At 17, an Indonesian student turns school project into a regional lifeline for migrant helpers.
What began as one teenager’s response to a crying helper at home has grown into an award‑winning initiative that brings practical support and emotional comfort to Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore and beyond.
Seeing Sacrifice On Orchard Road
Every Sunday along Orchard Road, the walkways outside Lucky Plaza transform into a living room for migrant domestic workers on their only day off. Women from Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and elsewhere sit on cardboard mats, sharing rice and fried snacks while music plays from phones. For 17-year-old Indonesian student Nathan Alexandro Tjhe, who moved from Pontianak to Singapore in 2021 to study at ACS (International), these scenes were impossible to ignore. He learned that many of the roughly 316,900 migrant domestic workers in Singapore send most of their salaries home for school fees, household expenses and housing, leaving little for themselves.
A Quiet Conversation That Changed Everything
The reality became personal in 2025 when Nathan found his family’s Indonesian helper quietly crying. She told him her son in Java was struggling at school and falling in with bad company, and she felt guilty watching from afar. Nearly all of her earnings went to support her child and extended family, leaving almost nothing for small comforts. “Sometimes she wanted to buy small things for herself or her child, like a keychain or jacket, but she did not have enough money left,” Nathan recalled. As he began talking more frequently with other Indonesian helpers, he heard similar stories: relatives assuming anyone working abroad was financially secure, and workers quietly absorbing that pressure.
Building Peduli: From Idea To First Care Packages
Determined to help, Nathan and schoolmates created the Peduli Initiative to support Indonesian domestic workers in Singapore. Early on, obstacles loomed large. His e-mails to the Indonesian embassy in Singapore went unanswered for weeks; only after an embassy in Madrid forwarded his message back did Jakarta’s representatives respond. With their guidance, Peduli focused on fundraising and identifying simple, meaningful items many workers rarely bought for themselves: toiletries, snacks and familiar products from home like instant noodles, biscuits and herbal remedies. Students collected second-hand tumblers, umbrellas, clothes and electronics from classmates and teachers, selling them on Carousell to raise S$1,000–S$2,000 in four months.
Concrete Help For Workers Stretching Every Dollar
In August 2025, Peduli organised a gathering near the National Stadium for about 100 Indonesian domestic workers. Each received a care package with Indomie, biscuits, toothpaste, soap, sanitary pads and Tolak Angin herbal sachets. For 36-year-old helper Maria Ermelinda Bhoki from Flores, whose S$580 salary left about S$50 a month for herself after supporting her teenage child, widowed mother and three younger siblings, the supplies arrived when she needed to send extra money home due to illness and a death in the family. Another worker, 31-year-old Siti Al‑Isna from Kendal, recalled skipping KFC cravings despite earning S$550–S$620 a month so she could send about S$500 home and save for a house. For such workers, even modest gifts of familiar food and essentials eased both financial and emotional strain.
From School Project To Regional Youth Movement
Peduli has since grown from a Singapore school project into a regional effort, with chapters in Pontianak and Kubu Raya in West Kalimantan supporting orphanages, nursing homes and flood victims in Aceh alongside Indonesia’s 473rd Commando Battalion. Now 18 members strong, the initiative was selected for the International Baccalaureate 2026 Global Youth Action Fund, receiving a US$2,500 (approx. S$3,200) grant and mentorship—one of 110 projects chosen from more than 1,100 submissions and the first from Nathan’s school. The team is planning future programmes with Sian Chay Medical Institution, including free health checks, haircuts and workshops for Indonesian workers, with Siti noting that such support is especially valuable for newcomers still repaying agency debts and adjusting to life in Singapore.
The Peduli Initiative shows how one teenager’s empathy for a helper in his home can ripple outward into concrete support for migrant workers who keep households running while sacrificing their own comforts. For Indonesians and Singaporeans, Nathan’s story highlights the unseen burdens many domestic workers shoulder, and how cross-border youth-led efforts can complement policy changes by offering dignity, small luxuries and a reminder that their labour and lives are seen and valued.
Sources: Straits Times (2026) , The Star (2026)
Keywords: Peduli Initiative, Nathan Alexandro Tjhe, Lucky Plaza Gatherings, Indonesian Embassy Support, International Baccalaureate Global Youth Action Fund, Migrant Worker Welfare
