From housemaid to hero: How a Filipina OFW in Dubai raised her daughter alone and built a life from sacrifice

Dubai: For 44 years, Marissa Postre has served one employer with unwavering loyalty. But behind her humble role as a housemaid lies a story woven with sacrifice, strength, and stunning creativity.

At 68 years old, Postre, still wakes up before the sun, cooks, cleans, and tends to three growing boys in a quiet home in Dubai. But behind her warm smile is a story of heartbreak, grit, and a mother’s love so powerful, it moved her across oceans and decades—all for one dream: to give her daughter a better life.

Postre is far more than a domestic worker. She's an artist, a mother, a breadwinner, a fighter and a fierce advocate for sustainable fashion.

“I don’t waste anything,” she says. “Even garbage can become something beautiful.”

Born in Camarines Sur, Philippines, Postre’s childhood ended before it began. At just 10 years old, she became a housemaid to help her mother make ends meet, earning only ₱10 (Dh0.64) per month while taking care of four children in Batangas.

By 15, she was sewing garments in a factory. By 18, she was once again back to domestic work. She never made it past Grade 4, education was a luxury her family of farmers couldn’t afford.

In 1981, Postre became a housemaid for the Berdin family in Las Piñas, Philippines, caring for a young girl named Crishelle, who was just seven years old at the time. Years later, in 2009, Crishelle, now living in Dubai with her own children, invited Postre to the UAE to help raise the next generation. She has remained with them ever since. “They treat me like family,” Postre says tearfully. “And I love those boys like my own.”

While working in Las Piñas, Postre met a man. Love blossomed but soon faded. At five months pregnant, her partner left for Saudi Arabia, and never returned.
“He never sent a single peso,” Postre recalls, her voice breaking. “I gave birth with nothing, no hospital, no money. A kind man named Eduardo paid for a midwife so I could deliver safely.”

Left alone with a baby girl named Charleen, she made a solemn promise to herself: “My daughter will go to school. She will finish what I never could.”

To keep that promise, Postre poured every ounce of her strength into relentless, tireless work. She sold BBQ and halo-halo under the scorching sun outside her employer’s house, sewed clothes, and did laundry and ironing for neighbors late into the night, and went door to door selling fish throughout the subdivision.

She never took a single day off because every coin mattered, every peso was a lifeline. All those exhausting days and sleepless nights were driven by one unwavering purpose: to pay for her daughter’s education.

With her voice trembling with raw emotion, Postre shared, “But I never complained. She was my only reason for everything.”

Years later, that little girl Charleen finished her studies in computer secretarial, now working as a cleaner in Abu Dhabi. Her success is not just a diploma; it is the echo of a mother’s determination, the result of a life built on relentless, invisible labor.

“She’s working now, starting her life,” Postre says proudly. “She may not have a fancy job right now, but she finished school. I kept my promise.”

In 2019, Postre entered a Filipino pageant in Dubai, not for fame, but to show what a mother with a mission could do. She couldn’t afford a gown, so she made one from trash.

Recycled plastic, wrappers, and fabric scraps became her crown jewel. That night, she was crowned Queen of the Night and Best in Gown, proof that beauty can come from struggle.

The prize: Dh800, which she sent home to help start a farm for her family.

Since then, she’s completed 21 eco-gowns, worn proudly at Filipino events and even sent to Bicol for local fashion shows. Each gown is a labor of love, made from water bottles, food packaging, used curtains, and other discarded items.

“People laugh at waste,” she says. “But I see possibility.”

Postre has spent 16 years in Dubai caring for Crishelle’s children, the very same girl she raised decades ago in the Philippines.
“They treat me like family,” she says softly, her eyes shining with quiet pride. “And I care for their children just like I did for her.”

Despite the hardships, she relies on no medication or maintenance drugs, only simple meals of vegetables, fruits, and cassava, with Zumba and karaoke keeping her spirit alive.

“I’m strong, and I thank God every day. I want to live to 100 like my mother who lived till 90.”

She also credits her health and happiness to the support of her Dubai family, who encourage her passion for recycled fashion and proudly showcase her gowns during events.

Postre owns no luxury, no jewels, no grand titles. But she has invested in five plots of land in Bicol, built homes for her family, and secured a future many only dream of. What she truly owns is peace, a hard-earned treasure, born from decades of sacrifice, unwavering love, and quiet strength.

“Don’t waste your time,” she says. “Save money. Have a goal. Help your family. Love your children. One day, they’ll thank you and it will be worth everything.”

On paper, Postre may be just a housemaid. But to her daughter, her family, and everyone who hears her story, she is far more, a warrior, a queen, a mother who moved mountains on minimum wage.

She may never wear a crown of gold. But make no mistake, she earned one.