Communicating
with her employers is a mish-mash of miming and playing language games. Ibu Noon
has some English, some Arabic (from reading the Quran), and a lot of openness,
while her employers could only manage their own Jordanian Arabic dialect, and
some limited English from the wife. When the instructions or conversation
became too long and complicated, Ibu Noon just puts her hands up and says,
"I don't understand" and both parties would pause, realize the
ridiculousness of the situation, and manage to laugh together.
Despite this
communication gap, Ibu Noon found it interesting that her young employers often
talked to her about their problems. The hard-working and thoughtful husband
complained that his wife's family were living off the goodness of his wife (and
as such their earnings), who often gave money when frequently requested by her
brothers or mother. The young wife makes an effort to appear attractive and
seductive to the husband before he comes home, so that they would spend some
intimate time together later. The husband talks about wanting a big family -
twelve or so kids! - while the figure-conscious young wife would like to stop
at two. It seemed like Ibu Noon was more of a mother to them than anyone else.
Through her
adventurous and good cooking, Ibu Noon generously served them exactly what they
wanted, and then some. It turns out that Ibu Noon is good at making desserts
like cakes and puddings. She did her best, not only to please them, but because
she genuinely liked to cook.
However, the long
hours eventually took their toll on Ibu Noon, and she developed hemorrhoids,
which the young wife denied and did not want to acknowledge. Eventually as her
condition worsened and her hemorrhoids started to bleed profusely, Ibu Noon had
to expose her butt to the conscientious husband to show her bleeding and
convince them of the seriousness of her situation. Consequently, Ibu Noon
fortunately could take the chance to come back to Indonesia for medical attention,
and since then decided not to go back to her young employers, though she would
once more like to try to work overseas again, to make some money and gain a new
experience.
The paradox of
being human under inhuman conditions plays out every day in different ways. Some
migrant workers would like to try and go back to find work with new employers,
despite their bad experience. They tend not to have a choice, as they almost
always are burdened with large debts due to exploitation by the work placement
agents. Others resolutely do not want to suffer again in such difficult
conditions, and would prefer to try and work harder back home. The unfortunate
ones are scarred for life, or even lose their lives. But hope, hope is always
important, and at times this is the best healing and gift we can give, when all
else is lost. Hope in a better tomorrow, hope in being a person recognized as
one's self, hope in life after the discrimination, difficulties, and suffering
endured, hope in life here in their own home and country, or, especially for
their loved ones, in a better after life.
