Ms Emma Madriaga is 34 yrs. of age. She is 6th of 8 in the
family. She is single and mother of a child of 3, a girl.
She has completed a 2-year course for junior secretaries. She
speaks and understands English well. She is from the province of
Bataan, about 3 hours by road to Manila, 50 minutes by ferry
boat.
Ms Madriaga has been working for the same employer since she
first came to Singapore in December 1989.
Ms Madriaga has shown herself to be dependent and loyal to her
employer. She began working for her employer in December 1989 and
has been with her ever since, or for the past 11½ years,
except for a 9-month break. The employer who is not keen to have
to look for a live-in nanny every year or two will find this
trait in Ms Madriaga desirable.
Among her duties, taking care of her employer's only
child (shown on the left, at 8 months), a boy, is the most
important. Emma's charge Mark is now 11 years. See photo of Emma
and Mark taken on last October (2000). He was born two months
after Emma started working for the family. As the mother was
working then, care of the newborn baby was left to Emma, not to
mention other duties: cooking, general cleaning and tidying and
laundry and ironing. In fact Emma had been in sole charge until
last year when her employer quit her job.
Emma is familiar all aspects of child care. When the child (a
boy) was still a baby, she slept with him and did night feeding
so that her employer would be able to go to work fresh in the
morning. She knows how to change diapers, sterilize bottles,
prepare formula and, as the baby grows, solid food as well. She
knows how to set the stage for a little child to learn. She would
give him paper for colouring activities and she would tell
stories of read to the child. When the child started school, Emma
supervise him in his homework. When the child is sick and the
mother was not a home, which was often the case until last year
when her empoyer stopped working, Emma would bring him to see a
doctor.
Emma can cook quite well and often she would prepare the food
when her employer invites friends home for dinner. She says
"Everybody says that my cooking is good. And some of my
employer's friends even ask me how I cook this dish or that."