My name is Renera Ichon. I was born in Southern Leyte, the southern region of the Philippines. Our dialect is Cebuano. We are ten siblings in our family: six sisters and three brothers. I'm a single mum of one son. After I graduated from secondary school, I went to Manila to find a job to earn money for college. I graduated from a two-year Computer Secretarial course in Quezon City, Philippines. I finished college as a working student. After I graduated from college, I worked as a teller in the department store resigning a month later because a big company hired me as sales coordinator. They shut down after two years and at my age, at that time it was hard to find a job in the Philippines. So I applied for a job as a domestic worker in Singapore to support my family and my son's future. I had been working in Singapore for five years.

 

I then applied to Kuwait but when I arrived there, I found out I was going to Saudi Arabia and worked for three years as a Nanny/Housekeeping. For the past years, I worked in East Putney in London as a Nanny/Housekeeper. At the moment, I am resting and devoting my time in volunteering at The Voice of Domestic workers.

 

I am an active member of VODW and the leader of the Education Working Group. It is my responsibility to work together with my teammates and liaise with the teachers and learners to prepare and organise the VODW classes. I spend my weekends in this organisation by attending online classes such as Mediacom, Financial, Body, Mind, and Wellness, ESOL, and IT Computer class.