Khau Jie is a retired majie in her mid-eighties who lives alone in a one-room rental flat in Chinatown, which is home to those like her who had sought work as domestic servants in Singapore between the 1930s and 1970s. Khau Jie was part of that wave of female migrants who came from the Guangdong province of southern China and since arriving in Singapore in 1959, she has worked for a few families, undertaking domestic chores such as laundry, cooking and cleaning. Although her work had been backbreaking and menial, Khau Jie takes it in her stride. Despite being illiterate, she is thankful that this job had allowed her to earn money for her family back home in China. One of the few majies remaining in Singapore today, many of whom have passed on or returned to China, Khau Jie still gets visits from the sons of her former employers a few times a year. This photograph is part of a series by Singaporean photographer Charmaine Poh, which documents the experiences of the majies living out their twilight years in Singapore.
