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Some people think that being an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is like a bed of roses, with lots of money, eating every food they want and buying anything they want to buy. It is not. Many OFWs suffer a lot, physically and emotionally. Ask any OFW and they would surely agree, you will never know what they are going through unless you tried being an OFW yourself.
Maria, (real name withheld)on her 40's, came to Brazil from the Philippines two months ago, hired as a domestic worker by wealthy a family who lived in Sao Paulo.
They gave her tasks that seemed never ending.
She had to babysit three school-aged boys and a baby, clean a large apartment,with a large dining room, a living room and four bedrooms, each with own bathroom. Also walk the family's dog, tuck all the children to bed.
The family's mother usually stays at home, watching closely everything Maria was doing. In an instance, complaining that she had not cleaned a glass table properly, she made her polish it for nearly an hour. There would be days that she count the clothes Maria had ironed and would make her spend hours ironing some more if she was not satisfied.
Maria's do not have any day-offs. She often had no time left to eat due to piles of work. Sometimes, she was given inadequate food.
That night, she thought about her own family in the Philippine countryside: her mother and three young daughters, two of whom needed special medicine for their cardiac disease—all of them depending on her wages, she had no choice but to carry on. So she made her bed and went to sleep.
"My world was spinning. I was crying... I had heard that Brazil was nice."
When she woke up the following day, her stomach feels awful from hunger, but she still had to work. Later as she was cooking meat for the family's dog—she took half of the dog food and ate it.
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When she came to Brazil, Maria was promised what she thought was a decent monthly wage ($600; £460) and not to mention , a chance to explore a new country.
A kind, smiley woman, she had previously worked as a live-in maid in Dubai and Hong Kong without having problems, she never imagined she would have any trouble working in Brazil.
When Maria lost hope that her working conditions would improve, she made a challenge with her employer to just send her back to the Philippines if they don't want her services anymore.
One night the family went out and locked the doors with Maria inside it. It made her weary.
That was a turning point. She decided she had to escape.
The next morning, she got up earlier than the others, she left after finding the door unlocked. She even purposefully and jauntily waved goodbye at the security camera to avoid suspicion from the building security guards. She luckily got away without any hassle.
Aside from Maria, three other Philippine maids who were recruited by the same agency that recruited Maria also left their employment in the the previous year under similar circumstances.
All of them paid $2,000 (£1,500) in fees to the agency. Their sponsors paid the agency $6,000 and the plane tickets to Brazil.
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The employers, who's identities were not disclosed, did not issue any statements. Brazil's public defender's office has launched labour lawsuits against the families and the recruitment agency. The agency denies any wrongdoing and has suspended its recruitment service.
Maria is now enjoying her new job after the Brazilian government gave her and the other Filipina maids new work visas. All her earnings goes toward paying off her loans she used to pay the recruitment agency that deployed her in Brazil. All she want now is to save money and send her daughters to finish college so that they would not end up like her. She also wanted to start her own business in the Philippines when she finally come home for good.
For the mean time, she is now enjoying her life in Brazil. Free and happy as she described it.
Source: BBC
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