As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the author’s union SAMSSAP CFDT IDF, domestic workers performed a theatre play illustrating the story of how domestic workers created the union and gained access to many rights, including the right to collectively bargain. Credit: SAMSSAP CFDT IDF. Photos provided by author. All rights reserved.
I was born in a family of nine children in a rural village in the northern part of the Philippines, where life was miserable. Being the second eldest and with no means of continuing my studies due to poverty, I was compelled to find employment to help the family survive. It was at the age of 13 that I first worked as a domestic worker in my home country.
Having grown up in poverty, I dreamt of a better life, especially later on when I started my own family and became a mother to four children. In order to offer them a different life and give them the opportunity to finish their studies, I made the bold decision to work abroad. Young, naive, innocent, and full of hope, I was the perfect candidate for exploitation and abuse. Of course, I didn’t know it at that time. It was only later on that I realised that I was a victim of:
