She just couldn’t be a slave anymore. What she’d learned about how good God is, and that He and His goodness are everywhere, and that she was loved by Spirit in every way, didn’t jibe with her enslavement to the fraudulent contract that had enticed her to leave her family and home in the Philippines with promises of good pay, pleasant accommodations, and a round-trip ticket home every two years.
Maria (not her real name) had been in a country in the Middle East three years when I arrived almost a year ago. She cleaned apartments and did laundry six days a week, 10 hours a day—sometimes longer. She typifies mothers from impoverished economies who leave their children with loving family members and send money back home so the whole family can finally meet basic expenses. They come from all over Asia as well as Europe and the United States.
Maria hadn’t seen her three children or parents since she left home. Her employer hadn’t honored his agreement to provide a plane ticket or to give her time off to go. And he didn’t pay overtime, despite local labor laws.
