Background
From the province of Cagayan, she is 29 years old and married with two children 10 and 5 years old. Her husband is a farmer and so is her father. She is the youngest of 6 children. She has a secondary education but speaks English quite well.

She married young and until she came to Singapore in May 2008 she was a housewife attending to the needs of her family. Childcare and domestic chores are second nature to her.

Employment History

1. She first worked for Shasha, a Singaporean of Indian descent. Her host family consisted of 5 persons: Madam, spouse, 2 children (a newborn and a 1-year old) and Granny. Madam was working and during the day Arlene attended to the household chores and care of the children, under Granny's supervision. However, Granny hardly spoke English and communication was in a combination of fractured English, Hindi (or that's what Arlene thinks) and hand gestures. Misunderstanding often arose and the inevitable happened: frustration leading to a parting of ways.

   Cooking was by Granny with Arlene assisting - chopping up the onions, crushing the garlic, slicing the ginger, etc.

2. She was more successful when she transferred to another family, also Singaporeans of Indian descent. The family consisted of 6 persons: Madam, spouse, two children (15 and 8 at the start) and Madam's parents who are not working. Madam is not working either. All the same, Arlene attends to all the household chores: cooking, cleaning, laundry and attending to the 8-year old and playing with her when both are not otherwise occupied.

   Apparently Madam is pleased enough with Arlene and offered to extend her contract for two more years. However, Arlene has not adjusted to a vegetarian diet.

Childcare
In her first situation, she helped to take care of a newborn and a 1-year old, under Granny's supervision. She also did the cooking, cleaning and laundry/ironing. As Madam was working, Arlene fed the baby the formula that she prepared, supplemented with Madam's milk expressed twice a day. Arlene knows how to wash and sterlise the feeding bottles. Although the baby slept with Madam, come feeding time Arlene would get up and feed the baby.

Besides taking care of the newborn, the one-year old (for her first employer) and an 8-year for her current employer, Arlene also cared for her own two children (now 5 and 10). She does have valuable experience in the care of babies and infants.

Cooking
In the 10 years that she has been married, she was a housewife for about 8 years and cooking was one of the things she did for her family. She can cook Filipino dishes and some western dishes (such as spaghetti, macaroni and pizza). In Singapore she learnt Indian cuisine by observing Granny in Job 1 and helping in preparing the ingredients and from her current employer.

Now she can independently cook the following:

• Potato curry, Egg curry (for the children and herself, the adults are all vegetarians), Dal, Vegetable curries, Sambar
• Chapati, Prata, Poori
• Briyani rice

She hopes to learn more of cooking.

Personality
Arlene is neat and tidy in appearance, simply dressed. She speaks English quite well and is fairly outgoing and confident. She loves children and looks forward to working with them in her next situation.

When available: As Soon As Possible

Profile by Karl Tan
Licensed Employment Agent since 1981