not too bad a helper, not meticulously clean and hygienic but bearable. Her English did not picked up despite being with us for a few months or perhaps she is just pretending not to understand or apprehend our conversations. We did suspect that she could understand Hokkien though which is very likely possible. The good thing is that children took to her pretty well and somehow they are able to communicate in their own ways.

 

Many would then wonder she sound like a good helper so why did we eventually repatriate her last week. Well fortunately or unfortunately she is diagnosed as Hepatitis B carrier which is a great shock to us. It so happen that her 6 monthly medical checkup is due and we had to bring her for VDRL only as requested by MOM. I decide to opt for HIV test to play safe as she is caring for 2 children and my susceptible mum. Fortunately after the blood taking, the nurse checked if I would like to include Hep A & B tests since I am going for optional HIV. I am so very glad that after moments of hesitation, I decide to include them as well and the blood drawn is sufficient to include both tests. The results came back few days later and I had the shock of my life when the doctor told me that she is confirmed Hep B carrier. I called home immediately and asked her to stay clear of everyone in the family, total no contacts. The next few hours went by in a mess, my mind was too cloudy and confused at what is going on. It is with no doubt that we are definitely not going to keep her so when and how to repatriate her is the way to go.

 

Informing her was really difficult and tall order since she could not exactly understand what we are trying to tell her the due causes of sending her back. It took 3 person and numerous attempts before we can shed some light on her but one could easily tell from her expression that she still do not understand what is going on. Anyhow we send her back to the agency, settle her salary, booked the flight out the following day. I have put up a query to MOM as to why Hep B is not mandatory in the medical examination before they are deem fit to commence as a FDW. Till this point of time, I have yet to receive a reasonable explanation from them. The officer could not even advise what is included in the full list of tests in the medical examination! Besides not offering their DID for contact purposes, she totally could not empathise with the traumatizing experience we have gone through as shown by statements in her words such as "you mean if you had known she is Hep B carrier, you would not have accepted her?" and "Í do not think that this particular case of yours is very serious?!!" Ridiculous isn't it especially when we have so single idea if we are even infected by her! Anyway this issue with MOM is still pending and I have been advised by many to pursue it further or even write to the various media for a greater exposure. Should you know of anybody from any form of media who will be keen to bring my case further, I will be more than glad to get in touch with them and share more in details.

 

On our end, the whole family went for blood test and I was really proud of my children as they did not even whimper at the finger prick and drawing of blood. Of course the credit also go to MAH for their skilful techniques with the children bringing the level of trauma down to the minimum. Thank goodness the results came back that none of us is reactive to Hep B meaning we are cleared. The huge relief and I felt much lighter after the worries weighing on me for the past week. However we are still waiting for the result for mum which is take slightly longer. Be positive, she will be fine too.