Today meet Ayu, one of our very 1st students who pilot-tested our 1st program, and now one of our Diamond team leaders who’s facilitated 10 sessions of “Dare to Dream”, Uplifters 3-week signature online course on money management and personal growth. She’s a 47 years old Indonesian domestic worker in Singapore, and mom to two young adults.
She was aware of Uplifters as she had met Uplifters’ Founder Marie when she was working at Aidha in Singapore, a non-profit organisation which helps foreign domestic workers and low-income Singaporean women achieve economic independence through financial education, wealth creation and entrepreneurship.
“I joined Uplifters almost two years ago and together with Aidha, it has helped me achieve a goal each year:
– The 1st year my achievement was saving for my mom’s pilgrimage in UEA for her 74 years old present.
– The 2nd year I bought my own piece of land.
This coming 3rd year, I plan to build a small treehouse on my land, with a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen. That’s all I need. I don’t see the point of big houses as they cost you more money, but also time and energy to clean and take care of them!
I’m sharing this in the hope of inspiring more domestic workers to be successful by improving their financial knowledge. I really recommend this course because it teaches you important tools to fix the financial issues every family has. It’s a free and simple way to learn to budget. I even teach it to my boss’s kids and they are very happy to learn about it because it teaches them that if we work hard when we are young, we’ll enjoy the fruit of our work when we retire and we won’t need to worry anymore.
What’s also unique about Uplifters are the class chats where students can share their difficulties and motivate each other without fear of being judged. As a team leader, I’ve also learnt how to encourage people to work together as a team.
Managing your mind and feelings is important too and helps you grow as a person.
Thanks to Uplifters “Dare to Dream” course I discovered a lot about myself: who I am and how can I control my mind to be in a more positive place. When you’re on a positive track, it helps you see things from a different perspective.
Life as a domestic worker is not easy and even if we look happy, it’s sometimes just a cover, as we often hide our struggles. It is hard to adjust to new employers demands whilst missing your own family. And when we’re sick nobody really cares, the job still needs to be done, so we have to be physically and mentally strong.”
This constant need to carry on and keep on growing despite the hardships thrown at you is captured beautifully by Ayu in this wonderful tree analogy:
“I was growing like a tree but my branches were always cut down by people around me. But I kept on growing to get more fruit to share with people in need. I got bigger but every so often my fruits, leaves and branches were chopped away again. But thankfully I know my roots are deep in the ground and help me to become strong and grow again.”
Discover more about Ayu in this video.
