Posted on 05/19/2017 11:36:40 AM PDT by Lorianne
She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was. ___
he ashes filled a black plastic box about the size of a toaster. It weighed three and a half pounds. I put it in a canvas tote bag and packed it in my suitcase this past July for the transpacific flight to Manila. From there I would travel by car to a rural village. When I arrived, I would hand over all that was left of the woman who had spent 56 years as a slave in my family’s household.
Her name was Eudocia Tomas Pulido. We called her Lola. She was 4 foot 11, with mocha-brown skin and almond eyes that I can still see looking into mine—my first memory. She was 18 years old when my grandfather gave her to my mother as a gift, and when my family moved to the United States, we brought her with us. No other word but slave encompassed the life she lived. Her days began before everyone else woke and ended after we went to bed. She prepared three meals a day, cleaned the house, waited on my parents, and took care of my four siblings and me. My parents never paid her, and they scolded her constantly. She wasn’t kept in leg irons, but she might as well have been. So many nights, on my way to the bathroom, I’d spot her sleeping in a corner, slumped against a mound of laundry, her fingers clutching a garment she was in the middle of folding.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Speechless....
What the....???!!
Saudis that come here bring slaves all the time.
There are still Filipinas in similar situations around the world, especially in Muslim countries.
DemonRATs have always been OK with slavery. That’s why they’re reinstitutioning it through welfare and public debt. (this time it’s for everybody)
I read this. Absolutely incredible, but probably far more common than we know.
And we think we have outlawed slavery in this country.......
I am curious what country they came from.....
There is no limit on inhumanity.
Phillipines.
I am crying. I need to go do something else now.
Outstanding !
I worked with a Philippine lady who was an optometrist. Her husband was a driver. She walked six paces behind him. No matter what Philippine women achieve they’re worthless to their husbands.
Loan made fun of the foreigner and got pretty sarcastic but the second evening when everyone was spread out around the porch that surrounds the house she came to talk to the foreigner. I told her that the house was the best kept house I had ever visited and seemed to be a very happy place. She did not react right then but next morning she fixed me coffee before anyone else and spiced up my breakfast specially. Later when only I and the wife's sister were there and everyone else was gone the sister told me I had brightened up Loan. Then she told me about Loan.
The couple had despaired of having children and purchased a baby that was on the point of being set out on the street, those being the starving years after the takeover. They raised her to be a housekeeper and actually treated her well. She could leave if she wanted to leave but things were pretty hungry out there so she stayed. She is not terribly bright but eminently sensible in her day to day life. She is an adopted daughter of sorts but fits the description of a household slave pretty well. She got an allowance but it was not like a wage. She could go out in the town sometimes but she never went to concerts or school events with the other two. I didn't know what to think about it. They saved her life, surely, but she was, and I am sure still is, a slave.
this story is not so uncommon in the States 60 to 100 years ago. Whether by blood or by need, men and women worked hard in households for subsistence.
We can be very high and mighty about it now, but there was no welfare back then and frankly, retrospectively, I think that requiring civilized behaviors that go with living within a family home, worked for these folks.
My great grands had a man who shoveled coal and did yard work and lived in the basement. He drank.
There was also a nurse who came from the great greats to the great grands and lived out her life mostly with the family and dining each Sunday with us. She was legally blind.
they both had lives and a family to call their own.
I wouldn’t totally judge this badly.
As a side note, I had an ancestor who lost his life fighting for the North during the Civil War..........
With all the hatred towards the Confederate flag and demands for reparations by the black community, I've yet to hear anyone in the black community giving thanks to those yankees who died for their freedom..........
I went to Hong Kong last year. Every rich Chinese family has a Filipina Maid to hold grandma’s arm for her when she goes shopping, or carry bags, etc. They get paid a pittance, they sleep in glorified closets, they get physically abused by the women, sexually abused by the men, it’s infuriating.
I clearly remember one time I was greeting a friend at Narita and her comes this Chinese family, Dad with the passports, Mom with her purse holding her daughter’s hand, the boy playing his game thing, and behind them all a old, short Filipina maid pushing a baggage cart stacked with suitcases that was taller than she was. I wanted to go slap someone.
I've spent some time in the UAE,specifically Dubai.Although many Westerners have never heard of it it's right next door to Saudi and is populated by (and run by) people very similar to Saudis.Dubai has tons of money,both thanks to oil and huge sums of money being invested there from all over the world.
In Dubai one sees many,many foreigners.Something like 80% of those residing in the country are guest workers.The construction workers and those who do other "grunt work" (often in 120 degree heat) are from Pakistan,Bangladesh and Indonesia.One step up from them are Fillipinos...who are maids,work in hotels and in retail.
There are frequent stories about these guest workers being badly mistreated.Subhuman working conditions (120 degrees),no pay,physical abuse.
What little I've personally seen (particularly the 120 degrees) makes my skin crawl.
A beautiful tribute to the woman whom he loved and respected more than his mother.
Extraordinarily powerful and deeply moving account. Lola was rather like a tumorous growth on the heart of the family. Continuance or excision both presented mortal risks to its survival. Lieutenant Toms demons afflicted generations of his descendants.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.