When You Remember Why You Started Everything Becomes Possible Again By Rolyn M.

I have been a domestic worker for six to ten years. I show up every single day, not because the conditions are always easy, but because the reasons behind my work are bigger than the hardships. I draw my strength from my family and my faith, and I find my footing again and again by returning to one simple anchor: remembering why I started.

On the days when the weight of everything feels too much, that memory becomes my compass. It does not remove the difficulty, but it restores my direction. I began this work with a purpose, and that purpose has never left me, even when the system around me has fallen short of what I deserve.

What I want the world to understand is straightforward and sincere. Domestic workers are workers. Full stop. We need respect, love, and care. We have rights. These are not additional demands placed on top of the work. They are the minimum that any person in any profession should be able to expect. The fact that they still need to be said is part of what makes this moment so important.

I am completely hopeful that things will get better, rating my belief at the highest possible level. I also believe the world fully understands the value and dignity of domestic workers, even if that understanding has not yet translated into action from governments or institutions. When I look at how those in power currently protect the rights of migrant domestic workers, my assessment is stark. The government is doing the very least, and that is not hopelessness speaking. It is honest observation.

The right I want to see returned most urgently is the right to renew the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa. For me, this is the issue at the centre of everything. Without the ability to renew our visa, we are left in a legal limbo that touches every part of our lives. We cannot plan. We cannot settle. We live with an expiry date over our heads, and that uncertainty is exhausting in a way that goes far beyond the physical demands of the job.

This is precisely what VODW's campaign for the right to renew the ODW Visa is fighting to change. My voice joins thousands of others saying the same thing: this right is not a privilege. It is essential. It is very important, and those words carry the weight of years of lived experience.

I believe workers unions must speak up, governments must make laws, NGOs and advocates must raise awareness, and the general public must also take a stand. Change does not come from one direction alone. It comes when every part of society decides that the treatment of domestic workers is everyone's concern, not just the concern of those directly affected.

If these rights were restored, I would feel very happy and grateful. I would finally be able to live safely in my workplace without fear. That image, of going to work in the morning and feeling safe, is not a grand ask. It is the most basic thing. And yet, for so many of us in the UK today, it remains out of reach.

VODW exists to close that gap. My story is a reminder of why that work matters, and why every voice raised in this campaign brings that day of safety and freedom closer.

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