Annie's Life Story Part I

     On a rainy day in 1962, a girl was born in the town of St. Pablo City in the Philippines. Oldest of three siblings, she had grown up fearful of her father as he led a strict household. Her younger sister would often get hit by her father which Annie would often be a witness to. This led her to always be fearful and listen to her parents in order to refrain from getting hit. 

    Growing up her lifestyle was rather simple. It was going to school and going home to do household chores. She did have a group of friends but because of their family’s finances, she would not hang out or play with her friends outside of school. 

    When I asked Annie if she had any stories of her childhood her face lit up as she explained the two meals she would share with her sister. Their mother would give them 1 peso total to spend. They would end up going into more than one store just to be able to have a more wide variety of foods they could eat. Even splitting the money at school to eat snacks. She was only twelve years old at that time. 

    Annie did well at school and had aspirations of becoming a teacher. However, her mother convinced her that she should take on a different job instead due to the workload and the fact that she would be bringing home her work in order to prepare for the next day. Insisting that becoming a teacher was no good, Annie decided to take up an accounting job for a small company that sold appliances. She wasn’t able to proceed further in the accounting field because she was unable to travel to Manila for a certificate in accounting. 

    She worked at this job for two years before she married her husband. When I asked her about her husband she said that she neither liked nor disliked him in the beginning. Her parents had influenced her to marry him as they did. Their reasons were that he had a good job and didn’t drink. So, she married him in 1985, and within three years had two children she now had to support. 

    When her daughter was only six months old she had left for Saudi Arabia in pursuit of providing for her family. This was her first job as a household maid. When asking her how she felt about arriving in Saudi Arabia she told me with a plain face that she was excited but also scared. It was as if she were masking the feelings that came along with her experience in this country. Her employer was a powerful Sultan with his wife. Annie also lived with another maid. The wife of the Sultan was always very kind to her and was a beautiful woman. However, Annie realized how terrifying her life can be here because every time the Sultan would drink the beautiful wife would have another bruise on her face. Within the six months of her staying with them, the wife had left. Before the wife left Annie begged her to take them with her. The two both knew that when the wife left, the abuse would be upon them instead. Unfortunately, the Sultan had power over his wife and when she left she had wanted to bring both Annie and the other maid along but couldn't. Devastated, they came up with a plan. 

    The other maid was a brave and remarkable person. She talked to a fellow Philippino neighbour and asked to borrow his lorry and for him to drive them to the embassy. They were going to run away. One night they crept down four flights of stairs terrified to make any sound. Once they entered the living room the other maid saw some chocolates. This part of Annie’s story reminded me of how in the book Matilda by Rhoad Dhal, Ms Trunchbull had a box of chocolates no one was allowed to touch. The other maid had taken all the chocolates and stuffed them down her pants. Annie was too scared and stood there feeling empowered watching her friend stuffing her pants with chocolates. The trolly was on the other side of a very tall wall. They both climbed over the wall but Annie jumped into the trolly afterwards. When she did, she left the mark of her existence there, leaving her slipper behind. As she was telling me this, she was laughing talking about how much she was like Cinderella. 

    There was no roof on the trolly so the two of them laid flat and covered themselves with a blanket they found. They were terrified of being found as women were also not allowed to be seen with men. When Annie arrived at the embassy she remembers thinking about how everyone else looked happy with their belongings and family. There she was finally free but with a single slipper and some chocolates. They stayed at the embassy for five days before their paperwork was filled and their passports were sent in by their ex-employer. Annie talked about how cold it was inside the embassy, that they had only given her a slipper to replace the one she left behind. Five days later, Annie was back in the Philippines. 

    Upon coming back this period was when she worked non-stop. She would wake up at 3 am to cook with her father. She mentioned that her father had cooked more as she would be feeding her two kids. They would sell noodles, porridge, and spaghetti until they sold out. Around 7 to 8 am she would clean up and close the stall, grab her bag and head straight to her next job, working as a nail artist. She would be doing manicures and pedicures and while even doing so would try to sell some underwear to her clients to make some extra money. Once it hit 6 pm she would return home to just do it all over again the next day. 

    This was when she slowly started to see a change in her husband. Once a man who was liked by her parents. She never felt understood. To him, at that moment she constantly felt misunderstood. She was coming back late to support her family but all it would lead to was them arguing. 

    One day, she met her cousin who mentioned something about working in Singapore. She sent in her resume and within a month, she got her job and was on her way. Her first employer in Singapore was a Chinese family. Everything was fine until she was asked to go buy some noodles for her pregnant employer. Annie was not quite yet used to the food in Singapore.  When she went to the stall and asked exactly what her ma’am asked for she was not expecting the outcome of what was about to happen in a couple of minutes. Once the noodles were brought back her employer started yelling at Annie, “Do you want me to die?”. That was when Annie realized that back at the stand, the man working there must’ve put some chilli into the noodles. Annie panicked and told her employer that she wasn't trying to do anything and would go buy another one. To which the employer took wrongly and disliked the suggestion Annie had made. Things escalated and led to the employer throwing the noodles at Annie. Annie froze and just sat on the ground in the corner terrified only being able to repeat “I want to go home”. Annie’s agency was able to get a ticket and there she was back in Manila once more. 

Before moving to Singapore, she had applied to work in Canada as well. Only the agency had ended up suggesting another family that lived in Singapore. So she packed up her things and decided to go once more.