SINGAPORE — As demand for foreign domestic workers (FDWs) increases here, the Foreign Domestic Worker Association for Social Support and Training (FAST) is looking to provide them with more support.

The association is considering setting up its own shelter facility, among other plans.

“Currently, there are some NGOs (non-government organisations) that provide shelters, but we may want to offer our services (to FDWs who come to us). It’s always good to have more helping hands ... ” FAST President Seah Seng Choon said at yesterday’s Foreign Domestic Workers’ Day celebration.

The association will also set up a clubhouse for its Befrienders Service soon.

As it is expecting more calls to its 24-hour helpline, it will be putting more resources into this. It is also considering providing counselling services.

The helpline, which started in June, receives about 70 to 100 calls a month. These included queries on contractual issues such as eligibility for rest days, but most of them were from foreign domestic workers who needed someone to talk to.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Manpower and Education) Hawazi Daipi, who spoke at the celebrations, said: “Domestic workers probably need someone familiar to talk to ... someone from her own country, from her own town.”

The event also recognised outstanding workers such as 30-year-old Kiryani, who received the FDW of the Year Award. She had been caring for her employer’s daughter, who suffers from cerebral palsy, for the last eight years.

Kiryani said: “I’m very close to her, like she’s my sister ... sometimes she calls me (her) second mother.”

Some 2,000 workers celebrated the Foreign Domestic Worker Day in recognition of their contribution to Singapore society.

To assist victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, FAST and its partners donated S$10,000 to the Singapore Red Cross.