Bahrain Tribune: Treat us well and we won’t run away’

Treat us well and we won’t run away’
Ayla Marisse G Ginete
Contributor

The English dailies are littered with stories of housemaids and labourers running away from abusive sponsors but has anyone ever asked them how they felt whilst they were on the run?
The Tribune sat with some of the women who have made this shelter their home and asked them what it was really like to be on the run.
“First and foremost, if I may say bluntly, no household worker in their right mind would ever think of running away if the sponsor treated them well.
“I am not only referring to the physical abuse they may subject them to, the mental and verbal abuse are equally destructive and hurtful. It is a two-road for both, we are people too, not slaves,” said Alona.

Treat us well and we won’t run away’
Ayla Marisse G Ginete
Contributor

The English dailies are littered with stories of housemaids and labourers running away from abusive sponsors but has anyone ever asked them how they felt whilst they were on the run?
The Tribune sat with some of the women who have made this shelter their home and asked them what it was really like to be on the run.
“First and foremost, if I may say bluntly, no household worker in their right mind would ever think of running away if the sponsor treated them well.
“I am not only referring to the physical abuse they may subject them to, the mental and verbal abuse are equally destructive and hurtful. It is a two-road for both, we are people too, not slaves,” said Alona.
“Running away was the last resort for me, since I could not bear the hurtful and demeaning insults she hurled at me everyday. But if it weren’t for that, I would still be with her. I was so afraid and did not know where or how to get here at the shelter, but I made it,” she said.
Lara recalled the ordeal vividly and described how she ran away. She said that she felt a wave of hope as soon as she saw the Philippine flag from beyond.
“Once you make up your mind to run away, you do exactly that. You run and you run. You do not think of looking back fearing that your sponsor might grab you by the hair back into the house. That was exactly the way I remember it. I ran for what seemed like hours till I came across a bus stop and boarded a bus to the nearest taxi rank. I only thank the Lord that I reached here safely. My heart beat so fast with mixed emotions of relief, anxiety and renewed hope,” she said.
The 42-year-old said in the fifteen years she made housekeeping a profession, this was the first time she had ever experienced being a “tenant” at the shelter.
“I have been an OFW for the past fifteen years and spent a good 13 years in Malaysia and I had never encountered such problems. Shelter dilemmas such as these, I could only imagine. Little did I know that I would be one of them someday,” she added.
Milagros and Angel narrated similar stories of how they escaped from their sponsors’ homes.
“I had never been out of the house before and I had no clue where to go and how to get to the embassy. But somehow, by some guidance I was able to sum up all the courage I could and head out,” Milagros said.
“I knew the dangers of running away and face possible arrest by the police, but I knew I had to get away.
“I ran quite a bit before I found a cab driver willing to drive me here.
“I cannot describe how scared and nervous I was for the fifteen minutes I was in that taxi. Then the feeling of immense relief and unexplainable happiness when I saw the flag…I was home,” said Angel.

Article from: Bahrain Tribune Newspaper- www.BahrainTribune.com