When the Government Gives Us a Chance We Can Finally Call It Freedom By Rose Ann

I became a domestic worker in May 2021. In the years since, I have built my days around commitment, care, and the enduring hope that the work I do will be seen and protected the way it deserves to be. My mornings begin at eight, and I bring to each day the full weight of my love for my family, my faith, and the solidarity I share with fellow domestic workers who are walking the same road.

On my hardest days, I think of my children's future. That thought is not a distraction from the difficulty. It is the reason the difficulty is worth enduring. For me, everything I do here is ultimately for them, and that connection gives me the strength to keep going even when the system around me is less than it should be.

What I want the world to know is foundational and fair. I deserve rights like any other worker. This is not an extraordinary claim. It is simply an application of the same standard that exists across the labour market, applied consistently and without exception. I have rights, dignity, and strength. These are not qualities that belong to some workers and not others. They belong to everyone.

I am completely hopeful that change is coming, and I am equally certain the world can understand the value of domestic workers. I consider every right related to domestic work to be life-changing. Not just important. Life-changing. That distinction matters. It reflects the reality that these rights are not small policy adjustments. They are the difference between a life built on security and one built on hope that nothing goes wrong.

The right I identify as most urgently needed is the right to renew the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa. Without it, I spend fifteen hours every week worrying about my job and visa situation. Fifteen hours is a significant portion of my week, and those hours are not spent resting or connecting with family. They are spent managing uncertainty, preparing for worst cases, and trying to find stability in a structure that has been deliberately made unstable.

VODW's campaign for the right to renew the ODW Visa is designed to end exactly that. My experience is precisely what this campaign points to. A worker who cannot renew her visa is a worker whose entire life remains conditional, whose safety depends on conditions she may not be able to control, and whose wellbeing is placed in the hands of others rather than protected by law.

I believe the government must make laws. Workers must speak up. Advocates must raise awareness. Each group has a responsibility, and each group's action matters to the outcome.

When asked what it would mean if these rights were restored, my answer is both practical and deeply human. If the government gives us a chance, we can say we have freedom. We can work comfortably without thinking about our visa. That image, going to my job in the morning without the shadow of visa anxiety following me, is not a luxury. It is a right. And it is exactly what VODW is working toward.

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