After years of being treated as a slave, an 82-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) was finally able to leave the family she worked for more than six decades, according to an ABS-CBN News report.
“Nanay Fedelina” started working as a domestic helper for a family in Manila when she was only 16 years old. The same family brought her to the US in the 1970s. Her service span four generations.
She said she was never paid, and was abused physically and emotionally.
In the US, her employer kept her passport and IDs and did not have contact with her family.
More than a year ago, when her employer was hospitalized, Fedelina was able to escape when she ended up in the emergency room because of malnutrition and fatigue. There, she found people who helped when a nurse suspected she may have been a victim of forced labor.
She received assistance from the Pilipino Workers Center, the Philippine Consulate, and US law enforcement officials as she filed a case against her trafficker.
By January, the case ended with a cash settlement while her trafficker is under house arrest.
