A woman known as “Isabel” who was “sold into servitude” in 1985 at the age of eight is almost certainly Ho Hsiao-feng (何曉鳳), who was born to a Paiwan Aboriginal family in Taitung County, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添) said after meeting her in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
After a one-hour meeting with Isabel in Orange County, in the presence of her lawyer and social workers from the Community Service Program (CSP), the US organization that is taking care of her, Yang called a press conference and contacted Ho’s family by telephone.
Isabel was not present at the conference because she was not yet ready to appear in public, Yang said.
Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
He added that the ministry would spare no effort in helping her return to Taiwan to be reunited with her biological family, provided that is what she wanted.
Yang said Isabel did not tell him that she was Ho Hsiao-feng, but the ministry had found the name listed on her now expired Republic of China (ROC) passport.
In the telephone conversation with the Ho family, Yang said he asked Isabel if she knew Sung Bao-feng (宋寶鳳), to which she replied: “She is my mother.”
Yang said that Isabel, who still holds ROC nationality, told him that she now had stable employment and enjoyed her life in the US very much, even though her job does not pay much.
However, she is reluctant to talk about the past, which brings tears to her eyes, he said.
Isabel’s story came to light earlier this month when an interview with her was broadcast on CNN’s Freedom Project, a news program about human trafficking.
A court document shows that Ho Hsiao-feng was sold by her father to the elderly mother of a person named Tami Barton.
From 1985 until about 2000, she was forced to act as a domestic servant to Barton’s mother, performing all household chores and housekeeper duties, including providing personal care to Barton’s mother.
Ho was forced into involuntary domestic servitude for Barton’s family and she worked up to 17 hours every day at his home and at his Costa Mesa jewelry store for absolutely no pay, the document said.
It is reported that since 2000 Ho was forced to perform household chores and domestic responsibilities for the Barton family, who exercised strict control over her.
It is alleged that Barton’s mother regularly mistreated and abused Ho.
The alleged assaults and battery included striking, pinching, punishing her when she allegedly misbehaved, shoving a toilet brush in her mouth when she took something to eat from the refrigerator without permission and forcing her to sleep on the floor every night, the court document said.
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