My Family's Slave

[ferri]

This is a very long read, but well worth it.

The 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.

The rest of the article here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... source=fbb

[cubafreak]

Thank you for posting that Ferri ! yes, it was worth reading

[ferri]

You know this is still happening. That's what is so heart breaking about it.

[Queen K]

Yes, I read that too.

Hard to understand.

[Ranger66]

A very good read, I hope everyone who viewed this post has read it.

[gman313]

and they take a slave in the name of God. Again, this is the root of all evil

[Sige]

Wow, definitely worth the read, thanks Ferri :)