I chose the road to...surrender

NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT

In the past three weeks I have dealt with cases that are easy and some that are more difficult…but then there was this girl, we'll call her Anna. I was drawn to her from the moment she walked into the door at the Bethune House. She was so quiet and tiny. Unlike the other girls in the house who are often times outgoing and flamboyant with their new found freedom, Anna was withdrawn and child-like, but beautiful. She said she was 25, but looked to be about 18. She couldn’t have weighed more than 90 lbs and was probably not even 5 feet tall. I must have looked like a giant next to her. Maybe that’s why she seemed so scared? Either way, she was to be my first case that I would work from start to finish all by myself. We started off with an interpreter but I realized pretty quickly that she spoke English, so I dismissed the interpreter. She was Indonesian. Usually they speak only their native language along with Chinese, but not English so I was impressed with her more advanced language skills. I wanted her to feel comfortable so we made small talk about the fact that she had learned to speak in English in Singapore which is where she worked before she came to work in Hong Kong. Things were going fine until we got to the part in her case where I have to find out why she was terminated from her employment. I’m not going to go into all of the details of her case because I don’t feel like that is appropriate, but what I will say is that she was over-worked, under-paid, abused, and left in a desperate situation. She made a decision to steal a very small amount of money from her employer in hopes to have them terminate her so that she could be freed from her contract and seek other employment, but she was unaware of the laws of Hong Kong and made a very large mistake that will cost her dearly. My heart sunk. She had no idea that regardless of what the amount was or what the employer wanted, the Hong Kong Government would press charges against her and she would most likely go to jail and have a criminal record and never be able to work in Hong Kong again. She told her employer on purpose that she took the children’s change purse with money in it, hoping to be terminated, but the employer refused to terminate her. Her plan back-fired on her and created an even larger problem. Long story short she ended up on our door step at the safe house having no idea what to do. I took her statement and my supervisor asked me to go with her to her Employment Agency and help her ask them to get her clothes and things out of her employer’s house so that she could move into our safe house. This is where the story takes a painful turn. These Employment Agencies are manipulating, money-hungry, slave-owners for lack of a better term. They basically make a fortune on exporting labor (ie, PEOPLE!!) So the last thing that they care about is the welfare or well-being of any of these girls, they just want their money and to continue to make the employer’s of the domestic helpers happy. So when I show up with Anna to get her things, first of all they see an American and they all rush to my side to help me because they think I am there to BUY A SLAVE!! They see “Rich American”. In other words, they think I am there to purchase a domestic helper for myself. When I inform them that no, in fact I am not, I am here with my friend to help her get her belongings back they quickly change their tune. They take her from me to a room and won’t let me come with them even though I try. After 20 minutes she comes back and tells me thank you so much for my help and that I can go. I was so confused and helpless. I didn’t know what to do. There was a woman from the agency standing over us and I asked her to please allow me to speak to Anna alone. I asked her if she was okay, and she said she thought so, but that the agency told her that she needed to go back to the employer’s house and make things right. I felt so bad. I could see the fear in her. I didn’t want to leave her there alone. I wanted to protect her and I couldn’t. I was so powerless and I had to walk out the door without her, without knowing if she was going to be okay or not. I gave her my number and told her to call me anytime day or night and I would come get her, but I still don’t know if she is okay. I pray that she is.
As I began walking back to work alone I was remembering our conversation on the MTR on the way to the agency; she asked me if I was from America and I said yes. She said she wanted to be “big” like me. I laughed and said, oh no, I want to be small like you!! Then I said, “isn’t it funny how all of us want to be different than what we are?” I would give anything to have taken her picture. I can still see her face in my mind, but eventually I know that I won’t be able to remember it anymore. Cases and faces will come and go and it will be hard to keep hers in my mind. Maybe she will come back or even better maybe things will work out for her.
Once again I am reminded why God has called me to Hong Kong and even though this reminder was more painful than the last, I obediently accept all that is to come.