Be Educated On Health Issues

By: Saturnina “Cute” De los Santos Rotelo   

As we always say: health is wealth. But how many Domestic Workers actually take notice of this? Every migrant has a medical examination when they leave their country of origin, so they think or believe they are healthy. HOME ROSES is a group that educates migrants about important issues relating to their health.

Domestic workers have limited benefits in terms of health issues, and they never pay so much attention to their health, as it costs money for them just to consult a doctor. Besides, they often have little or no knowledge about their health, and don’t know how to live healthily and take extra care not to worsen their physical condition.

HOME ROSES was founded under the umbrella of HOME. ROSES is an acronym, where the R stands for Relationship, O for Obligation, S for Sexuality, E for Education, and S for Social Support. HOME ROSES has a mission and vision to fulfill to the migrants. We do our best to educate them through training and seminars, we give them a certificate of participation and a small gift with information on where to ask help or advice regarding health issues, like Diabetes, Hypertension, Breast and Ovarian cancer and other health matters including HIV/AIDS.

I have been involved in educating migrants on health issues as a Volunteer of HOME for the last 8 years. With HOME ROSES we have conducted training sessions and seminars to migrant men and women of all races, religions, and nationalities. We invite speakers from external parties like Standard Chartered Bank, HIV/AIDS champions, (AFA) Action for Aids, Doctors and also our very own Dr. Win. The topic of many seminars is the prevention of HIV/AIDS, a disease of which many people unfortunately have little knowledge.

The Health Promotion Board Singapore (HPB) is a great help to HOME by providing knowledgeable information, and advertisements to reach out to the migrants, many of whom still have no weekly day off. This is a very interesting education and a great help to the migrants.

The workshops teach migrants how protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases , and also how not to get pregnant, as the law in Singapore does not allow domestic workers to become pregnant.

Working abroad is not an easy job, you miss your loved ones, when you are sick you are alone and as a human you need love, care and even a shoulder to cry on when you are down.

As my journey continues as the President of this HOME ROSES, I and my fellow volunteers will continue to fulfill the mission and vision of HOME ROSES as we devote our day off, time, and knowledge to make things possible. More than 2,000 migrants have benefited of this free education, thanks to our generous donors, sponsors, and HOME.

The HOME ROSES would like to THANK YOU ALL for helping HOME and it’s project.

“ Prevention is better than cure. Be equipped with health knowledge as Health is Wealth.”