by Rose Ann
Content warning: this article contains mention of abuse and sexual assault
I’ve felt the responsibility of being a daughter and a sister from a very young age.
My parents always had to struggle at home in the Philippines. When I was 12 years old, my sister became ill with typhoid fever. She stayed in the hospital for almost a month. My parents had to pay for her medical bills, and they could no longer afford to send me to school, so I had to stop my first year in secondary school. But I understood, and I never felt any hatred towards my parents.
I saw they were suffering, so at the age of 13, I decided to help them by going to work. I worked for an old lady who lived alone, helping her as a housekeeper and looking after her small grocery store. One night, she asked me to sleep in her house because she wasn’t feeling well. But during the night, her nephew came to my room while I was sleeping, and tried to undress me and kiss me. I shouted very loudly, which woke up the woman, and although I told her everything, her nephew denied it all.
I woke up in the morning and went home to tell my parents what happened, and they were so angry. However, the lady’s cousin gave me an opportunity to work with her as a working student, which I accepted because I wanted to finish my schooling. It was hard, because I had to go to school and work, but I never doubted my decision, and I never gave up. Even at my young age and despite the challenges, I kept moving and kept dreaming. I grew up and lived on my own.
I eventually left my home province to try to continue college studies, but then had to stop to find a job to support my family. My sister has since continued her studies at university, graduated with a degree in education, and is a licensed teacher. I am so happy for all her achievements. Ever since I was young, I told her that even if I couldn’t finish my studies, it was okay as long as she could finish hers. While I could handle things and stand on my own two feet, I didn’t want to see her suffer as I had suffered.
In 2014, I gave birth to my son. Because I am a mother, I now understand how my parents felt. I suffered as they suffered when I was a child, especially when my son became sick and I didn’t have enough money to take him to the hospital. He is asthmatic, and when he was a baby, he was often admitted to hospital.
I was successful in finding work, and did well working in a factory and as a sales assistant, but lost my job because of the pandemic. Every time my son asked me about food, it broke my heart that I couldn’t give him what he wanted.
When I saw an advertisement about going abroad to work, I decided to apply. I came to work in Saudi Arabia. I was working almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week with no rest. There were even times when I needed medical attention, but my employer never helped me and still made me work. Even if I was sick, I had to work and had no days off because my employer wasn’t following the rules. Even though it was so hard for me to leave my family and especially my son, this was the only way to give him a better future.
One day, my employer told me to go with the driver to get my photograph taken. I didn’t understand why. The next day, my employer told me to go again with the driver, and I realised he took me to the British Embassy. I was made to sign documents, but I didn’t properly read them as I was being rushed, and wasn’t allowed to hold my own documents.
My employer took me on a trip to London in June 2023, and later again in November 2023. The second time, the immigration official asked me how long I was working with this family and how things were with them. I just said that I had worked with them for just over two years, and that I was okay. I was scared to say that I was suffering so much, and felt I didn’t have a chance to voice everything I was feeling.
One day, we were in Westfield Shopping Centre, and I saw a woman looking at me. My employer left me and the child in a playground while she went shopping, and the lady came over to me. She gave me a piece of paper, and inside she had written a phone number with a note that if I called it, she would help me. I messaged the lady, who was from The Voice of Domestic Workers, and she rescued me from the hotel where I was staying with the family. The Voice of Domestic Workers helped me a lot by providing me with what I needed, and helped liaise with the police, who referred me to the National Referral Mechanism.
Every Sunday with the Voice of Domestic Workers, we have education classes, and on weekdays we have online classes in financial literacy and media communication.
I accepted all the challenges because of my dream to give my son a better life so he would not suffer what both my parents and I had suffered in our childhoods. Even though I was so down sometimes, the thought of making my parents happy kept me going. I always asked God to give me more strength, so I could become a successful mother to my son and a daughter to my parents. My blog’s title, ‘My life’s journey as a strong woman,’ reflects how I feel. I want anyone who reads my story to be inspired, and see how even in the hardest times of my life, I have stood strong.
About the author
Rose Ann is 29 years old and comes from the province of Negros Occidental Philippines. During the pandemic in 2020, she lost her job, and the fastest way to find work was abroad as a domestic worker. She is proud of her domestic work because she could provide for her family and most importantly for her son.
Rose Ann is part of the Future Voices programme, a unique leadership and training programme run in partnership between the Voice of Domestic Workers and Sounddelivery Media equipping a new network of migrant domestic workers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to share their stories, influence public opinion and advocate for change.
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