The Strength of a Mother's Heart and the Fight for a Freely Renewable Visa By Roselyn Barcinal

I began my life as a domestic worker in February 2019. In the years since, I have learned to carry two realities at once. There is the daily work, the early mornings and the careful attention that this job demands. And then there is the thought that never fully leaves me, the image of my children's future, the reason I am here, the reason I keep going.

On my hardest days, it is the thought of those children that helps me the most. When the physical exhaustion piles up, when the uncertainty of my situation feels heavy, I come back to them. Their future is my compass, and that compass has never failed to point me forward.

The strength I draw from is rooted in family. That single word contains everything. It is not abstract. It is faces, voices, and the quiet promise I have made to myself that my work here will mean something lasting.

I am completely hopeful, rating my belief in a better future for domestic workers at the highest level. And I am clear about what I want the world to know: domestic workers have rights and dignity. These are not things I am asking to be given. They are things I am declaring to be true, because they are.

My most urgent concern sits squarely with the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa. The right to renew it freely is what I raise most urgently, and the inability to do so is the loss I identify as most damaging. That single restriction shapes everything. It makes planning a life impossible. It turns every work arrangement into a potential dead end. And it leaves workers like me in positions where speaking up about poor conditions carries the very real risk of losing everything.

VODW's campaign for the right to renew the ODW Visa is fighting precisely against this. My voice is one of many that have been saying, for years, that this must change. The visa should be renewable. Not as a special favour, but as a basic recognition that the workers who hold it have earned the right to continue, to grow, to build a life here.

I rate the urgency of restoring pre-2012 rights at the maximum. Every right, in my view, is very important to the daily life of domestic workers. Not somewhat important. Not nice to have. Essential to how a person moves through the world with security and dignity.

When it comes to who should take action, I look to the government to make laws and to workers and advocates to speak up together. Change does not come from silence. It comes from people like me, who arrive each morning ready to work, ready to give, and equally ready to say clearly what we need in return.

If these rights were restored, my answer is one word: freedom. That word holds years of hoping and working and waiting. It holds the image of going to my job and knowing I am protected. It holds the future I am building for my children. Freedom is not the end of the story. For me, it is only the beginning.

---

Join Us in Supporting Migrant Domestic Workers Escaping Abuse DONATE HERE 

Migrant domestic workers who have fled abusive employment urgently need your help. They’ve left behind exploitation and are taking brave steps toward safety but they need support for basic needs like shelter, food, clothing, and counseling.

 "With your donation, we can provide immediate relief and a pathway to rebuilding lives in dignity and safety."