She is from the central Philippine province of Negros Occidental, a day by sea from the capital Manila.

Her current employer is one Mrs Christina Kang, for whom she began working from Jan 96. Miss Robelinda Gimado has a total of almost 5 years' experience (with one employer) as a live-in domestic worker.

Although she was trained to be a teacher, teaching jobs are hard to find and she has only done practice teaching for one semester. She taught grade 6.

So instead of waiting for a teaching position that is hard to come by, she went to work as a sales clerk for a grocery store owned by her uncle. She left only because she wanted to work in Singapore where the salary, however modest, was better.

This is the same uncle who supported her and paid for her education all the way through school, right up to college. Not quite an adopted daughter, she felt obligated to her uncle and aunt and felt compelled to reciprocate even a little by helping out whenever it was required of her.

Robelinda is good-natured and cheerful. She speaks and write English very well, certainly better than most of the foreign domestic workers in Singapore.

She is not pretentious or assuming, altogether a very pleasant person. It is my honest opinion that she will be a useful member of any household in Canada or the U.S. willing to hire her.

Before coming to Singapore, she had worked for MM & GB Grocery Store from May 93 until Nov 95. This in a country with high unemployment speaks well of her.