Dreams Of Better Tomorrows Can Be Tragic

The body of an OFW in Kuwait found in the freezer arrived in the Philippines. (Internet photo: Copyright to its author.)

OVERSEAS FOREIGN WORKERS knew the uncertainties of it all. The moment you stepped out of your doorsteps to work abroad, there is no guarantee what lies ahead. Filipinos are highly intelligent, but our sense of fear of losing what we work hard to achieve makes us vulnerable. No Filipinos wanted to leave home. But poverty and the need to earn a decent living drives us to try our luck.

The goodbyes are always painful, a tragic homecoming is the more unbearable. I recalled in 1990 on my first departure to the territory where a fellow OFW, a mother to a one month old baby at the departure area. Her husband brought their infant and put the baby on her mother's lap before boarding the plane. The sobbings of a mother haunted my overseas journey, even now. That separation from a mother's bosom to a child, and the mother's emptiness was truly difficult that I had to leave the area. I hate goodbyes too and the ripping of a mother's heart is painful to watch.

What makes life as an overseas worker difficult and full of savage disrespect? Filipinos have lost their dignity since the time we enslave ourselves in foreign households. We become so low in the eyes of the world. In our native country, being a domestic helper means, in our terms, an "Alila"- a defaming word which means, a slave. The rich people in the Philippines can afford countless household helpers. They are the ones without proper education, poor and some, illiterates. 

A Filipino working as household workers in foreign countries, they, we are treated like lesser humans. What makes it the more difficult is the connivance of recruitment agencies, the embassy staff and the employers. 

Let me walk you through my times as a slave in a Chinese home. I cannot have breakfast until the lady employer wakes up. Because she is a stay-at-home mom, she'll woke up around ten in the morning. Back home, we are used to eat early for breakfast, like seven in the morning. Imagine when there is nothing to eat until she ates breakfast? We also cannot ate on the table. We have to use those washing machines in the kitchen. We cannot sit on the living room. We are not allowed to do nothing even if all the day's work was already done.

What makes us so helpless in the hands of our employers? Mostly, they will take away our passports for safe keeping. But first and foremost, we are so afraid to lose our job. Employers are like Gods, in my case, wiping his toes when I dropped a spill of water on it. There was little help when one undergoes difficulty because the Consular offices are so distant and are also mistreating foreign workers who come around for assistance. I remember coming into the Consular's office in HK and everyone behaves like they were inside the church. The words of the Consular staff were at times vicious. Some prefers to seek help from non-profit organizations advocating workers. The indifference of our government representatives add to the vulnerabilities of foreign workers.

On my second contract in the territory when I was an OFW, the Chinese Employer took my passport. And then signs of violence and abusive treatment became so evident in the next few days when I started working with them. I cannot go out on ordinary days except on  the specified days off. I was told by the previous helper that the female employer banged her head on the wall. Sometimes she's not given food to eat. Fear suddenly engulf me. I cannot be killed by these people. I HAVE TO LEAVE.

In order for them to produce the passport, I had to tell them that the Consular office wanted to see me for our contract. Because all my clothes were already inside their home, they handed me my passport seeing I only have a backpack with nothing on it. I left behind all my clothes and belongings. I thought my life was more important. In reality, I went straight to my friend's employer's room and hid there every time her employer was home.

Because I wasn't able to come back, that employer called the Consular office and informed I left home. When I showed up at the Consular office, the staff wanted me to apologize to my employer and will not deal with me until I called. I ended up barging inside the Consular office to see an official seated outside. These are scenarios OFWs, like me, encountered at the hands of our own government officials back then.  I lost all my belongings in lieu of my safety. I think OFWs must be vigilant and should flee for their life when circumstances calls.

In the case of Joanna Demafelis who was found frozen inside a freezer in Kuwait, this is a tragic end of a dream to provide her family a better future. God knows how much pain and sufferings she has endured in the hands of those who took her life. My heart goes out to her waiting family. We have to demand justice. We have to know which for those who were supposed to keep her safe failed. 

The recall and the complete ban on sending workers to Kuwait is the right thing to do. If there is no adequate protection given to our workers overseas especially on unsafe areas, then no one should go there. No one should lost a life to see a brighter future. 

Regaining our prestige and dignity is truly difficult. Right now, we are on the right path to earn respect. But how, despite our president doing everything he could to make life better for every Filipinos, when he himself is courting rage across the globe?

Rest in peace, Joanna Demafelis....your death may have save more life wasted in the quest for life's comfort. The world must say a prayer for the eternal repose of your soul. We are one with your family and the unbearable pain they now endure. Let justice be given to you and your family.