By Joanna Seow, The Straits Times, 10 Mar 2014
MAIDS here will soon get to enjoy new dedicated facilities and a space for gatherings when a clubhouse opens later this year.
A migrant worker group has leased a 3,000 sq ft area at Raeburn Park, near the defunct Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, for a one-stop centre catering to maids.
"We hope to have a place where they can enjoy themselves," said Mr Seah Seng Choon, president of the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training (FAST) yesterday.
"We also think it's important to provide a place for them to gather without attracting complaints from people in the area."
The three-year lease is for part of an existing office building. The clubhouse will be partially launched next month, with a computer laboratory, library and lounge. When fully open later in the year, it will offer counselling and fitness activities as well as legal, remittance, postal and phone card services.
Maids will also be able to book rooms and an al fresco seating area to host celebrations.
The membership fee is $4 per year, said FAST's executive director William Chew. The clubhouse will be open from 11am to 5pm daily, to cater to maids who have days off on weekdays.
FAST came up with the idea of a centralised hub for maids to spend their rest days in 2012, after the Government said it would implement a weekly day off policy for domestic workers, which took effect in January last year.
But plans for the hub stalled despite half a year of negotiations to get the rent lowered.
Now that the location has been secured, FAST announced its plans yesterday at its first Education Fair, which was held at The Grassroots Club, near Yio Chu Kang MRT station. The fair attracted about 600 maids who listened to presentations from course providers and motivational speakers.
One was Mrs Milagos Dizon, 46, a Filipino, who signed up for a caregiver class as well as the clubhouse membership. She plans to attend classes or use the library, she said. "Now, if I have nothing to do, I go home and rest. I don't like to stay in Orchard because it's so crowded."
Another of the 121 maids who joined the clubhouse is Ms Aisyah, 24, an Indonesian who goes by one name. She said: "If we only go shopping, eat, sit around, we never improve ourselves, but here there will be good activities."
"I'm very happy because it's a place just for us."
