I am a Canadian who has been living in Taiwan for almost five years, and last Sunday I had my first conversation with a Filipina housemaid. What she had to say disturbed me a great deal.
For example, she is given food only once a day. No breakfast, no lunch, only dinner. She's not allowed to go to the shops to buy something to eat. In fact, she's only allowed out one Sunday a month. And when she's out, she needs to keep an 8pm curfew.
She says the boss and his wife are not nice to her, nor are any of their three children. The children all go to the most expensive English school in town and like to criticize her for not pronouncing her English in the same way as their Canadian teachers do.
Why doesn't she complain or take legal action? The answer is obvious, isn't it? We all know that shit rolls down a hill and if the authorizes ever contacted her "boss," she could be beaten, her money withheld and so on. She is only in her early 30s. What friends, what boyfriend can she have? She is not permitted relationships.
Of course we could enlarge this to discuss the attitude of Taiwanese in general to people (yes, they are people) from the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. Or to South Africa, based on what my laoban tells me.
But I'm not going to do that. I will only point my finger at the woman's "boss."
And if I were a Christian, I would pray that one day I'd meet that "boss" and express my disgust in person. Until then, I hope that the Filipina I met keeps a warm heart through these dark times and doesn't let these "employers" diminish her soul.
Duane Dunstan
Tsaotun, Nantou County
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